3.14 - The Secrets Broker

[darren]

Written by Ludovic Peters

Directed by Jonathan Alwyn

Production completed: 19 October 1963

[Charlie Parker]

An underrated episode in my opinion. Jack May is great as the slimey Waller and the séance aspect while being a tad predictable works in the episodes favour. Never really got the huge dislike for this episode. Flawed yes, but it is an interesting mix of the second season while foreshadowing the next few years.

[darren]

It's a strange episode this with it's mix of situations. You have the electronics firm on the one side and seance and wine tasting on the other. But it kind of works. There's supposed to have been a chunk edited out of this prior to broadcast but I've never spotted the gap. I do like Jack May, he's wonderfully seedy in this.

It's not exceptional but there's some good stuff going on.

6/10

[Lhbizness]

This one continues to perplex me, and I've now seen it more times than even the far better episodes from Season 3 - I think because I want to define what it is. Some great elements are folded in: the wine store, the seances, the adultery, at least two really top-notch Avengerish baddies. But somehow it doesn't manage to marry those elements into something coherent. Maybe it's that we spend too much time hanging out with villains, whose villainy seems to lie more in their callous murders than in what they're actually do to undermine the government. Maybe it's the tiresome lovers - a trope that crops up a lot in the Cathy Gale series - who are so stupid and self-centered that they don't drum up much sympathy. But I keep having this sense that the whole thing should work really well; Cathy and Steed have some great moments together, Steed's forays into the wine shop are loads of fun. It's just...so very odd. I'm sure that I will write up a more complete review for my own blog, once I figure out what goes on with this episode.

[Charlie Parker]

I think the Avengers Dossiers sums it up: One foot in the Avengers past and the other foot in its future. Agreed it never quite gels but there is some much fun going on I find it hard never to be entertained by the episode.

[Ian Wegg]

I've just read the previous reviews having first watched the episode and they pretty much sum up my opinion. Some good individual scenes but I wasn't sure at any moment what was happening. Someone mentioned that there had been cuts and it seemed to e this was at the very start, I completely missed the explanation about why Cathy Gale and Steed had any interest in the wine shop.

A straight down the middle average 5 from me, which I now see is the lowest score anyone has given.

~iw

[Rhonda]

4 for me. I'm not sure how credibile the method is, in going to the extremes to conceal it, to steal military secrets. There's a difficult fine line between the clever and the contrived that has to be found in the writing (says me, what I wrote!).

[darren]

I gave this one a rewatch the other night and I'd probably vote it down from 6 to 5. Although I found it to be pacier this time, there is just way too much music and one of my least favourite cues gets a lot of airtime. Pretty much every scene has music in, used as transitions or whatever but it really started to grate on me.

[Frankymole]

I think the Avengers Dossiers sums it up: One foot in the Avengers past and the other foot in its future. Agreed it never quite gels but there is some much fun going on I find it hard never to be entertained by the episode.

I love the bit where Jack May is using his swordstick against Steed and impales the barrel, Steed admonishes "Watch out for your Burgundy, Mr. Waller" and he returns with "It's a bad year, Mr. Steed" and grins with joy at the gag - definitely the shape of things to come with Avengers wittiness in future seasons.



I will always have a soft spot for anything with Patricia English in, as she sent me an email once.

Her runny nose is slightly distracting in the final laboratory scene though!

8/10 from me, it's an episode that has a lot going on and keeps my interest.

[mousemeat]

no argument here..in terms of material..well written and snappy dialogue ...what's not to like...would have loved to seen this done
later..on film..the Gale tenure, is indeed special..and set the stage for later years of the series