The Avengers Forever: The Young Avenger

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Room Without a View
By Joseph A.P. Lloyd

Direction: Two and a half out of five. I cannot believe that two episodes forward in the transmission order, and only a month and a half in the production order Roy Baker has slid down to half what his score was before! There is just nothing of interest here: it is another one I fell asleep in, and I am glad that I did.

Plot: Two and a half out of five. I was not confused by the plot (even though my brain turned off in the middle), so it cannot have been that bad, but still, it is just not memorable! Paul Whitsun-Jones is an interesting inclusion, but he cannot do much to save this from being just plain boring.

Music: Two out of five. I cannot remember any special music, so there cannot have been anything interesting here to write about. Sorry I cannot give you a more full review, it is probable that there is something in the bit I fell asleep in that is interesting and new, but I cannot sense it. Sorry.

Wittiness: Two out of five. Is this a Roger Marshall script? In only five episodes, we have gone from the sophisticated, sharp wit of "Dial a Deadly Number" to having to watch this extremely carefully to get any witty lines at all. I have watched this three times, and I can only actually remember one line of it as Steed and Varnals about to spring on some unsuspecting hotel workers: "You take that one." "Why?" "Because his jacket will fit you better."

Action: Three out of five. Although they might be in awful Chinese make-up, the end fight is rather amusing, and sort of makes up for the incredible tedium of the rest of the episode, but not enough, in my opinion. But Varnals is a bit of a silly character to have anyway, as he is played by the wrong actor, and does not seem to have any part in it anyway. Oh dear.

Cars/Sets/Locations: Two out of five. The only form of wheeled vehicle we see in this episode is, I think, either a Chinese laundry van or Steed's Bentley, my memory is a little bit hazy when it comes to this, as I could only watch this one three times, which is not really enough, I apologise.

Introduction/Tag: Three out of five. The tag is a complete joke, with Steed pulling Emma in the rickshaw ("Slow down, Steed, it is a thirty limit!"), and very fitting with what the episode could have, and should have been. However, the introduction is very boring, and if the most interesting thing that Roy Baker can find to point the camera at is a lamp shade, then you know that this not really worth watching.

Overall Impression: Despite both Paul Whitsun-Jones and Peter Arne (the latter putting in two terrific performances in the second season), this episode really does fall utterly flat when it comes to entertaining the viewers. The plot is dull, the direction is dull, and Peter Jeffrey is just utterly wasted. It is a wonder that they ever got him back, after producing such rubbish as this. Ah well, at least we have Steed as a Gourmet.

Rating: Four out of ten.