3.06 - Man With Two Shadows

[darren]

Written by James Mitchell

Directed by Don Leaver

Production completed: 21 June 1963

[jaz]

This is a truly great episode

[darren]

10/10

This was writer James Mitchell's final Avengers script but he went on to create Callan. I can see the heavy spy link. It's a very intense script with some sad and scary ideas going on.

The scene of Steed and Mothe...sorry Charles going to see Peter Borowski is stunning. Terence Lodge is an incredible actor as he jumps from one imposed character to another and his mind is severely messed up. And we get the crueller version of Steed as he kicks Peter to the floor. I love the set design of the cell with its almost german expressionistic qualities of the distorted walls and the spikes around the skylight.

We get to see Steed upset by the playback of Borowski's interrogation - he asks Cathy to turn it off. A rare insight into something deeper than the happy go lucky persona he projects.

Don Leaver next to Peter Hammond is easily the best videotape era director (and he was no slouch on film in season 4). He's so wonderfully controlled and stylish. He's very economical in his approach getting just what is needed. A good example is the camera move and actor blocking of Steed with the Dentist's in the Holiday camp chalet. They all move in and out of shot as necessary but it never looks awkward as the camera is synchronised with them.

Future director (though not on the Avengers) Paul Bernard designs some very stylish and minimalist sets. I love the false perspective of the corridor outside Borowski's prison cell, that's something I wish the show had done more of as it just add an almost surreal quality. The Vienna room is just free standing doorways, chandeliers, a central fountain yet it works.

Honor has some wonderful moments like when Cathy doesn't know who she can trust. You can really feel her unease around the possibly fake Steed. She gets one of her best fights in the Vienna room with lots of flying tables and chairs all played out against a waltz instead of stock drumming. Probably helped by the larger space but it was easily the most dynamic and epic fight scene at that point.

For all the fantasy of doubles and spying, it has the mundane and human qualities like fake Gordon's relationship with Julie which we know plays out even after the episode has finished. It's quite a dark ending with them knowing full well that Gordon is a fake and yet is allowed to continue as he's useful to the goverment.

I really like that colour photo of Steed and Cathy on the love seat in the Vienna room!

[Avengerholic]

Every time I watch this episode I'm completely distracted by Cathy's static nylon hair. I assume they eventually coloured it brown and passed it on to Linda Thorson !

[Mona]

This is an amazing episode all around. The different views of Steed are fascinating, and his honest portrayal of the disturbing aspect of seeing himself dead was very interesting and clearly allows us to see depths of his humanity. Yes, he loves being an agent, but life and death are precious and having him relate the vision of his own eventual death, what he likely will look some day when things go wrong and he doesn't win, was chilling.

This episode was brilliant; from the intense meeting with the emotionally damaged man at the beginning, to the setting of the resort, it certainly kept my attention.

Also, at the very end of the episode, in the tag scene, it seems very clear that Mrs. Gale has seen a nekkid Steed, since the implication is made that she would be able to identify him by seeing his body.

Tangential thought based on that scene: I imagine Steed and Mrs. Gale did have sex once, and when she found out he had no intention of having any serious relationship with her, she was just one of his ever changing harem, she put the immediate kibosh on their intimacy, and he, being the cad he is in that series, always wants more. I imagine Steed appreciated Mrs. Gale's bosom as much as Pat appreciated Honor's.

[Ian Wegg]

3/10 from me, and I see I'm not alone.

There are obviously some big fans of this episode but I could barely make it to the end, sorry.

[Lee]

I've given this an 8.

I really like this episode. Who's who?
Very disturbing interrogation scene with some really strong acting.
Great concept.

An interesting episode as an earlier, rather than a later, series 3 episode.

[Rhonda]

6 for me. There are some strange interior locations that make it all a bit unreal. Steed and Cathy's exchanges keep it interesting.

[Allard]

This is an episode one sees with different eyes when having seen Callan episodes. A show created by the writer of this episode.

In both a central theme is the dark side of the spying business, this makes it stand out somewhat from the other Gale era episodes and certainly a lot from later seasons.

A great episode, that dares to go a bit deeper and makes it stand out. Also one of the most interesting for Steed & Cathy's relationship.

Minus point is the cabin set, it just shouts being fake. A holiday park should be spacious and bright, this is dark and confined. Strangely some of the other sets are very good.

[Frankymole]

Charles's exchanges with Cathy Gale over ice cream are sublime. When she asks him "Who guards the guards?" in Latin, he replies "Rem acu tetigisti", which means "You have touched the matter with a needle": you hit the nail on the head. Nowadays the TV company would have to explain it to viewers they think are thick, even though you can look it up in seconds now. IN the 60s, even on "inferior" commercial television they considered you intelligent enough to not talk down to you. Another reason I love "old" TV and film, especially drama.

I love Steed's dig to Cathy about going home to her "buttons and buzzers" - I know he's meant to be an 18th century man and she, like Emma, is a 21st century woman but her apartment is ridiculously full-on. I'm glad they scaled this back for Emma because Cathy's dystopian nightmare of a home reminds me of the hilarious 1970s comedy episode in Michael Crawford's series "Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em" where he becomes entrapped in and wrecks someone's "fully-automated" modernist house.

Lovely script from a real master of the craft. Some moments of proper jeopardy, and the doppelganger plot wasn't yet a cliché in the series - the switches between shots of the two Steeds in different costumes was remarkable for an "as live" production.