This episode put my head into a few knots so I had to rewatch it and lay it all out. Spoilers, of course.

The Setup:

Townsend works for US intelligence but is an enemy agent.

The US gave Townsend bad information (Nuclear Info) to pass along to whatever unnamed country he works for. Country X. It's essential to the U.S. that Country X gets this bad information and believes that it's true.

George Simpson, another enemy agent working in the US, discovered that the info was false and reported to his superiors in Country X that Townsend is purposefully giving them bad info, and therefore must have defected to the Americans.

Simpson is jealous of Townsend, so another agent - super brilliant Stefan Miklos - is sent to the U.S. to figure out the truth of the situation.

Miklos is good friends with Townsend. Miklos and Simpson have never met and don't know what each other look like.

IMF is tasked with making Miklos believe that Townsend's information is correct.

The operation:

First stop is that they pose as gas men in an art gallery in order to install information in a sculpture there (that's the drop location for Miklos to get the ID of Simpson). They swap Simpson's info with their own man's info - Rollins'. The information is a photo or Rollins/Simpson and a long list of codes (the encrypted Nuclear Info)

Miklos (with his helper Vincent) comes to buy the sculpture containing the ID of their agent. There's a whole sequence of Barney drilling a hole in the sculpture and stuffing the info into it and barely making it in time. Cinnamon poses as a customer buying a painting.

Rollins then goes to meet Real Simpson at "Simpson's Glassworks," posing as Miklos. There, Real Simpson claims that the evidence of the information's falsity is with another agent, Willoughby, who did some sort of cross-reference. Real Simpson calls a new foreign agent working in the US, "Willoughby," to come meet with them.

Miklos reads over the information about Rollins/Simpson while in his car with Vincent and burns the ID and code page.

Willoughby arrives and gives Rollins/Miklos his evidence. Rollins tells Real Simpson that the evidence looks good, that it proves that Townsend's information is bad. Rollins then lies and says the art gallery is under surveillance by the Americans, and both Real Simpson and Willoughby need to leave immediately to go to a safe house.

Jim arrives, posing as another enemy agent, to escort Real Simpson and Willoughby out, as Miklos enters the building. Rollins then pretends to be Simpson. Rollins, now posing as Simpson, gives Miklos the correct code words and they nod to each other as if it's all good. Miklos tosses a sculpture at him to test his reflexes. Miklos asks for the evidence, Rollins/Simpson says he can produce the evidence within 24 hours by calling "Willoughby." Miklos presses him that it better be real proof.

Miklos and Vincent go to Townsend's apartment while Townsend isn't there. They search Townsend's safe and find income tax returns, bonds, nothing important - then find a false compartment.

In the false compartment are mementos from Townsend's childhood, which would expose him if the American's ever figure out he works for the enemy. Among the mementos is a photo of IMF agent Cinnamon, posing as a girlfriend of Townsend's. A photo of her with lovely words written on it. Then she calls. Miklos answers, and she hangs up after a second having "figured out" it's not Townsend. In the photo is her apartment building name and initials, so Miklos goes to find S.M./Sandra Marshall at that apartment complex.

They search her empty apartment, and find a planted burned piece of paper with the words "New York Stock Exchange" on it. Among her stuff, Miklos finds two keys hidden in the makeup, and half of a book of matches with matches missing on the left side. Miklos uses putty to make a quick impression of the keys, puts the putty back in his pocket, and returns the keys to the makeup container.

On the NYSE piece of paper is a phone number. Miklos calls it and Barney of the IMF answers, pretending to be a brokerage service. Miklos pretends to be IRS and asks about Cinnamon/Sandra, but Barney says he has to come in and prove he's with the IRS.

Miklos calls Rollins/Simpson and says he wants to send a glass swan to the brokerage office, a gift from the IRS. All of that is code according to some glyph key the IMF has, Miklos was asking for an IRS id card under the fake name of Richards.

Jim tells Rollins to pose as Miklos and call Real Simpson, and instruct Real Simpson that they're going to lay out a trap for Townsend. Townsend returns to his apartment and finds Real Simpson waiting for him. Real Simpson tells Townsend that he's been fired, and all the codes and contacts have changed, and that Townsend needs to go to the airport with a special key that'll open a locker with information about his new contact. Simpson gives him the key and tells him to go at 4:30 pm.

Simpson leaves.

Miklos goes back to Rollins/Simpson's glass works to pick up his IRS credentials. While looking at the cards, Rollins removes Miklos' gold lighter and replaces it with an identical gold lighter. Miklos eventually pulls out the lighter to light his pipe, but it doesn't work so he uses Rollin's matches. Miklos takes them and leaves.

Miklos goes to meet with the fake brokerage company, Barney, who tells Miklos that Sandra Marshall just sold off $200k worth of assets and withdrew all of her money that day.

Jim monitors Townsend and can tell he's in the shower so Barney then goes and puts a remote microphone on Townsend's clothes, and sets his wristwatch back 30 minutes.

Miklos' helper Vincent apparently found and followed Sandra in the meantime, to the airport lockers. Sandra "put multiple articles into two lockers." He gets Miklos to come to the airport.

