The Avengers Forever: The GLG Reports

	The GLG Reports Page 29 of 67

The Living Dead
By Grant L. Goggans

"Transparent? You could read a newspaper through him!" This episode shares an unfortunate trait with those color Avengers that feature a faked fantasy element: it moves at a breathless pace until the audience is clued in to the goings-on, at which point everything stops. Until this unfortunate turn of events, "The Living Dead" is a pretty solid story, and Pamela Ann Davy (as FOG agent Mandy) gets to steal the show in a couple of scenes with Steed, including a wonderful bit where she baby-doll eyes her way into an expedition down the mine. Another common trait with other stories of this era is a death so gruesome it's unreal and almost comical, with a man hanging from a bell pull with an enormous sword sticking out of his back. Veteran villain Julian Glover, known to US audiences by guest starring in just about everything, is pretty good as the sadistic Masgard, but sadly he doesn't get many opportunities to play off the series' leads in this installment. In fact, the only down side to this hour, and it's a major one, is the actual plot and the pacing itself. By this point in the series, the last act revelations of the nasties' secret plans and the rushed conclusion was a hallmark the show should not have reveled in. Without giving this episode away to new viewers, had this hour started with the actual villain scheme and left all the ghost stuff to another show, it might have stood out more. The conclusion is even more slipshod than usual, with more loose ends to be wrapped up, or at least acknowledged, than a show should leave. Despite the fun on the surface, this is obviously an episode marking time until the next great idea comes along. Fortunately, that great idea would be around in about a week...