The Young Avenger
Page 59 of 110

All Done with Mirrors
By Joseph A.P. Lloyd

Direction: Four out of five. Most of this episode is shot on location, and Austin, who is very experienced in this sort of thing, having been responsible for The Gravediggers' train sequence, has a wonderful time with it, all the while keeping the audience's suspicions up, and making sure that we do not find out how the voices are being transmitted until it says so in the script. A brilliant result for his first episode shown on TV.

Plot: Four out of five. Again, a brilliant plot, to get secrets by Science Fiction could easily have been made as an Emma solo adventure. It is a shame we never see Vance write for the series again. There are a few too many characters to reasonably keep track of, and the scientists seem a little sidelined, but apart from that, it is perfect.

Original Music: Four out of five. Howard Blake seems to be having a whale of a time with the score, for he hardly ever has to resort back to the old Laurie Johnson favourites as most of the episodes do. A very, very good score, showing just how great a musician Howard Blake is.

With Music From: "Never, Never Say Die," "From Venus With Love."

Wittiness: Two out of five. I am not very familiar with Vance's work, but the only Saint episode I saw of his had a comparable amount of good lines with this one. Here is a good one. "So, you don't know Guthrie?" "Probably not, ask Barlow."

Action: Two out of five. There is a great fight at the end between Tara and just about everyone else in the lighthouse, but I think the idea of "Leap Year?" as a closing line for it is extremely inappropriate. Tara comes off better here than in most fights, though.

Cars/Sets/Locations: Five out of five. We have here another mainly location episode, with lovely filming in Devon and Sussex (Beachy Head is a favourite suicide spot, by the way) and Watney's Jaguar S-Type. The lighthouse is also very well constructed, and the whole thing fits together beautifully. I also love the pool sequence, where Macnee eyes up Rhonda. Who wouldn't?

Introduction/Tag: Four out of five. The best directed introduction in the series is here, especially when Austin chooses to film Markin in the hubcaps of his own car walking away from it. Very, very clever. The location tag is also very welcome as a change from normal. Superb.

Overall Impression: Another one of those episodes with an indefinable quality about them, I am afraid I cannot give this episode more than seven for a few important reasons. 1) Watney is just awful. 2) The music does get very repetitive after a while. 3) It does not have Emma Peel in it.

Rating: Seven out of ten.

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Page last modified: 5 May 2017.

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