The Little Wonders
by Terylene
To be honest, Reverend Steed's "ingenuous" face sells itself
when he must creep into this singular "white-collar" criminal
organization. After all, we should remember that the end justified the means
to Steed. And the fact he plays a bogus mobster in this one isn't harmless,
especially upon finding out he doesn't seem to need any further know-how to
do his "new" job—even when Steed manages to deceive his
"colleagues," but not the fat cats behind the organization.
As in many other Gale shows, the plot of "The Little Wonders"
is quite complicated to the extent that some can't follow it when watching
it for the first time. Nevertheless, a couple of its highly contrasting
details are enough to make for a moment's reflection. The meeting of the
"clergymen" takes place in an empty classroom of a certain
elementary school. That these perverted characters dress in their habits and
use their ecclesiastic ranks may not be a novelty these days, especially
after tons of movies depicting the same thing. But the sight of such
"priests" putting their guns on a silver plate before
"negotiations" begin—in the best style of reunions of gangsters
or cowboys—surrounded by writing desks, toys and posters, is a little
frightening. The angelical atmosphere of an elementary school is drastically
opposed to that of the ominous criminal band, and that subliminal message
keeps on until the end of the episode, when the camera focuses on the guns
still placed on the writing desks.
That's not all, though. Many viewers could conclude that the doll whose
head is destroyed with a hammer, and for whose patch-up a fortune is asked,
must carry some sort of vital information. Also, suspicion around Fingers is
aroused when we see that, unlike Steed, he was miraculously uninjured after
Sister Johnson's coldhearted machine gunning. That's when an important
factor hidden behind the criminal maneuvers of Bibliotek is
discovered—treason. Fingers, Beardmore and Sister Johnson are revealed as
sophisticated villains who take advantage of the Bishop's weakness—and
"integrity" for that matter—and make their own businesses at the
expense of Bibliotek. A great alliance... pity they run into Mrs Gale and
Reverend Steed, aka "Johnny the Horse"...
Once again, performances do more for the episode than the storyline
itself. It's a pleasure to see Kenneth J. Warren again (yes, the frenetic
Z.Z. von Schnerk of "Epic") in the role
of an ambitious thug, who persuaded Steed to dispose of the Bishop. Another
of the "clergymen" is a black actor, to whom no more than two or
three lines were given. The cruelty of that sequence wherein a merciless
Sister Johnson gunned down the "ministers" possibly make this
female the most evil psychopathic woman ever to appear in The Avengers.
Moreover, in view of such a wicked role, one might say Sister Johnson quite
deserved Mrs Gale's bullet...
Even so, "The Little Wonders" still has something up the
sleeve. And that is the celebrated kiss Steed gave Cathy in front of the
criminals to suggest they were man and wife. Okay, the circumstances may
have been forced, but the feeling I got out of this kiss is that Mr Macnee
does not look uncomfortable at all giving it, and Miss Blackman does not
seem unwilling to receive it...