THE INNOCENT: Though Brooke Bundy (who I immediately clocked as Chief Engineer MacDougal Star Trek TNG's first season, and Elaine from the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise) has some claim to the title as Terry, we actually get our first male innocent in her fiancé Chuck Boskirk, played by Burt Brinckerhoff, a chemistry student who sells some stamps for the villain at commission so he can get married faster. Chuck takes things in his stride (which might be an UNCLE trope to keep things light, at least, it's the second episode in a row where the innocent doesn't seem to take things very seriously). He has some fun wondering what it would be like to work for UNCLE based on Solo getting THRUSH nookie, but also worries after a door shockingly explodes in Terry's face. He's generally guileless and cripplingly moral. Brinckerhoff was a regular of plays on television and a guest star on many shows in the 50s and 60s, but after that, he became a television director, his steadiest gigs on Alf and 7th Heaven.
REVIEW: UNCLE does a bit of Nazi hunting? Always up for it. Writer Dick Nelson is obviously using Orson Welles's The Stranger as a template - a high-profile Nazi's (soon dead) assistant turns up and leads the investigators to the main guy who is planning to capitalize on "lost young men" to restart the Nazi movement, from his well-integrated position as a teacher. Just trade the obsession with clocks for stamps, providing a crucial clue. The mention of Barbarossa seems to seal the deal. Of course, from there, Nelson takes a pulpier, more sci-fi turn, and though they never say the name, Professor Amadeus is trying to revive Hitler himself to lead the movement. It's clear this is what's happening (was it verboten to say the name on television?), and thus particularly horrifying that Solo's own blood would be required to revive the tyrant, and particularly satisfying when Solo dumps his squirming body into the flames.
Originally going to be called The Stamp Affair, the episode takes its new title from the very cool THRUSH vs. UNCLE subplot. Enter Angelique (for the first, and sadly last, time), an enemy agent with a more than flirtatious history with Solo. They have great banter, and a relationship that asks the question as to whether there's any real difference - except political alignment - between the two organizations. Because if they're anathema to each other, how can their agents call truces, either to work together or to cavort off the clock? There seems to be real feeling there, even if couched in a sense of danger (she tries to assassinate Solo with a bug in his boutonnière - a LITERAL, venomous bug) and is perhaps the only kind of relationship open to a spy like Solo (Bond is the same). But we see how different their methods are. Solo saves his counterpart from a burning building at the end, for example. THRUSH is also big on sending good squads to take care of things, like kidnapping the innocent instead of simply asking him questions. But there, at least, Angelique pulls something I should think UNCLE (and later, the IMF) would pull, the kidnapping only a con so she can rescue Chuck and ingratiate herself to him. She's a real vamp, one that feels compelled to cheat at every turn, though she accepts minor defeats at Solo's hands since it only means the "game" keeps going. A "desecrated pair", indeed (stamp joke).
Nelson's dialogue is playful and crisp, and his pulpy plot has a lot of cool moments even without the Solo/Angelique affair. In particular, Amadeus's secret lair, accessible through a garage lift, and cut off by a furious explosion and fire in the house above. I love Illya's smiling explanation of how he found the secret tunnel as well. Not as strong, perhaps, but it's the fault of the direction, is that weird opener with the old man in the barrel - the slow motion and the badly dubbed kids' voices make it unnecessarily surreal. More to Nelson's script, I'm not sure why the young couple needed to refuse UNCLE's gifts - it seems that if you were placed in great danger, the secret service will compensate you handsomely - except to make them even more moral than reason would admit. A strange contrast to Solo's own compromised romance.
HEARD ON CHANNEL D: "Sometime you must tell me what it's like romancing a woman who would kill you without a qualm." (Illya to Solo)
"You know Shakespeare, my friend? 'What a goodly outside falsehood hath.' Well, there went the goodliest outside in the whole falsehood game." (Solo on Angelique)
BONDED: Janine Gray's Angelique is quite Bond-coded, the alluring enemy agent who nevertheless beds our hero. Gray had the look (indeed, it feels like Mission: Impossible's Cinnamon Carter will be styled on her model) and has appeared in a lot of spy TV, including The Avengers, Danger Man and Get Smart. Alexander Scourby (Professor Amadeus) narrated "The Incredible World of James Bond", a documentary that aired on November 26th, 1965 on NBC. It included information about the novels, scenes from the first three Bond films and from the upcoming Thunderball movie. The special pre-empted The Man From U.N.C.L.E., which normally aired in that time slot during the 1965-66 season.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium-High: The best dialogue yet, and the story is a strong mix of pulp and the superlative film I believe the episode is based on.
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