Rodney's Reviews
Emma Peel Color

The £50,000 Breakfast
By Rodney Marshall

I have never seen the "original"—"Death of a Great Dane"—so no chance of a "compare and contrast" here, but having watched this episode four times IMHO it gets better with each viewing. There is possibly too much in the way of "business-speak" in the initial scene in the Litoff offices. However, after that the episode is almost faultless. The icy response of Miss Pegrum is hilarious—"pursuit of that line of enquiry would prove equally fruitless" she tells Steed—particularly bearing in mind that for once he is not making any great effort to flirt. Indeed, Yolande Turner is the main baddy—Litoff is already dead—making it a rare episode with a female mastermind. The characters of Glover (impeccably polite but whose fantasy is to behave badly towards attractive women) and Judy (with her very-60s tie boutique) add plenty of eccentricity.

The £50,000 Breakfast has arguably the most disturbing scene in any Avengers episode. It takes place in Rhodes' shop as the camera pans across a mad assortment of dummies before stopping at the two hit men who withdraw their masks before committing an Avengers no-no: assassinating a woman. It is a beautifully constructed, chilling scene.

There are so many witty touches, from the ties for people who never joined private schools or exclusive clubs to the doctor's summary of Rhodes' condition: "high in carat, low in protein." Stylish and surreal, and one of the most underrated colour episodes.

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