THE INNOCENT: Marlyn Mason as Susan Calloway, a girl from Minnesota who has run off to the Caribbean to spite her parents and live (sinfully) a little. She jumps at the chance to play a sophisticated lady who gets embroiled in a heist. Marlyn Mason (sounds familiar) is one of several UNCLE Innocents who played opposite Elvis Presley at the movies (in The Trouble with Girls, in this case, making her one of four to actually record with the King). She was a frequent guest star on 60s television. In the 70s, she would be a series regular in the acclaimed Longstreet and continue to appear on television shows and TV movies, only rarely crossing over into the Silver screen. She still works in Hollywood, her career in the 2020s filled with numerous roles in shorts and small productions.
REVIEW: I love a heist. And this is basically a heist dressed up as a spy story - so THRUSH's 55 million $ nest egg is destroyed rather than stolen - an Ocean's Four, with recruitment sequences, plenty of traps on the way to the vault, things not going according to plan, and a lot of great dialogue along the way. It's also the most balanced episode in terms of showcasing both Solo and Illya. They both have a lot to do and Illya doesn't disappear in Acts 3 and 4 like he often does. They play off each other. Illya plays a drunken Dutch high roller who Solo rescues his Innocent mark from (and exhibits some pangs of jealousy that Solo is always the one who gets the girl in these situations, the "honeypot" as scripted in their own cons). One wonders why it has to be some lady Solo finds on site rather than a female agent, but his expertise is convincing innocent girls to do his dirty work. It's Illya who recruits Rudolph, a definitely untrustworthy electronics expert and thief to get them through the traps, while Solo plays the silent partner who shows up unexpectedly to take the thief through the gauntlet. While Solo is negotiating traps, Illya is crawling through drain pipes to create an escape route. Both are in danger, and both save the day at various points. Very fun stuff.
But this is also a four-hander, with plenty of action for the two guest heisters. Susan is given the means to cheat so her large pot can make its way to the vault for plot reasons, later creates a distraction, goes full Karen and pulls a gun, and is caught by the villains and almost killed. There's an actual fling with Solo and the excitement goes to her head in a way we haven't seen since the first episode, and she's ready to lead the boys into other heists by the end. If she's having fun, the venal, backstabbing Rudolph is anything but. When he goes to the THRUSH casino owner, you wonder if it's part of the plan, a way to give THRUSH misinformation. And it is, but Rudolph doesn't know it. He's being played by UNCLE. He's really trying to play both sides to get the best deal. But he's not told the actual plan the better to confound THRUSH, and keeps trying to bail on Solo when they're inside the booby-trapped section of the casino that leads to the vault. He's a bit much, though I think we mostly like it that the rogue keeps getting humiliated. The best bit is when Solo finally punches his treacherous ass, right at the camera.
And as with any heist, a lot of it is about the mechanics of doing the impossible. All the stuff with the magical liquid that turns any dice into something Solo's watch can manipulate, and the similar chemical treatment on the special 100$ bill that can sense a vault combination, is indeed "fiddlesticks", but it's a means to an end. Could have been any "sci-fi" tool. They especially stand out because the rest of it is pretty grounded. They pass an electrified floor by putting inflatable rubber life rafts over it. Later, the CO2 bottle used to blow them up is used to freeze a temperature sensor. And the "quarantine airlock" that puts Solo on pause for 7 minutes is a neat way to create a ticking clock as Illya is about to breach the wall before Solo can disarm the mines protecting it (his torch malfunctioning to buy him time is a bit contrived, but not outside the realm of heist problems). These things are worked out very practically, magic chemicals, not so much.
HEARD ON CHANNEL D: "Well, having been successfully captured and killed on our own dress rehearsal. Heaven knows the depths that we shall sink to on the real job." (Illya)
"Into the valley of Thrush rode the 600." (Illya)
"No man calls upon his honor so much as he who lacks it." (Illya)
"If you touch the wall before I throw the switch, I will hear a very loud noise and you will be scattered all over the Caribbean." "Well, a good agent should be in many places at once" (Solo and Illya)
"Where I step, you will have stepped first. And where I die, you will have died first." (Solo to Rudolph)
BONDED: Obviously, the casino financing covert affairs recalls the first James Bond novel, Casino Royale. But it's Mission: Impossible (which has yet to premiere) that's evoked, with the heist structure, need to recruit civilian agents (using file folders), and even a Lalo Schifrin score. If you told me this episode inspired the other show, I would believe you. Solo is Phelps, Illya is Rollin, they recruit a Barney (Rudolph) and a Cinnamon (Susan). And it's a bit of a reach, but the plane used by the agents is a Boeing 707, not Double 0-7, but Double 7-0.
REWATCHABILITY - High: A cracking script, a fun adventure, and it serves both leads very well.
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