And so this trip through the monochrome 'Man From UNCLE' episodes ends with this, 'The Odd Man Affair', and it is a bit odd. I've never really known what to think of this episode. In many ways, it functions as a backdoor pilot would, neglecting core characteristics of the series proper and boosting a guest star into lead character status, but in other ways it's very conventional. However, let's get back to this after chatting about the plot a little.
Mr Waverly is concerned about a ring of extremist cells in Europe, and decides someone should impersonate the noted (and now very dead) assassin Marcel Raymond. Turning to a former field agent unhappily turned file clerk for information, that clerk Sully (played by the always reliable Martin Balsam) pledges only to assist if he can be the one to enact the impersonation. Then, with Sully being tricky with his escorts Solo and Kuryakin along the way, we travel to Europe, pick up one of the newly revived agent's girlfriend assistants (Barbara Shelley), and get into some serious bluffing. Oh, I'm pretty sure we also get that London-style bus from 'The Gazebo In The Maze Affair' back again. How sweet! And the bad guy was in 'Get Smart' as Leadside in one notable appearance.
After the stylish and overly cool excesses of the first season, 'The Odd Man Affair' is a bit of a letdown. Balsam is nice, but Solo is sidelined in order to make space for Sully to shine and the episode suffers as a result. Less Solo means a duller story, always and inevitably. Barbara Shelley is good, though, and the final scene is very fitting. The episode just isn't as smart or different as those which have preceded it. And with that, we rest.
We stop here, because creator and showrunner Sam Rolfe leaves between seasons, and UNCLE then apparently gets caught in a creative tug of war, and a tonal seesaw ride under the contemporary 'Batman' influence and the subsequent backlash. There is bound to be some very good stuff in seasons two, three and four, but I know not what. We end with Barbara Shelley stating that Sully, Solo, Kuryakin and their ilk must all be mad and then move on.
Maybe we'll do 'Get Smart' in the future!
Oliver.
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