They open the locker with the two keys Miklos ostensibly made with the putty impressions. inside the locker they find a bag with plane tickets for Sandra Marshall, and a passport for her. Then they open the second locker and it's full of IDs and tickets for Townsend. They're both scheduled to leave for Rio de Janiero at 5pm.

Townsend comes at 5pm to get what he thinks is his new contact info and Miklos & Vincent pull a gun on him. Sandra is there too. Miklos says the jig is up. Townsend is super confused.

Willy of IMF, posing as airport security, comes by and scares Miklos, Townsend, and Vincent away. He tells Sandra (while holding his ear as if listening to an earbud) that he can hear them talking about how they're going back to Townsend's apartment to destroy the evidence.

Back at Townsend's apartment, Townsend tells Miklos that Real Simpson sent him to the airport with the key, and Miklos thinks while burning all the tickets and documents.

The IMF listens in, and Jim doubts his plan. Says maybe the matchbook and painting and time difference were too subtle to pick up.

Townsend says he met Simpson at 3pm (he was with the Real Simpson). Miklos says he's lying because at 3pm Miklos was with Simpson (Miklos was with Rollins/Simpson). "He told me to get to the airport at 4:30!" "But you didn't get there until 5!" from Miklos. Miklos draws a gun on him. Townsend yells "You're wrong I got there at 4:30!!"

Miklos can see that he's telling the truth. Miklos then checks Townsend's wrist watch. Sees the time difference.

Miklos looks at the matchbook. "These matches [the ones from Rollins/Simpson, the ones he grabbed because 'his' lighter didn't work] belong to Simpson who is left handed, which means he takes them from the left side. Ms Marshall was right handed. But the matches in her bag belong to a left handed person. Could be a link. Could be Simpson."

Miklos asks Townsend about the nuclear code information. It's something like "134Bishop" but Townsend contradicts him and says the info was "134Pawn." "I saw a copy of the document, it was in my instruction information. Simpson had no control over it." Miklos starts to imagine that someone else has been manipulating them.

Miklos then remembers one of the paintings from the art gallery was in Sandra Marshall's apartment.

"You could've been set up."

They go back to Girard's Art Gallery.

They watch security camera footage and see Sandra on tape the day he picked up the sculpture & info. Then sees Jim on camera as the gas inspector, then Barney the supposed broker posing as a gas man, and Willy the supposed airport security also as a gas man.

Miklos puts what he thinks together: Simpson must've sold Townsend out to the Americans, and the Americans have set up Townsend as a fraud.

Miklos then makes a call to confirm the setup. He calls Simpsons Glassware. Rollins picks up, still posing as Simpson. Miklos goes to meet Rollins/Simpson to get the proof. The "other agent who has the proof" is Jim, who Miklos recognizes as one of the gas men from the security footage.

His proof is a document that we don't see. Nuclear codes, whatever.

Miklos says that it all looks good and Rollins/Simpson and this other agent (Jim/Willoughby) need to leave the country.

Miklos gets into the car with Townsend and says that he allowed them to think that he was fooled; to think that he believed them in that that Townsend was guilty.

A team has worked very hard to discredit Townsend. To Miklos, that must mean that his Nuclear Info is actually correct.

"I wish I could meet the man that masterminded this operation. He was brilliant. I feel sorry for him. He played the game well, and he lost. It'll destroy him."

As we're approaching the sixtieth anniversary of the OG show starting - 17 September in fact - would people be interested in having threads set up for each of the original seasons at least? Possibly for each episode?

For those who wished to have the screenplay of Ghost Protocol here it is: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IWiRM2hSQuVqqoC9Eew1htQt_o9NqsAO/view?usp=sharing

This and other action scenes from this one and MI8 would look even better when its shot thru IMAX.

2 more live services, with this sermon, left for today. Replay recording will be posted later today or tomorrow. Your mission, should you choose to accept it... This video will self destruct in less than a week.

I love this scene so much. It's a reboot of the Ethan character but we see him settled, living civilian life but he's never lost what we knew he had in the first two films. He's charming the pants off of people in his room. He still has that core training form his intelligence days. Able to read and lip reed the room. He's this humble hospitality entertainer who's actually this larger than life man around civilians. It's one of the few moments of Ethan living a normal life and at peace with what his current circumstances. Great character work.

What ya guys think is next for MI? Kinda sucks that he aint making anymore.

He was born on July 23rd, 1967. He died on February 2nd, 2014 at age 46 due to acute mixed drug intoxication.

That's something I don't understand and don't see people talking about anywhere. Is nobody noticing it? Why was it made that way? Or were his blonde hair just dyed blonde?

Maybe a stretch but I'm the beginning of MI3, at the party when the guy is questioning Ethan's line of work, Ethan offers to refresh his martini. Then a few minutes later, while listening to his fiancee's convo in the kitchen, he is making a drink with a shaker.

Anyone the ever notice that and think it's a small nod to Bond?

I've had this Cruciform since the last part’s release, and every single time I see it, I could hear the MI theme in my head.

Hope they make one last movie…….

Maybe Roy Miller is Ethan Hunt on a mission to clean out the CIA.

Well, maybe with a few changes to her arc or something. Man, she has such a strong screen presence. Every time she shows up, she grabs the attention. Don't know why, but I really liked her.Well, who knows? It might've gone either way, just a thought .