Final Reckoning Gives The Most Tragic Character From The First Mission: Impossible The Ending He Deserves

Spoilers for "Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning" follow.

Ethan Hunt needs you to trust him one last time as "Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning" flies into theaters, signaling the potential end for the Impossible Mission Force. Once again, Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie are pulling out all the stops and the results are ... slightly disappointing (you can read my review here). 

I'm a big fan of this franchise, so I'm always up to watch Tom Cruise risk his life in the name of entertainment. But "The Final Reckoning" is a bit of a mixed bag. Sure, it has some incredible stunts (the grand finale, where Cruise dangles from a biplane, is jaw-dropping), but the film is heavy on exposition and callbacks to previous films.

One of the biggest callbacks involves the return of a character we haven't seen since the very first "Mission: Impossible" movie released back in 1996. And while I'm not sure anyone expected to see this character again, I have to admit that the arc and closure he's given in "The Final Reckoning" makes for a surprisingly emotional and rewarding experience. Of course, I'm talking about William Donloe, an extremely unlucky CIA analyst who had his life seemingly ruined by the machinations of Ethan Hunt.

In "Mission: Impossible," Ethan finds himself framed for the murder of nearly his entire team. Desperate to clear his name, Ethan gets caught up in a twisty scheme that involves a plan to break into CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, and steal the NOC List, which contains the names of undercover agents.

The plan involves the most famous moment from that film: Tom Cruise dangling from the ceiling via wires, silently trying to steal a disc drive. As you might expect, breaking into CIA headquarters is no easy feat, and part of the plan involves poisoning an analyst named William Donloe, played by Rolf Saxon, and using his credentials to gain entry. 

Ultimately, Ethan, working with a new team, pulls off the heist. As for poor William Donloe, he ends up getting banished for his troubles. In an attempt to keep the break-in a secret, IMF head Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny) orders Donloe to be sent away. "I want him manning a radar tower in Alaska by the end of the day; just mail him his clothes," Kittridge says, and that's the last we see of Donloe ... until he returns for "The Final Reckoning."

In "The Final Reckoning," we learn that William Donloe has indeed been sent away to Alaska. Or, more specifically, he's inhabiting a surprisingly cozy-looking cabin on St. Matthew Island, which is a real spot in the Bering Sea near Alaska. Donloe has grown himself a good-looking beard, and he's also happily married to a local woman named Tapeesa, played by Lucy Tulugarjuk.

Donloe ends up getting swept up in the latest mission, and this eventually brings him face-to-face with Ethan Hunt. The characters have never actually met before, but they're both aware of each other. And Ethan, being the stand-up guy that he is, offers Donloe an apology for the whole "ruining his life" thing. But as it turns out, Donloe doesn't hold a grudge. In fact, he's thankful. Being banished to St. Matthew Island was the best thing to ever happen to nerdy William Donloe — he found true love!

Donloe even gets to have a heroic moment. During the film's heart-pounding climax, Donloe, Tapeesa, and agent Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis), who has recently joined Ethan's team, put their heads together to stop a nuclear bomb. They don't quite "disarm" it — the bomb still goes off. But thanks to Donloe's quick thinking, the damage isn't nearly as bad as it could be, and Donloe, Tapeesa, and Degas all survive.

While I don't think the franchise needed to resolve Donloe's story this way, it's a refreshingly kind and even sweet conclusion to the William Donloe story. Sure, he got banished to a remote island, but he fell in love and got to be a hero in the end, so it all worked out. Way to go, William Donloe!