The Young Avenger
Page 3 of 110

The Big Thinker
By Joseph A.P. Lloyd

Direction: Two out of five. Although not a bad director like Claude Fournier in The New Avengers, Mills has about two shots in this episode which are out of the ordinary. Peter Hammond would have had a great time with this episode, but sadly we have Mills instead. Shame, the plot is rather good.

Plot: Three out of five. Although confusing, the plot is extremely original, although I do not believe that a real establishment would invite someone who clearly has not very much to do with the actual enterprise, like Cathy, round more than once. Kearns is a great bit of casting, though. However, like Immortal Clay, the subplots completely lose me.

Music: One out of ten. Dankworth's music seems particularly grindingly dull in this episode, but maybe I'm being a bit harsh here, for at least we are not treated to the music-less Immortal Clay.

Action: One out of five. Um, as far as my memory serves me, I think that there are only about two fights in the entire episode, and the are not very long. There, my score is justified!

Wittiness: Two out of five. Cathy's constant scenes with Steed "I thought you were going to the Middle East!" are a delight, but no lines stand out above others.

Cars/Sets/Locations: One out of five. I have never seen a tackier set in my life! How the heck the whole thing did not fall apart during the production, I will never know! Cathy's flat is also absolutely tiny, such a contrast to Emma's.

Introduction/Tag: One out of five. The tag is rather amusing, with Steed's dog, and him finally going to the Middle East, but the introduction is rather bad. A cheap set, a not too obvious murder, and lots of gas hissing out. Why wasn't the man found earlier?

Overall Impression: A proto-cybernauts episode, with that sixties concern of raging against the machine, is saved from the horrors of a sub-three rating by two things. First, a wonderful performance from Anthony Booth as Kearns, the best actor by far here. Also, we have Steed playing pinball in one scene. Wonderful! Martin Woodhouse contributes another intelligent script to the show.

Rating: Five out of ten.

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Page last modified: 5 May 2017.

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