User Reviews

A Middle Eastern emir has travelled to London for his annual medical examination. During his stay he is living in a hotel penthouse with his staff. His safety is in British national interest so Cathy Gale is posing as the hotel manager in charge of the penthouse and Steed is posing as one of his team of three chefs. It soon becomes apparent that there is a plot to kill the emir; somebody has smuggled some dubious mushrooms into the kitchen and switched them with the ones the emir is due to eat. Steed manages to stop him eating them once but it is inevitable that there will be further attempts. There is also the problem that the emir isn't in the best of health and doesn't enjoy following his doctor's instructions.

This was a fun episode despite the fact that the identity of the leading villains is hardly a surprise. There are other surprises though; the main one is too good to spoil here. Having Steed pose as a top chef was rather enjoyable; I was pleased that we didn't have the cliché of him providing the emir with a basic dish… that gag was saved for the 'Italian' chef who provides Steed and Cathy with a plate of fish and chips at the end. There are some tense moments including having Steed make his way along a ledge high above London. There are quite a few lighter moments as the French and Italian chefs constantly bicker. The cast does a solid job. Overall I'd say that while this episode isn't a classic it has enough good moments to make it memorable.

The setting is fine. Steed and Gale have a protection mission that is almost obscure. Then there is homage to Hitchcock's legendary ( though not financially successful) film 'Vertigo'. That scene itself is memorable.

However, despite a lot of goodness there is a massive letdown. It concerns that really cute hotel employee, Josie. She is quite stunning. I thought for sure she and Steed just might have hit it off. A total disappointment that the script does not have her take to him. One I'm very much afraid hurt this episode. She would have been perfect for him. Ahh well. What could have been!!

A middle-eastern Emir with a mountain of health problems, not to mention a long string of unsuccessful assassination attempts against him, visits London for his annual medical check-up. Steed & Cathy are undercover at his hotel trying to prevent him being poisoned, but while it may seem glamorous, it's not an easy job.

Whereas in the previous episode in production order, Steed was talking Cathy into helping, this one has both of them already on the job, with Cathy filling in as a hotel hospitality manager, while Steed poses as a chef. Given that one of his supervisors in season 2 complained most of Steed's "covers" depended on "wishful thinking", what a delight to see that Steed is actually using his own off-duty culinary abilities as part of his job. He doesn't seem to be "winging it" here, he's very convincing, because for once, he actually knows what he's talking about. Cathy, meanwhile, has a new hairdo which makes her look even more attractive to me than she usually is.

But I think what really shines here is Richard Harrison's production design. Between the stunning penthouse and the extensive kitchens, this is arguably the BEST-looking episode of the show so far, bordering on the look of a BOND film!

I didn't really recognize any of the guest-actors while watching, but they all fit perfectly into their roles.

Henry Lincoln is "Emir Abdulla Akaba", a rude, arrogant, short-tempered absolute ruler who refuses to take his doctor's advice or step down so one of his many sons can take over for him. Cathy isn't sure whether to be annoyed at him or sorry for him. As it turns out, I've seen him in 2 SAINT episodes, and DON'T RAISE THE BRIDGE,LOWER THE WATER, where he also played an Arab.

Robert James is "Brigadier Mellor", the Emir's right-hand man, who puts up with almost non-stop verbal abuse because secretly he's planning a coup. I've seen him in 3 AVENGERS, CAPTAIN KRONOS VAMPIRE HUNTER, a BLAKE'S 7, but what I really remember him for was a pair of DOCTOR WHOs: "The Daemons" and "The Masque Of Mandragora" (he was the cult priest who kidnapped & drugged Sarah Jane).

Paul Dawkins is "Dr. Spender", frustrated by the Emir's refusal to ever take his medical advice, but in the long run, possibly the only real friend the man has. Apart from 1 other AVENGERS, I've also seen him in a Robert Vaughn PROTECTORS episode.

Ken Parry is "Arbuthnot", the chief chef who spends half his time trying to stop 2 of the chefs in his kitchen from killing each other. I've also seen him in another AVENGERS ("Honey For The Prince", oddly enough), THE LIQUIDATOR, THE BRIDES OF FU MANCHU, LISZTOMANIA, and THE ADVENTURE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES' SMARTER BROTHER.

