Hugh 'Channing' Burden is excellent as Roman-obssessed Bruno Luca, who plans to make himself emperor of the world. His agrochemical company is distributing contaminated seed and fertilisers, creating famine and panic - whereupon his fascist political party can take over. He'd have gotten away with it too if he hadn't got impatient and decided to spread the Black Death as a quicker solution.
Steed and Cathy quickly trace the link from the factory to the party's headquarters, and a few escapes and recaptures later have dealt with the fascists. Further time is saved by the way that Luca's lieutenant Marcus (John Flint, the 3rd Crusaders actor so far to appear in The Avengers) fancies himself in the role of Brutus and stabs him to death.
I like the combination of ideas in this story. but it seemed a bit flat and unsatisfying - there was no real difficulty for Steed and Cathy in uncovering the plot. Steed's Roman disguise, and hand-to-hand fight with Marcus, are enjoyable though.
Three actors return from previous episodes: Ian Shand from Traitor in Zebra, Kenneth Keeling from Mr Teddy Bear and Raymond Adamson from The Decapod.
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