Alasdair Stuart examines a particularly intriguing aspect of the eighth Mission: Impossible movie…

Jasper Briggs is one of the most interesting elements of Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning. Played by Shea Wigham, we first meet Briggs in Dead Reckoning. He and Degas, played by Greg Tarzan Davis, are the two CIA agents tasked with bringing Ethan and co in as they go off book Yet Again. At the time, it’s clear that Briggs has a deep personal dislike of Ethan but we don’t find out why until the end of Final Reckoning’s first act.

He’s Jim Phelps’ son.

Jim was Ethan’s mentor and father figure. He was also the protagonist everyone remembers from the original TV series, a steely-haired action man of endless resolve. The living manifestation of destiny, if you like. Until Jim betrayed the IMF, slaughtered his team and sent Ethan on the path of isolated righteousness that leads to him being the Entity’s nemesis in the final two movies. In Final Reckoning, we find out that Jim abandoned his family for the IMF and Briggs never forgave him for it. Or Ethan for killing his dad.

It’s a wild choice to drop into the eighth movie of a series but it’s one of the parts of Final Reckoning that really works. Briggs is a much-needed human counterpoint to Ethan’s superhumanly principled approach. From Ethan’s point of view, he’s saved the world so many times because he’s had no choice. From Briggs’ point of view, the stranger who his dad loved more than him not only killed him but has spent three decades playing chicken with Armageddon. You can understand why he’s mad. It also leads to one of the best moments in the movie as Briggs first shoots down Ethan’s attempts at reconciliation and apology and ultimately gets his own ‘reckoning’. The two men shaking hands, and Ethan weeping with relief that the man who’s to all intents and purposes his brother forgives him, is part of the surprisingly emotional final scenes.

But Jim Phelps’ Jr’s new surname is where things get really interesting. Dan Briggs was the original protagonist of the series. Played by Steven Hill, Briggs was the main character and team leader for the show’s first season, and it was implied had been a founding member of the IMF. His earliest episodes include references to an extended absence and Briggs’ recruits often talk about previous jobs they’ve done together. Briggs was also a civilian analyst outside his work with the IMF and an analytical psychologist. Essentially one of the first Profilers in modern fiction, Briggs was a cerebral and subtle team leader who pioneered the sort of long form cons that friend and colleague Jim Phelps and team would perfect. And, of course, pass on to Ethan Hunt.

Hill would ultimately leave the show, and Dan Briggs would be largely forgotten. But as is so often the case, history tends to come back around. Hill would become a cornerstone of the iconic Law & Order franchise as New York DA Adam Schiff and Dan Briggs’ influence continues to be felt throughout the movies in two ways.

The first is the presence of Jasper in the final two movies and the name he chooses to take. We, of course, have nothing on screen to confirm this but it’s compelling to think Jim Phelps Jr taking the family name of a close family friend who got out of the IMF feels like a very deliberate choice. It’s hard not to imagine Phelps Jr being raised by a man all too aware of the cost of life in the IMF, and that, combined with the loss of his dad, tainting his view of Ethan.

The second is that Dan Briggs knew Ethan Hunt and that’s a canonical certainty. In Fallout, and then again in The Final Reckoning, we see Ethan’s file and it specifically references his recruitment by Colonel Briggs. At the time, that was a cute easter egg and piece of continuity. Now, with Ethan’s ‘sentenced to the IMF’ origin being grandfathered in, it feels rather more compelling. Did Briggs recruit this troubled young soldier out of the same sense of guilt he felt at Jasper losing his dad to the organisation Briggs helped found? Both Ethan and Jasper’s lives are defined by Jim Phelps, both as an absence and presence. But as the franchise closes, for now, we see them defined by Dan Briggs too. Recruiting young men with no better choice into the shadowy world of counter espionage and, just maybe, trusting two functional brothers would find and reconcile with each other despite the damage done by their father figures.

That’s chewy stuff for a movie with a biplane fight in its third act, and it’s all in the margins. But it is there. Given The Final Reckoning had the largest opening in the series history it’s a certainty we’ll see the series again, especially as Cruise and McQuarrie have openly talked about ideas for future instalments. When that happens, I’d love to see Jasper involved. After all, every spy comes in from the cold in the end, especially when it’s a family business.

PS Also if you want a delightful little bit of metatextual seasoning. Hill and Cruise have starred together. In 1993’s The Firm, Cruise played Mitch McDeere, a lawyer slowly realising he’s in deep deep trouble and Hill played FBI Director Denton Voyles who tried, and failed to recruit him. Turns out there are some missions you can choose not to accept…

Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning is in cinemas now