Mission: Impossible (TV Series) The Emerald (1968) User Reviews

Another big winner from our IM Team

[shakspryn · 9/10 · 21 December 2021]

This is a really good episode. It has a glamorous setting, that of a luxury ocean liner. And, it features a no-limit poker game, at which--as this reviewer, who happens to be an old-currency collector can tell you--the players are using real $500 and $1,000 bills! These bills circulated up until 1969, when the killjoy Federal Reserve began withdrawing them from circulation; nowadays, they sell to collectors for at least 3 to 4 times their face value, or more. Anyhow, you get to see plenty of them in this episode!

A few comments about this episode: I've been watching some of these early shows, and I'm struck by how very beautiful and classy Barbara Bain is. Being on the the IM team was a perfect role for her. Seeing her in any scene just adds to the pleasure. Also, she comes across as very intelligent.

The episode also benefits from having two of the finest actors in 1960's TV as guest stars: William Smithers and Michael Strong. Interestingly, both had standout guest roles in the original Star Trek, too! (Though not in the same episode).

Martin Landau shines in this outing, as he usually did! The other regulars all do fine.

In many of the episodes, our team helps rescue an unjustly imprisoned person, often from imminent execution; that is one of the reasons I like this show so much. These are, without the slightest question, the good guys! Yes, a lot of their opponents meet with, shall we say, a sudden end, but those villains always had it coming.

This time, it's an espionage caper. Our IM team are government agents, after all! I'm glad they're on our side. And I'm so glad that we have those episodes from the first three seasons when the wonderful Barbara Bain and Martin Landau were part of the team.

I thought emeralds were green. They are, aren't they?!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 26 May 2014]

I am really confused. Emeralds are green gemstones. However, throughout this episode, they kept showing the stone and it was clearly deep blue. Call me crazy, but that sure doesn't sound like an emerald.

Regardless, the stone apparently has some important US government secret hidden upon it and an amoral arms dealer (William Smithers) won't sell it to anyone--the US or the Soviet Bloc. However, the IM Force and a couple enemy agents have followed the guy onto a cruise ship and they won't give up so easily. Eventually, the IM Force is able to manipulate everyone into playing a high stakes game of poker--one in which the IM folks clearly plan to cheat. After all, in this hand, you have TWO straight flushes at the same time--and the odds are about half a trillion to one that this would naturally occur (I checked--the odds are actually 553,700,847,700 to 1). But that's not the end of it--as the team manages to do far more. Exactly what, you'll need to see for yourself.

Gambling episodes are very, very common. Because of this, I cannot give this one a higher score--though it is still very good and worth seeing.

UPDATE: I've been informed by one reader that emeralds DO come in other colors, such as blue. Thank you Jimmy for this information.

EMERALD, EMERALD, WHOSE GOT THE EMERALD?

[tcchelsey · 10/10 · 10 March 2024]

Thank you again to series writer Willam Read Woodfield for another incredible story. Woodfield wrote a record 24 episodes for the show, and definitely had one fantastic imagination.

This kind of picks up from the previous episode. Only instead of faking out the villain over a chess game, this time its poker. And what fun! Rollin is now a master at poker, also thanks to some fancy footwork from the team upstairs. One of the most ingenius devices applied here; an attachment to his right arm that slips winning cards into his hand! Actually, this is an old magician's device for dealing cards, but whose keeping tabs.

At stake is a rare emerald containing top secret information, which has fallen into the hands of an unscrupulous arms dealer called Tomar (best played by William Smithers). Additionally, Tomar is a very greedy person, so the M. I. team cleverly arranges for a high stakes poker game -- thus allowing him to bet the emerald! Unbelievable.

That's the only long shot here. In real life, what are the chances an enemy agent would do such a risky thing, but it's fun to watch the creep sweat it out. Joining him is yet another cuthroat called Petrosian (Michael Strong) who also gets a run for his money. Strong was a tv favorite who majored in polished bad guy roles, much like William Smithers.

Phelps (Peter Graves) is a hoot as a drunken poker player, all done to confuse things for Tomar and Petrosian. Cinnamon has a classic scene when, after leading Tomar on, she flatly tells him... "I don't mix with losers!" Ooouch!

Whether you're in the chips or not, watch this very, very entertaining episode, this time set aboard a ship.

SEASON 2 EPISODE 18 remastered colorCBS/ Paramount dvd box set. 7 dvd set. 2007.

Lots of gambling but no food on a luxury cruise

[bribabylk · 6/10 · 12 March 2024]

MeTV is notorious for excising a significant amount of an episode's running time to squeeze in more commercials for dubious claptrap fitness and "medical" products, so maybe that's why I don't really understand Cinnamon's role in this mission; what did her masquerade as a high stakes gambling addict accomplish? Was it just to distract Tomar (William Smithers)? In any event, I thought that Tomar deserved an offing as much if not more than Petrosian (Michael Strong). And I loved it when Petrosian was succumbing to his sedation but opened his eyes long enough to behold Rolly, Cinnamon, and Jim standing shoulder to shoulder in the doorway, letting him know he had been fatally bamboozled! Lol. Not long after, it was out the porthole with him. I wonder if the IM Force got to enjoy themselves a little in Morocco or Turkey or wherever they ended up at the end of the episode. I hope so.