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).
YES! My favorite U.N.C.L.E. episode, ever! Which is strange because in it’s structure and plot, it’s much more like a Mission: Impossible episode than U.N.C.L.E.…
Said plot involves the need to bring down a diplomat who is threatening international relations, and how they do it is elaborate: Illya is in disguise as a member of the “secret police” from the country in question, a young couple’s exterminator company is used as a “false front” for a fake secret military project titled Strigas, and a double/double cross is used when the plan falls apart.
If the story was all that there was to this episode it would be entertaining enough, but the guest cast! William Shatner as the innocent husband! Werner Klemperer as the diplomat! Leonard Nimoy as the diplomat’s assistant!
Yes, you read that right: Shatner and Nimoy appear in this episode together, two years before Star Trek. They only have one scene together, but it’s a good one: Shatner’s character is pretending to be drunk and he falls all over Nimoy!
If you want to introduce anyone to the world of U.N.C.L.E. who is apathetic, THIS is the episode you want to show them. Great writing, acting, and directing: this one’s the whole package.
NOTE: This is the first episode to NOT show the “documentary” opening (not counting the pilot) and uses the “Napoleon behind the bulletproof glass” opening from said pilot – I guess they decided that by the 9th episode people “got” the org chart/purpose of The United Network Command for Law and Enforcement…