I was on a run the other day listening to The Edge of Glory by Lady Gaga. Gaga wrote the song about the experience of witnessing her grandfather's last moments on his deathbed. She wanted to capture what it must've felt like for her grandmother to watch her husband away after 60 years of life together, and the awe of that moment. She also said it was kinda about Rocky bc that's one of her favorite movies?

For the saxophone solo in the bridge, she rang up Clarence Clemons to perform it. She needed something brash and muscular, straight from E Street, the music she grew up on. He flew to New York the same day and cranked it out. It ended up being the last song Clarence recorded and the last song he performed live before ing away later that year. The song served as a tribute to Gaga’s family as much as her one-time collaborator.

In his weird podcast with Obama, Bruce Springsteen talked about his relationship with Clarence. There was a time when The E Street Band was half white and half black, and the implications of an integrated band playing rock music in 1970s weren't insignificant.

“I always felt our audience looked at us and saw the America they wanted to see and believe in. This became the biggest story I ever told. I have never written a song that told a bigger story than Clarence and I standing next to each other on any of the 1001 nights that we played.”

During the run listening to Edge of Glory, I realized (decided) that Ethan Hunt and Luther are the action movie equivalent of Bruce and Clarence; a superhuman little freak and the big man he remained loyal to until the end. On his last tour with Bruce in 2009, Clarence could barely walk at all. Instead of waiting for him to at the lead mic, Bruce would run all the way over to Clarence’s side of the stage to play and pose with him. When I saw him play his Jungleland solo on that tour, Clarence was seated. It would appear Rhames also struggles with mobility. All the scenes he shot in both Dead Reckoning and Final Reckoning were confined to a soundstage in London, mostly sitting. But he had to be there. The only other character in every Mission movie besides Ethan was Luther.

One of my favorite themes that emerged in the latter half of the Mission franchise is protecting your friends. One of my favorite scenes in the whole franchise is when Luther tearfully explains to Ilsa in Fallout that the reason they’re in the middle of a world-ending catastrophe is because Ethan wouldn’t let him die.

I struggle to connect with the overwhelming messianic “just let me fulfill my destiny of saving everyone because only I can do it and I know what I'm doing” undertones of Ethan a la Final Reckoning, but I think most would connect to the notion of rather seeing the world burn than your loved ones hurt.

In his eulogy for Clarence, Bruce said: ”Clarence could be fragile but he also emanated power and safety, and in some funny way we became each other's protectors”

Across 8 Mission Impossible movies, only 3 characters ever say “I love you”. In Mission Impossible III Ethan and Julia say it to each other quickly in the midst of a shootout. The third and final time is Luther’s message to Ethan at the end of this movie.

We all share the same fate -- the same future. The sum of our infinite choices. One such future is built on kindness, trust, and mutual understanding, should we choose to accept it. Driving without question towards a light we cannot see. Not just for those we hold close, but for those we'll never meet. I hope you know I'll always love you, brother. And I will see you again, though I hope it's not too soon.