U.N.C.L.E. a day is my obsessive-compulsive approach at working through The Complete Man for U.N.C.L.E., now available on DVD. One episode, one review a day (usually – occasional hiatuses may occur due to travel).
Meant to post this yesterday, but I forgot to hit that silly “publish” button. Sorry.
Ah, the acting talent of Carroll O’Connor. A decade before his seminal role of Archie Bunker, here he plays a hypochondriac THRUSH agent named Brock who is obsessed with numerology (and specializes in chewing scenery). Napoleon has to infiltrate his sea cruise disguised as a secretary (!) to see what connection he has to a brainwashed U.N.C.L.E. agent.
This episode is a return-to-form after the last couple of episodes. They were… well, subpar would be charitable. Vaughn’s fopish cover is quite good, and O’Connor is fantastic. Lots of good stuff here – Illya practicing his martial art skills in Waverly’s office, the swamp fight between Napoleon and a big bad guy, Napoleon’s bluff and it’s aftermath, and the final reveal as to what THRUSH’ plot is (the brainwashed U.N.C.L.E. agent was bait, to capture Solo)… all in all, a solid episode.
The writers and Vaughn finally “lock into” his semi-serious/semi-cheeky character with this episode. The balance of action and whimsey that he brings to the show is in full affect here, and even though Vaughn and McCallum only have a few scenes together you can see the chemistry is almost “locked in” as well.
Note: we still don’t have the pen transmitter – Solo uses his umbrella to call U.N.C.L.E. HQ.