Gordon Rollings is "Lucien", a chef who's bribed into poisoning the Emir's food. I've also seen him in A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, CARRY ON DOCTOR, THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN, JABBERWOCKY, SUPERMAN II, DANGEROUS DAVIES: THE LAST DETECTIVE, the Ian Richardson version of THE SIGN OF FOUR, a MISS MARPLE ("The Moving Finger"), but the thing I've seen him in the most times was a NEW AVENGERS ("Cat Amongst The Pidgeons").

David Nettheim is "Umberto", the high-agitated Italian chef who isn't what he seems at all. I've also seen him in a PRISONER ("The Schizoid Man"), and a SAINT ("Simon And Delilah", where he also plays an Italian character, "Inspector Umberto Crepi").

Patrick Macnee really got to show off a lot of talents in this episode, between cooking, climbing up the wall of a skyscraper, and fighting in the kitchen (a scene that reminded me a lot of one in the film THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS), doing his own stunt-work the whole time. Cathy also got to tackle one of the baddies, but considering Steed always seemed to prefer letting his partners do most of the hard work, it's surprising when Steed gets more physical than she does for a change.

The epilogue is hilarious, when we learn Steed wasn't the ONLY chef in the kitchen who was putting on an act.

The 2010 Studio Canal Region 2 DVD had clear picture, but muffled sound. I wish they could have done more about that! Too many episodes I'm having trouble hearing a lot of the dialogue.

Here, Cathy & Steed are again undercover, posing as hotel staff to gain behind the scenes access to the visiting Emir Abdulla Akaba as he negotiates oil leases with Britain. An "ill-tempered" man with a heart condition, the Emir goes to great pains to make certain that he is not poisoned to death, however the audience knows from the first scenes shown that that fate is the main tension in this narrative.

Again, this story is told in medias res as were many tales during the Cathy Gale era. At first I thought it was a production technique (sorry writers, but, in the visual medium, in medias res is mostly accomplished in the direction, or post-production phase, versus on stage where it has to be written into form); but I'm beginning to suspect that it was a storytelling technique that was popular with mystery readers – an audience the producers wanted to gain as watchers. (It would definitely fit into Sydney Newman's plans for connecting with the broad English Public.)

But there was more to this story than that: It's obvious that Kim Mills and John Lucarotti were doing their best to ape on Alfred Hitchcock's style of storytelling. They were doing L'homage, as coined by Andre Bazin – a particular type of visual filmmaking that held sway over the artistic world from 1950's to way into the 1990's. Basically, they "replay" scenes or elements from other director's films in order to create a language of film.

Some of the climax is visually taken from Hitchcock's Vertigo, (which they basically announce, when Cathy asks Steed if he has vertigo before he apes a Jimmy Stewart scene.) And, by the way, that climax is well played! Other elements to note are Cathy Gale's icy blond hairdo, and her shapely professional uniform. Was she auditioning for a new Hitchcock film? Also the use of the MacGuffin mushrooms, and that wonderful balcony scene of greater London – a balcony that Hitchcock would never let go to waste– are distractions usually found in suspense films.

Don't dismiss this episode simply because the filmmakers pay their respects to Hitchcock. (American filmmakers such as Brian DePalma, Quintin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg and James Cameron used the l'homage technique in many of their films.) It would be a technique used again and again during the Mrs. Peel era. (Note the MacGuffin alligator in Escape in Time.) What's important is that The Avengers' production staff are developing a visual style, and still not abandoning a really good writing run.

Also, I have to give Lucarotti thumbs up for coming up with the most believable undercover assignment for Steed given in any episode of The Avengers that I watched. He cooked all the time, and went on and on about his palate, so of course his turn in the kitchen would be memorable. And all the battles that go on behind the scenes of a meal show why he probably preferred the quiet life of a spy.

I'm giving it a 9.5. They are reaching beyond their limitations, and coming up with strong situations.