The Mind of Stefan Miklos

"Mission: Impossible" was a show where the usual team played mind-games or what would later be called "stings" on enemies of freedom.

In this episode, the team had to protect an enemy spy who is gullibly passing misinformation to his people. Unfortunately, a fellow-agent has accused him of being a double-agent, and an expert is sent by the enemy country to sort things out.

The expert is brilliant. His only flaw is, he knows his own brilliance. In order to keep the enemy agent the US prefers, Phelps (Peter Graves) must lay the right clues so the brilliant expert deceives himself. Can Phelps do it without overplaying his hand and giving himself away or being so subtle the expert misses the clues?

All the best Missions depend on split-second timing, this episode more than most. Phelps is often seen at his chessboard and here he plays a dangerous game head-to-head against a dangerous opponent. One slip and he fails. Does he strike the right balance?

A very intricately-written episode. The dialogue is often weak, but the plotting is superb in this, for my money, best episode of the entire series.