Balkan dictator and wrestling fan Yakob Borb is in London for talks, but his secretary is 'mysteriously' killed by a masked wrestler. Steed's concern leads him to plant nightclub singer Venus Smith (Julie 'Jim Dale's girlfriend in Carry on Cleo' Stevens) as a replacement secretary. Classic early 60s diction from her, halfway between Joan Sims and Isobel Watkins. She's in the 'companion of the week' role, complete with opening credit, and I accidentally saw from the episode guide that she turns up in some later stories too.
Demanding our attention from the start is Philip 'Philip Madoc' Madoc as apparently sinister ambassador Stepan. There's a scene in part 3 where he and Steed confront each other, and Madoc's manner really makes me think of how a Madoc Master would have been a worthy successor to Delgado.
Also catching my eye: we're introduced to Borb first via his portrait in full uniform, and then a shot of his jackboots.
There's some complex wrestling-based plotting in this which it took me three viewings to unravel. I don't want to deprive you of the same deciphering fun, so I'll put it like this: Borb has set up wrestler Harry (Wolfe 'Padmasambhava' Morris) as the eponymous Decapod, who is seen to take on Borb's bodyguard in a wrestling match and kill him.
Then Borb's other bodyguards get mysteriously offed too, the suggestion being that Stepan is behind the killings with the ultimate aim of assassinating Borb. However, it's not so simple, and at the denouement we're confronted with two Decapods and an idealistic, gun-toting Stepan.
This is in the 'better once you understand it' category. If, like me on first viewing, you're just hoping Madoc will come back on, the other bits seem a bit dull and convoluted. Also, I was half-expecting some ten-legged alien beast to be the Decapod, it was a disappointment to see it was just some bloke dressed like the Karkus.
No comments:
Post a Comment