The Avengers
3.19: The
Wringer
A
first-rate little screws tightener, as Steed not only comes under suspicion but
is also found guilty of treason. He’s accused of exposing the Carinthia
pipeline (a route for spies on the Austro-Hungarian border), leading to the
deaths of six agents. While The Wringer
is guilty of a sin common in the series – having the villains discuss their
plan and reveal themselves early on, when there might be more to gain from
keeping motives and machinations unclear – there’s much to enjoy here,
including Steed coming under full-on psychotropic conditioning and a
marvellously deranged performance from Terence Lodge (as the titular character).
Charles: The
disposal of agents who have outlived their usefulness is not a matter we
concern ourselves with – very closely.
Paul
Whitsun-Jones returns for the second and final time as Steed’s boss Charles,
and he’s entirely lacking in endearing qualities, particularly since he’s so
quick to find our hero guilty and have him sent to his death, merely on the
say-so of Anderson (Peter Sallis; Wallace, of course, some dreadful
long-running comedy about hurtling down hills in bath tubs, and Penley in The Ice Warriors). Who has been
conditioned by the Wringer and his off-message associates at the organisation’s
now-rogue highland interrogation centre.
The Wringer: Time is
what you care to make it, baby. Reality is merely a causal affair; we all know
that. In reality, there is only the void.
Lodge (three
roles in Doctor Who, two of them
directed by producer Barry Letts who plays Oliver here, most notably as Moss in
Planet of the Spiders) was memorable
but a little erratic in the opening scene of Man with Two Shadows, required to switch multiple personalities
over the stretch a few minutes. Here, though, he’s in full flow, relishing the
chance to dive into a sinisterly enthusiastic beatnik operative with a penchant
for hipster patois and mind expansion, questioning the nature of reality,
dropping Wittgenstein into conversation, inducing his only little MK-Ultra, and
crowing that “We could go on forever. No
one in the service trusts each other”.
The Wringer: Don’t
mistake appearances for the reality, baby.
Sallis is
also very good, as a man who has lost his memory in resistance to the implanted
lie of Steed being a traitor; Steed refers to Anderson as reliable, although he
shouldn’t be, since he’s lousy shot and can’t swim. Also on hand is Gerald Sim
(the Rector from To the Manor Born as
well as four other Avengers appearances,
including one in The New Avengers).
We’ve had
Steed come under suspicion earlier this season in The Nutshell, and Martin Woodhouse’s teleplay wisely doesn’t labour
the interrogation side. Rather, it’s a case of Steed being assaulted by sound
and vision recordings, including familiarly psychonautically swirling
concentric patterns, lapping waves, explosive assaults, and manifest darkness
accompanied by sinister pulsating sounds.
If there’s
a weakness, it’s that Cathy infiltrates and springs him remarkably easily
(albeit she gets shot in the arm, and they come up through a convincing storm
drain set). It’s nice to see her righteous defence of Steed, however (“If there’s any clearing up to be done, I
suggest it’s on your side” and asked where Steed is, she rebukes “I imagine he’s doing your job for you”).
A memorable
ending too (well, aside from the subsequent business of Cathy struggling to
pour tea), as the clearly unhinged Wringer is unapologetic for his behaviour,
repeating the mantra “Question of time, isn’t
it? Question of time, it’s all a question of time”. One of the best of the
season.
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