The System - S3-E15
Continuity mistake: Phelps takes the tape from the recorder's right-hand spindle. When he opens the acid vat, we can see the tape he just removed back on the recorder - but on the left spindle. The tape he then drops into the acid doesn't remotely resemble the one he pulled, and when he drops it, the recorder's left spindle, where the full tape was in the last shot and where the empty reel should be, now has nothing on it at all. (00:02:50)
The Elixir - S3-E7
Continuity mistake: When Willie reassembles the electrical socket he puts it in with the ground on the top. Then they show Barney putting his socket together and switchback to Willie, but when the scene shows him putting in the plug it is on the bottom.
Continuity mistake: When Rollin confronts Wesley about the supposedly shaved dice, the two are inches from each other. When the shot cuts to a wider angle, they're several feet apart. (00:08:35)
Continuity mistake: While Barbara Bain is opening the puzzle box, Martin Landau is removing pieces of his disguise. First, he has a handkerchief in his right hand. Next, the handkerchief is gone and he is peeling off his left leather pocket, and the left leather lapel is already gone. Next, he removes his mustache with a handkerchief. Then, while removing the left leather lapel, the left pocket is back in place. (00:39:45 - 00:41:25)
Continuity mistake: The shots of the tape recorder giving Phelps his assignment don't match. Each time the camera angle changes, the tape reels are spinning at different speeds and in opposite directions.
Continuity mistake: During Phelps' mission briefing, the amount of tape on the left-hand reel, which should be diminishing as the assignment is read to him, increases instead. (00:01:45)
Continuity mistake: When the Major checks the prison log book, the box next to 27 where the time entry should be is blank. He closes the book and holds it under his arm while conversing with a subordinate, and when he opens it again to show it to the other man, the time box has, impossibly, been filled in. (00:43:30)
Continuity mistake: As Phelps listens to his assignment in the opening sequence, the distinctively different tape reels on the recorder switch positions twice. (00:02:20)
Continuity mistake: Barney is on the floor unconscious when the scene fades out for a commercial break. When we fade back in, he's still unconscious, but his head is in a different position. (00:14:40)
Answer: We don't know what would happen because the show never addressed this issue. Any answer would be speculation. This is a TV show, and the plot is structured so that only IMF team will retrieve the secret message.
raywest ★