Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning's Most Emotional Moment Raises All Kinds of Questions

In the many hours of interviews I've listened to with Christopher McQuarrie about these movies, one thing is very clear: he's extremely protective of Ilsa. It's a character he created that he's not going to handle without extreme care. Because of her love for this character, I wonder if she's really gone. I kinda have a hard time believing he would kill Ilsa in an emotional way but ultimately doesn't change the trajectory of the story or Ethan as a character too dramatically, and although we see her lying in these steps, the film gives us some clues that she is not dead.

For one thing, Ilsa has a mock death in the Arabian Desert near Yemen. The opening of the film set, where she and Ethan hatch a plan to get her off the grid as she has become someone with a major price tag on her to direct. It's not inconceivable to think that a similar situation could arise here in a long-running effort to surpass the A.I. at the center of the film, the Entity, and we learn in "Part Two" that she lived.

Another, though less likely, option that you can't rule out of a "Mission: Impossible" movie is that a mask is involved. It may seem rather cheap, and I'm not sure about the logistics. There's already been a fake lead character death with a mask with Michelle Monaghan's Julia in 'Mission: Impossible III', but I think the most likely mask scenario is that Ilsa didn't die on the bridge and uses a mask of someone to escape the situation.

"Mission: Impossible" is also no stranger to creating elaborate traps, like the Wolf Blitzer and the Solomon Lane counter in "Fallout." After Ethan and Ilsa reconnect in Italy and attend the White Widow party, they share a number of knowing looks with somewhat odd reactions that make me think there's a possibility of a long scam they pull to get one on the Entity, which is what they would have to do for an all-powerful AI.

I know this is just a message of hope, but I don't think McQuarrie's story for Ilsa Faust has come to a conclusion yet.