The Avengers
4.2: The Murder Market
Tony Williamson’s first teleplay for the series picks up
where Brian Clemens left off and then some, with murderous goings-on around marriage-making
outfit Togetherness Inc (“Where there is
always a happy ending”). Peter Graham Scott, in his first of four directing
credits, sets out a winning stall where cartoonishness and stylisation are the
order of the day. As is the essential absurdity of the English gentleman, with
Steed’s impeccable credentials called on to illustrious effect not seen since The Charmers.
Mr Lovejoy: Now, do you have a preferred marriage
partner?
Steed: Well, broadly speaking, female.
Steed: Well, broadly speaking, female.
Emma informs Steed that the chances of coincidence in the
likely suspects of 11 apparently organised murders being conveniently elsewhere
at the time are 27 million to 1, so C3P0’s got nothing on her. Led to
Togetherness Inc via a dodgy photographer, who has the jump on Blow-Up by a good two years (“Give it a bit of life, baby. Animate!”),
there’s a slight whiff of déjà vu of Harold Innocent’s artist
in The Medicine Man; in both cases,
they’re in on the scheme, while the premise of providing an alibi to the most
likely suspect was previously covered in Mandrake.
Although, here, it is very much of a Strangers
on a Train type.
Steed: The marriage bureau’s involved in this. It’s
involved right up to its bridal bouquet.
The sets and style are even more accentuated than before,
with the series suddenly a fully-formed part of the swinging ‘60s; when Steed sets
off a model with his bowler and brolly, to the photographer’s delight, it’s
pretty much a summation of the modern-retro vibe that was happening all over
popular culture. Then there’s the very excessive interior of Togetherness Inc (“What a charming atmosphere!”), an
excellent title shot of a shot fish tank, and the elaborate use of coffins and
lying in state (always a go-to for the show).
Mrs Peel: Steed, who are you supposed to kill?
Steed: You, my dear.
Williamson does fall victim to a not-uncommon failing of our
superspies, though, which is spreading themselves too thinly. The number of
times someone they idly meet is linked to the villains, you’d have thought
they’d get menials to do some of the basic footwork, since both Steed and Emma are
rumbled on this occasion through not being in character with the villains. Emma
spies the Canuck (Suzanne Lloyd as Barbara Wakefield) fleeing from JG Henshaw’s
(Robert Milner) house, who later identifies her, after Steed has sent her to
the bureau (resulting in his getting commissioned to top Emma, another trope
the series uses not infrequently), while our photographer friend was one of the
first people he interviewed, so its sheer luck that Steed didn’t get rumbled
earlier.
The only major surprise is that John Woodvine turns out to not to be a bad guy (he’s in American Werewolf, rather than Armageddon Factor, mode), mainly thanks
to his sinister red herring manner on first encounter. But, if the actual
managing director is a twist, it isn’t matched by a grand performance.
Mrs Peel: What’s marriage got to do with it?
Steed: A marvellous institution, my dear. I’m
seriously contemplating it. I offered myself on the market today. Every bid
considered. Of course, I’m very choosy.
Patrick Cargill is marvellously oily as Mr Lovejoy (he’s the
Number Two Six gives a nervous breakdown in Hammer
Into Anvil), ushering in a wave of unfettered snobbery as he announces that
their clients come “from all the best
families” and “We do not accept the
lower orders, you understand”. Steed is, of course, perfect placed for such
prescriptiveness, passing the emotional and physical compatibility test (“We take the uncertainty out of life.
Compatibility is the key, Mr Steed”) with flying colours (asked by Lovejoy
“Guards? Which guards?” Steed replies
“The guards”, while his reaction to
the prospect of a taking job is positively Woosterish (“I tried working once. It didn’t work out. Too much like work”) and
his objection to murder is purely on the grounds of the hardships of prison (“I’ve always preferred soft collars. Besides,
the thought of getting up at 8 o’clock in the morning”).
Steed: So long as she’s got a good seat on a horse,
plays a fair game of bridge, mixes a dry martini, can whip up a passable soufflé.
You might say a good all-rounder.
There’s quite the ripple of ribaldry running through the
proceedings too, with Steed eyeing up the talent, offering his selection of personal
photos (“Playing polo. In the nude… Oh
no, I was 18 months at the time”) and commenting on his first date during a
wedding cake tasting (“I must say, I
found her very tasty. I mean, er, compatible”).
Mr Lovejoy: Mature, cultivated, intelligent.
Mrs Peel: With stamina.
Mr Lovejoy: Quite so, yes.
Although, that’s nothing as to Emma’s stated appetites,
reducing Lovejoy to unaccustomed embarrassment when she emphasises the
importance of endurance in her husband to be. The characterisation of Emma is a
bit up and down in this one, truth be told, reflecting its status as Rigg’s
first completed episode. We get a mention of her husband (“Time you thought of marrying again”) and an amusing sequence of her
lying in state (“You were certainly
resting very peacefully”) before succumbing to the champagne Steed has left
her (“Anything I can get you? Magazines,
newspapers, a harp?”) and dancing around the reception room. Not something
you could imagine of Mrs Gale. And yet…
Mrs Peel: She’ll have to be quite a girl. A mixture of
Lucretia Borgia and Joan of Arc.
Steed: Sounds like every girl I ever knew.
When Emma comes across the body of Henshaw in a bath, she
furiously rounds on Steed (“You knew!”),
and we’re suddenly experiencing incensed Cathy Gale flashbacks. All very unfair
too, since Steed has indeed done his best to save the man. Likewise, when he
suggests that qualities necessary in finding a match for someone like himself (“Educated, charming cultured”) she
counters him in a very Mrs Gale manner (“Ruthless,
devious, scheming”) showing that, for all Rigg’s very different playing,
there was still some way to go in characterisation.
That has to be balanced against comic business we just
wouldn’t have seen a season earlier, however, from Emma getting a golf ball lodged
in her tuba (it was Macnee’s suggestion she play it, as it was originally
earmarked for Steed) to a lovely little piece of interplay between Cargill and
Macnee, sitting in the wrong directions in opposite facing chairs, and a
climactic fight that sees Steed overpowering an opponent by means of a faceful
of cake. Blink and you’ll miss Penelope Keith as a blushing bride (she’d appear
in the show twice more).
And, of course, the coda in which Emma is again driving
Steed, this time in a hearse (“I agree
with every word you’ve said” oblivious to his holding forth behind the
glass divider). This still isn’t quite up to the best of Season Four, but it’s definitely
heading in the right direction.
Agree? Disagree? Mildly or vehemently? Let me know in the comments below.
Comments
Post a Comment