The Imposter, April 21, 1998

By Shirley

He's back! Clark Palmer, that psycho from Impact, is back, with a vengeance. All right, he said that revenge on Harm was not his motive, what he was doing was for the greater good of the DSD (Defense and Security Division). If you believe that then you're ready to believe that he's a good guy looking out for the nation's welfare.

Palmer looked even more fanatically crazy than he did in Impact. To top it off, he showed that he has a sense of sick humour, which made him even scarier. I kept wondering how a sane person like Harm could possibly deal with such a twisted mind.

The entire focus of the episode is of course on what is happening in Harm's apartment as the court proceedings went on its plodding way. TPTB acknowledged the strong element of Mission: Impossible in Palmer's preparations for his impersonation of Harm. I guess TPTB had this in mind all along, and that was why they cast an actor who was about the same height as DJE so an impersonation would be possible, right? Very smart folks, TPTB.

DJE played two roles - Harm, and Palmer impersonating Harm. The makeup people did their bit to make the Palmer/Harm obvious as the impersonator. I personally don't think that that was necessary. We know. DJE did a terrific job of playing Palmer working hard at impersonating Harm. He even got the evil glint in his eyes and the snarl in his voice.

Mac had no trouble handling the court case alone. I imagine that she and Harm had worked out the entire strategy of the case as well as the approach for each stage of the proceedings beforehand. Besides, she is an intelligent woman and an eminently capable lawyer. There really was no need for either her or the Admiral to worry that Harm was absent, aside from the plot needing someone to go look for Harm at his apartment, pronto.

Since we are in the realm of Mission: Impossible with this episode, we have Bud doing impossible things like swinging - all right, more like falling - into Harm's apartment through a window. We knew there was something wrong, but how on earth would Bud have known that there was something wrong enough that he needed to risk life and limb to break into Harm's apartment? No matter, the plot needed it.

Finally, I certainly hope that we have seen the last of Palmer. What an evil man!
 

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