Operation Rogosh

Mission: Impossible is a brilliant series, but this episode has an impossible premise. Nobody, never mind an intelligent enemy agent, would believe years had passed without his knowledge. Thus, the American government would never even stage such a ruse!

Further, Imre Rogosh would know America aimed to save its citizens and needed his information. If you advanced the clock fifteen minutes (not three years!), I could believe it. An amnesiac (not a normal person!) could believe any nonsense but would forget relevant facts.

It goes without saying a mystery show like Mission: Impossible must be plausible. As the rest of Operation Rogosh is not bad, it is a pity the story fails at the outset.

"Operation Rogosh" is among the best episodes of not just season one but for the entire series. And, it was so good that several later episodes used similar formulas.

An international terrorist, Imre Rogosh (Fritz Weaver) has been spotted in the United States. However, instead of taking him into custody, the Secretary has a mission for the IM Force--to make Rogosh talk and tell what he's done while in the US. This is of paramount importance because Rogosh is no ordinary spy--he's a terrorist and mass murder is not out of the question.

The mission begins with Rogosh and a colleague walking down a street in a big city. Suddenly, a car comes barreling down on them and strikes Rogosh. Before anyone can think, an ambulance rushes to the scene and spirits away the unconscious man. However, this was no accident--the car was driven by a professional and they just wanted to knock Rogosh out and take him, not kill the man.

When Rogosh awakens, he finds that a long time has passed since the accident--and that's the key. Little time has actually passed and the mission is to convince the man that time has passed--and the mission he was on failed. Or did it? The bottom line is that they hope to confuse the man enough that they actually get him to divulge the secret. See the show to find out for yourself.

In later missions, the IM Force kidnapped scum-bags and convinced them they were on submarines (when they were on land) and that a nuclear bomb detonated when they were in an underground bunker! I am sure there were other similar film-flams by the gang--all were great shows. Well worth seeing and exquisitely written--even if the idea was originally used in "36 Hours" (with James Garner).

The kernel of this story has been done before and since the broadcast of this episode.

The movie 36 hours with James Garner. Based on a short story by Roald Dahl called Beware of the Dog.

I am more familiar with the movie Inside Out starring Telly Savalas. Even the Tom Cruise use the playbook in the Mission Impossible movies.

Imre Rogosh (Fritz Weaver) is a terrorist specialising in mass murder. Rogash has been spotted in California probably planning his latest terrorist outrage.

Rogosh will not break under normal interrogation. Daniel Briggs needs to find a way to make him talk. An elaborate hoax.

One way is to make Rogosh believe he has woken up several years after the event after a car accident in a prison cell in another country.

The episode is stylishly shot that conveys Rogosh's bewilderment.