"The Cardinal" is one of the better episodes of the third season, using a clever and enjoyable turnabout on villain General Zepke, played by Theodore Bikel. Zepke, a high-ranking general in one of those third world countries that the IMF assisted so often, has managed to switch the popular pro-democracy Cardinal Souchek with his own man who's been surgically-altered to look like the real cardinal (both of them, of course, played by Paul Stevens). "Zepke's" cardinal will then nominate the general to be the new dictator of the country -- but of course, the IMF won't let that happen.
This episode features many classic "Mission" elements -- Barney and Willy first using a space-age device to release infected mosquitoes into the "bad" cardinal's room, then setting off on another crawl through one of those hidden tunnels that always seem to lead to just where they need to go; Rollin posing as a bishop who is supposed to be a friend of the real cardinal, and coming fully-equipped for the fate that he somehow knows Bikel's character has in store for him; and the rescue of the real cardinal using, of all things, an oxygen tent. (In some ways a variation on the oxygen tent gimmick used here would show up in the next season's "The Numbers Game," but its use here was better than in the later version -- to rescue the cardinal and not merely as a decoy.) Director Sutton Roley also spices the proceedings with a number of clever little visual touches -- the smoke from the self-destructing tape turns into smoke from an extension tube that Barney is demonstrating in the "apartment scene" (there is no "dossier scene"); a monk and later a nun whom we know are working for General Zepke are shown very obviously smoking -- as if to underscore that they're not really religious folks; and at one point that same nun (played by Barbara Babcock) momentarily forgets to kiss the ring of the bishop Rollin is portraying, which leads to a wordless, but amusingly-played, scene.
This was also one of a number of episodes filmed at Mount St. Mary's College in Los Angeles (including the pilot and the previous season's "Operation - Heart"), giving it a subtle sense of familiarity without that being too obvious. (In fact, one long shot taken from behind Babcock and Bikel standing on a high balcony almost too-readily betrays that this *is* L.A., complete with a swath of brown smog hovering in the distance!) That's a small quibble for an episode that, like the character played by Stevens, is an eminent presence among the "Mission: Impossible" canon.
This episode features many classic "Mission" elements -- Barney and Willy first using a space-age device to release infected mosquitoes into the "bad" cardinal's room, then setting off on another crawl through one of those hidden tunnels that always seem to lead to just where they need to go; Rollin posing as a bishop who is supposed to be a friend of the real cardinal, and coming fully-equipped for the fate that he somehow knows Bikel's character has in store for him; and the rescue of the real cardinal using, of all things, an oxygen tent. (In some ways a variation on the oxygen tent gimmick used here would show up in the next season's "The Numbers Game," but its use here was better than in the later version -- to rescue the cardinal and not merely as a decoy.) Director Sutton Roley also spices the proceedings with a number of clever little visual touches -- the smoke from the self-destructing tape turns into smoke from an extension tube that Barney is demonstrating in the "apartment scene" (there is no "dossier scene"); a monk and later a nun whom we know are working for General Zepke are shown very obviously smoking -- as if to underscore that they're not really religious folks; and at one point that same nun (played by Barbara Babcock) momentarily forgets to kiss the ring of the bishop Rollin is portraying, which leads to a wordless, but amusingly-played, scene.
This was also one of a number of episodes filmed at Mount St. Mary's College in Los Angeles (including the pilot and the previous season's "Operation - Heart"), giving it a subtle sense of familiarity without that being too obvious. (In fact, one long shot taken from behind Babcock and Bikel standing on a high balcony almost too-readily betrays that this *is* L.A., complete with a swath of brown smog hovering in the distance!) That's a small quibble for an episode that, like the character played by Stevens, is an eminent presence among the "Mission: Impossible" canon.