Fashion Spasm! Mission: Impossible – Gitano

Season Four, Episode Eighteen – Original Air Date: 1 February 1970.

Victor, the teenaged king of a small European country, is in danger of being assassinated by the man he believes is his friend. In order to protect him and show him who are truly his friends and who his enemies, Jim conjures up gypsies, flamenco dancing, and the chance to disguise a highly embarrassed teenaged monarch as a girl for most of the episode.

I like the opening shot of this episode.

But then as we move into the Jim-picks-his-team routine, we notice a curious thing. Jim is wearing his lovely open-necked shirt and grey school jumper. We like this look (and by we, I mean I) – but, oh look! He’s wearing some kind of black, silky neckerchief too! I hardly know what to think of this. Why would casual, no-tie Jim decide to put this on? Was he playing dress-up when he suddenly remembered he needed to pick a team? It’s odd. But on the other hand, I like to think of grabbing it and tugging him across the room in a playful tussle that may end in – well, I won’t go there. But he does have an open fire and lots of nice rugs.

It has been pointed out to me that there is a certain Scooby-Doo element in this get up. This is true. Oh, Jim… But then, if you were going to go with any of the Scooby gang, surely it would be Fred.

Okay. I think I’ve acknowledged quietly to myself that the black neckerchief look is actually rather appealing. And then (brace yourself) – we get rugged-petrol-delivery-Jim. I like rugged-Jim as much as suave-Jim. Barney gets the kudos of hiding in a specially made compartment in the petrol tanker, while Jim gets to haul hose and drive a really big lorry and wear gloves.

What you might not be ready for is the rest of the gang. Paris in his lovely pink shirt and casual hat hanging down his back, speaking with a rather strained Spanish-esque accent.

And then Willy, with his head coverings and gold earrings. And who would have thought that Willy was an expert at playing Spanish guitar?

There are a few more attractive and interesting Jim moments to distract from the gypsy costumes. Thank god they didn’t dress him as a gypsy… (Actually, I could perhaps fancy gypsy/pirate-Jim…)

We get Dr Jim.

And also tourist-Jim, where Jim gazes at a piñata, among other things.

But final kudos must go to Barney, who is eminently sensibly dressed throughout. He gets his Barney-in-a-box moment in his specially constructed tanker-priest-hole, and does lots of fun Barney stuff that mostly involves crouching and tinkering. We love Barney (and by we, I mean I).