THE INNOCENT: Sharon Farrell plays Sandy, a flight attendant dating Solo on one of their common furloughs at the top of the episode. She's jealous, possessive, and likes to take revenge by spilling food or beverages on the men who crossed her (which doesn't bode well for Solo's double who naturally ghosts her on the flight to Switzerland). Even though she thinks Solo sorely abused her, she still tracks him down to a particular mountain lodge and becomes a pawn in the double's murder scheme. This is Farrell's first of three roles on UNCLE, but she had a long career in film and television besides, starring in such cult classics as It's Alive and Night of the Comet, as well being a regular on the last season of Hawaii Five-0. She passed away in 2023, age 82.
REVIEW: We're finally done with the long infodump opening and get down to a punchier open that ends on the classic image of Solo behind a bullet-riddled pane of glass. Gives my fast-forward button finger a much-needed rest. And we're attracting some international guest-stars, this time around, including Senta Berger (an actual Austrian in a story set in the Austrian Alps) as a THRUSH vamp, and Fabrizio Mioni (an Italian actor who was Jason in a couple of Hercules films), but this is likely a plot to capture European audiences as The Double Affair was tagged to become one of UNCLE's theatrical releases abroad (see The Spy With My Face, below). On the American side of things, we have Bill Gunn as a Liberian UNCLE agent, remembered today for such cult films as Ganja & Hess and Losing Ground. There is, in fact, a huge number of UNCLE agents in this one, and a peek at the Washington D.C. office and a secret vault in the Alps, a stone's throw away from a THRUSH facility, which has got to be a security problem.
The episode also has the distinction of introducing science-fiction elements that come off as jarring, if not silly. Since THRUSH plans to replace Solo with their doppelganger, they send goofy robots after Illya, the man most likely to spot a difference. Their animated missiles can be deflected by an ordinary trash can lid and Illya never notices a thing, as it happens. And as for the big secret inside the vault, it's a strange power source from space kept in reserve as a weapon against a future alien invasion(!). This bright light, if seen with the naked eye, has a hypnotic effect that draws you into it and (presumably) vaporizes you. Gunn's character becomes its victim when HE spots a crucial clue as to the Solo double's nature, and is betrayed to keep him quiet. These are very much the weakest parts of the episode, though the security measures - the acid-primed briefcase and the passcode-destroying machine - are pretty cool. So it's really a surprise that the rest of the episode comes off so well.
I wasn't expecting the double to actually share the screen with Solo, but they do have an early scene together to sell it, and the final fight is really well staged so that Robert Vaughn fighting his stunt double is exciting and seamless. It's also important for Vaughn to play the double differently, and his biggest mistake is not flirting with every skirt in earshot. Illya DOES think it's weird, but maybe this mission just has Solo more worried and serious than usual. But even Serena, who is one of those THRUSH ladies who are really into Solo (to the point of choosing him over her colleague when she gets the chance to shoot one of them), doesn't think the double is as good a kisser. The receptionist in D.C. can also tell he's wearing the wrong scent (sloppy, Mr. Double), but of course, has no reason to think he's been replaced - such things don't happen in the real world. The double's plans are also sloppy regarding Sandy. She's useful to get him on a mountain excursions - especially after the other agents bail on him - so he can throw the real Solo off the mountain (and her with him), but suddenly panics and starts shooting at Illya, using Sandy as a human shield. Maybe he just can't stand this girl who has been both helpful (giving him a reason to go into the plane bathroom so he can secretly rummage through the briefcase, for example) and in his way, but it still feels rushed as a resolution.
Meanwhile, Solo is in an Austrian stronghold played by the famous Griffith Park Observatory, so you have to take the locations with a grain of salt. I do commend the show for preferring locations to sets - the vault cave and its obvious painted backdrop is a jarring sight (the romantic rowboat approach to the D.C. lair is much better) - but there's only so much the black and white can hide. His escape into the "Alps", for example, strains credulity. The black and white print is actually of pretty poor quality compared to every other episode to date, and even the sound is wonky. Perhaps it'll all look better in color...
THE SPY WITH MY FACE - THEATRICAL RELEASE: And yes, the color print looks gorgeous (and also makes it clear the briefcase stuff is color-coded). But the additions - nearly doubling the episode's length - fix other problems as well. As with To Trap a Spy, there's certainly more sex. Solo has his way with three ladies - Sandy (much more of a party girl who smokes, drinks and walks around in a lacey bra, but one with a stronger tie to Solo as well; she leaves a lot of messages for him at the office), Serena (in a suggestive shower scene), and Nina the masseuse (while the THRUSH boss plays Peeping Tom). There's also more cold-blooded violence, starting the action on an unseen mission in Australia, more Commando than 007 (though that car trunk ambush is cool). The Aussie agent from that thread shows up later, assigned by Waverly to follow the couriers and have their backs. He's the one who discovers the double first, after overhearing Sandy and her (now) roommate Taffy discussing Solo's jerky attitude on the plane. Fake Solo actually does a good job passing his identity tests, but is too paranoid to let it go, and kills him with a cyanide cigarette, then has Illya plant fake medical information on him so his death won't seem suspicious (Sandy is still horrified to find the body). So the double here shows a tendency to panic and act rashly, which he'll do with the African agent in the vault, and that better justifies the ending.
Illya, who gets to smooch on Taffy and has several scenes with her, DOES realize his pal has been replaced when Waverly calls about the Australian agent being one of theirs, and confronts Faux Solo and Serena in the sauna (where she's rebuffing the double's advances), but he gets jumped by the desk clerk (which explains the man pushing for the mountaineering trip). It'll be Taffy who saves poor Illya from being cooked alive in there (there really oughta be regulations). BUT it means the double is much more warranted in pulling a gun when the UNCLE agents walk out of the lodge, even if there's really no call for his turning on Sandy when he does. But the movie does a better job of foreshadowing his fatal flaw - his impatience.
HEARD ON CHANNEL D: "Well, you see, I have this odd behavior pattern... that whenever I go to strange places with strange women, I get hit on the head by strange men." (Solo)
"I have a date at six o'clock and I have nothing to wear." "That'll never go out of style." (Sandy and Taffy, in the theatrical)
BONDED: Solo being treated to massages by an athletic Playboy Playmate in the Alps evokes On Her Majesty's Secret Service, but instead of a ski sequence, we get a dusty motorcycle chase. Senta Berger (Serena) was in a number of Bond spoofs, including The Ambushers, Our Man in Marrakesh (AKA Bang! Bang! You're Dead!), and The Poppy Is Also a Flower, all out in 1966-67, around the same time as the Casino Royale parody, which we might call the height of Bondmania. In the film version, Solo mixes martinis (stirred).
REWATCHABILITY - Medium-(almost)-High: The double storyline is quite good, but the science-fiction elements are completely incongruous and I can't quite co-sign the episode as a result. By dilution, the movie version DOES reach that Medium-High rating, despite being a bit more leisurely.
Comments