6.23 - Love All

[Lee]

I settled down to watch this one last night with my wife. I hadn't seen it for a while, and I remembered it to be quite a frivolous episode, explaining to the Mrs that is was perhaps one of the more way out stories.

I was, however, surprised to find that my memory had cheated a little. Yes, there is all the soppy falling in love of the confirmed 'women-haters' in the ministry withe cleaning lady, but it did seem quite bleak in places, particularly all the close range gun shots. "Oh, that wasn't nice," said my wife at one point.

It was a pleasant surprise to find it was taking itself more seriously than my memory had, ahem, remembered.

The actress playing Martha Roberts was wonderful in which ever guise she was performing, transforming from one to the other with ease. My wife even questioned if it was the same actress when Rodders went to her house, only to find that 'auntY' was in the bath.

In terms of direction, there were lots of intersting shots, particularly out on location, shooting through the iron railings of London's streets. The incidental music, too, was quite haunting in places, some of a little reminiscent of scores which would come later in TNA.

Pat is on top form, but perhaps Linda was a little underused in the story, however she got to shine later. When Linda was meant to jump out of the window, my wife kept saying any minute now she's going to do a high kick and get rid of him. I think she was surprised to actually find Tara 'under the spell' as it were.

All in all, an enjoyable way to spend 50 minutes.

I gave this 8.

[Frankymole]

Good points. The Avengers is often at its most interesting or exciting when it mixes the frivolous and the dangerous well.

Linda Thorson broke a rib for this episode, so I'm glad it was worth a watch!

I too originally wondered if Veronica Strong was both women, the disguise/makeup was good as was the acting. Of course, she was Adam Adamant's unfaithful love interest in the BBC's rival series to The Avengers (as well as being a more benign lady in Children of the Stones which stretched a mixture of fantasy and fear to extreme levels, especially for a "children's show").