“Lobster Quadrille” Review

Cathy’s last episode, sadly. Worse, it’s a bit of a whimper, opening with a rather routine sinister murder and conspiracy then shaping up to be a rather boring standard procedural. Worse still, Cathy is kidnapped and used as bait. Steed does, however, postpone and evening of seduction to rescue her, which at least reflects some kind of affection on his part. I hope he’ll miss her. I will.

On the plus side, Burt Kwouk makes a guest appearance, some 30 or so years before the first Fruit Corner Badger Parade, though in the same year Cato was introduced in A Shot in the Dark (Kwouk’s first Avengers appearance was in a lost Keel episode, but he’ll be back once more).

Seeing Steed in a club without Venus is odd – it feels like she should be there.

We finally get confirmation of Steed’s address in this new flat: it is still 5 Westminster Mews! (How come? The flat looks totally different to the 5 Westminster Mews of series 2.)

There’s a sly reference to the reason for Blackman’s departure in Steed’s final lines to her – “pussyfooting” (in the Bahamas). She went on, of course, to appear as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger (which guest star Kwouk also appears in).

Unable to ask Cathy to help him on an assignment, Steed rings someone (“I’ve been busy”, he says, he obviously hasn’t spoken to her in a while). Mrs Peel?

I’m looking forward – of course I am – to Mrs Peel and series 4 but Cathy’s 41 episodes have been superb, and the role she has shaped – so  different to that played by Venus Smith, or even Drs Keel and King – is the blueprint for the Mrs Peel, Tara, and Purdey. The episodes themselves, they’ve been a mixed bag – of course they have – but among them are some of the very best episodes of The Avengers and she has had many wonderful scenes.

Thank you, Cathy Gale.

About Simon Wood

Lecturer in medical education, lapsed mathematician, Doctor Who fan and garden railway builder. See simonwood.info for more...

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