This is quietly excellent, and one of the rare examples of continuity in a 1960s television series. We have several recurring characters, from the previously produced episode 'The Quadripartite Affair', and a continuation of the story itself! They were aired several episodes apart, so it's even more rare. On this occasion, we have a recurrence of all three of the guest cast (Jill Ireland, Anne Francis, and John Van Dreelen), as well as director Richard Donner and writer Alan Caillou.
The economy of these early episodes is one of their main strengths, as is the movie-grade production. 'The Giuoco Piano Affair' is often better than a James Bond movie of the time for those reasons, and it's no surprise that Donner went on to make hugely popular movies. He's one of the lesser known cameo directors, but he appears here in a great two-part party sequence, where the producers Sam Rolf, Norman Felton and Joseph Calvelli also pop in in quirky fashion. It'a a party that bookends the whole episode, as it continues without Marion (Ireland), in her apartment, as she is hooked on a decoy mission with Ilya and Napoleon, and doesn't even notice that she has vanished for four days. It looks like a nice party. There is a chess board, so it can't have been all bad.
If we must have a plot summary, then let it be brief: Napoleon and Ilya talk Marion Raven into going with them and being kidnapped by the fugitives Gervaise Ravel and Harold Bufferton, so that the deviously dangerous duo can finally be captured. Using a mix of hideous schemes and double bluffs, and while being betrayed in unexpected ways, will the UNCLE agents reach their objective? Well, of course they do! Let's not ask questions which are too silly.
It's the usual fluffy nonsense, of course, but it is done very very well. The then-married McCallum and Ireland click more in this episode, not having to start from scratch this time, and Robert Vaughn continues to out-class practically everyone in the show apart from Leo G Carroll and Anne Francis. The man just has to stand there, bizarrely, and barely do anything. He even flashed a mirror stylishly. Maybe he was the king of cool, after all? His take town of the corrupt police lieutenant at the end is masterful. The big test will be when we get Vaughn and Shatner on the same side, in a few episodes time, and Nimoy too! Also in the plusses for this episode, we have John Van Dreelen giving a very cool performance of what could have been some very hacky lines indeed. He was definitely one of the great UNCLE villains.
And thus we stop. What a lovely season this is.
O.
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