The Young Avenger
Page 104 of 110

K is for Kill, Part 1
By Joseph A.P. Lloyd

Direction: Two out of five. What starts off as a thing with some nice shots of Tibet rapidly turns into something with direction that is about as interesting as the mouse arrow on an Acorn A5000. It is just as dull as part two, what sets them apart is the content.

Plot: Three out of five. Although the plot is original, the pacing is just tiresomely slow. There seems to be no real reason for the presence of the Avengers either in Berkshire 25th July 1965 or in France on 14th August 1977. Other than that, it is a very interesting story, but it is too drawn out, and there are no funny scenes to draw out the seriousness.

Music Cheese Factor: Three and a half out of five. Not as bad as part two, but still we have some very kitsch tunes coming out of the TV speakers, particularly as Gambit decides, very foolishly, to try and knock a Russian out of a tree, without the man in the tree seeing him. Hmmm.

Wittiness: Two out of five. The best line in this is very relevant to me, as it is something I do regularly. "What are we doing in France then?" "Steed needs to replenish his cellar."

Fights: Three and a half out of five. Gambit versus an entire platoon of the Russians by himself, then versus a sniper in a tree. But the best bit is Purdey capturing a prisoner, and looking extremely cool in the process. The most Steed gets to do is throw a grenade, which is more than usual.

Cars/Sets/Locations: Four out of five. Despite the presence of a large number of scenes with military vehicles moving slowly across the picture in them, we do have Steed and Purdey in a Jeep chasing a Russian. Then there is Steed's Bentley, putting in its farewell appearance, and a French Rover SD1. The sets are all right, but the locations are great, so we get to see an awful lot of French chateaux being blown to bits!

Introduction: Three out of five. On 21st April 1945, a group of Russian soldiers break into a secret mountain layer in Tibet and torture its owner. Then, we cut to Berkshire on 25th July 1965, where the Russian soldier attacks the Salvation Army Hall (there is one in every village). Then we have him dying in the attempt. Effective, but too long and complicated.

Overall Impression: It is so great to see Emma Peel again! This one only makes the top five of the second season because of this inclusion, and it does not mean that it even is the fifth highest episode in the actual ratings either. The Emma footage is brief and not very witty (why has Emma changed her name?), the plot is good in a film kind of way, but is not The Avengers, there is too much random gunfire, and silly flashbacks. It is as if the IQ of the audience is going down that they need stories with such slow pacing. There are too many characters here as well, and Gambit has an awful shiny white jacket. Not very good, but still better than what was to come...

Rating: Six out of ten.

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Page last modified: 5 May 2017.

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