Impossible – The Final Reckoning’s Many Easter Eggs, Explained

Even more than instilling a sense of trust in both the characters and the audience, the callbacks in “The Final Reckoning” demonstrate that Ethan has the ability to affect fate, too. In fact, that just might be what he’s always been destined for. It’s revealed early in the film that the Entity is the Rabbit’s Foot, which was the mystery weapon that Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) had Ethan steal in exchange for the life of his then-wife, Julia (Michelle Monaghan), in “Mission: Impossible 3.” 

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Ethan is despondent at this revelation, realizing that this means he played an integral if unwitting part in unleashing the Entity. Ethan has always been characterized as a man who refuses to sacrifice innocent lives, a mandate born from losing his entire original team at the start of “Mission: Impossible.” During his tenure, McQuarrie has upped the ante on Ethan’s personal mission, tracing its origins back to the loss of a still-mysterious woman, Marie (Mariela Garriga), who was murdered by Gabriel (Esai Morales) — an incident which led Ethan to join the IMF.

Yet there’s another, more optimistic side to this equation: Ethan may have inadvertently unleashed the Entity, but he’s also the only one who can stop it. The reemergence of William Donloe (Rolf Saxon), who was shipped to Alaska as a result of Ethan’s NOC list heist in the first “Mission: Impossible” film, allows Ethan to see that he did not inadvertently destroy this man’s life, but gave him the ability to find love and a new purpose. Donloe returns the item Ethan’s break-in accidentally left behind: a knife which once belonged to Franz Krieger (Jean Reno), a traitor who, along with Jim Phelps (Jon Voight), helped kill Ethan’s original team. While that knife took something away from Ethan, it ended up giving something back to someone else. There are two sides to every coin.

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This lesson is personified in the revelation that Jasper Briggs (Shea Whigham) is actually Jim Phelps, Jr., a fact that explains the man’s animosity toward Hunt and the IMF. Briggs/Phelps initially rejects Ethan’s offering of apology and truce, yet ultimately accepts it at the end of the film, after Ethan has once again achieved the impossible and killed the Entity. 

When all of these callbacks and Easter eggs are taken together, it’s clear that they aren’t simply self-congratulatory references or even lazy fan service, but elements in a larger thesis. With them, the “Mission: Impossible” series becomes a unique exercise in mythmaking, applying near-godlike attributes to a character (and characters) who are still achingly human. It may sound impossible, but hey, that’s what Hunt and his team achieve every day.