The Avengers Forever: The GLG Reports

	The GLG Reports Page 51 of 67

The Interrogators
By Grant L. Goggans

"Any man who smokes such a revolting mixture must be evil incarnate!" This is one of the few solid diamonds of the final season, and not just because film veteran Christopher Lee made his second Avengers appearance in it. The story is outstanding, and this surprising scheme really does seem like a villainous plan which, once it's revealed, could work in the real world. There's just enough of a touch of whimsy mixed with a very carefully-crafted plot to keep it lighthearted, and the farcical dialogue ("Follow that pigeon!") meshes well with the stark scenes of torture. Lee is, of course, magnificent as the stiff-upper-lip military traitor Mannering. It's a shame he couldn't have returned in another villain role in The New Avengers, actually. There's a great recurring gag revolving the contacts each being slain by Mannering's sniper. Each one is totally alone, out in the open, enjoying their own specific hobby, before dying. Best of the four we see is a one-man band practicing in a quarry. The cacophony he makes when he falls down the slope dead is nothing like you hear on any other TV show. The greatest bit comes in a blink-or-miss-it moment when Mallard is excused from his torture. Watch also for Mother's base-of-the-week, a room packed with flowers, accessible only by a telephone booth with a false back... it's a double spoof of both Get Smart and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.!