Great opening – a woman finds her long lost husband has returned to the house – and he tries to strangle her. During a dinner party. Overall, though, it’s slow paced and the dialogue is fairly leaden. The usual character interplay is weighed down by an ill-judged jobsworth colleague for Steed. Presumably the intention is to make Steed look better by contrast to this idiot, but of course it does the opposite (having shit hot colleagues would make Steed more impressive for being the best of the best).
The structure is oddly similar to that of The Master Minds (it’s by a different writer – Roger Marshall) but both have their first act at the home of a patient, with the action shifting completely then as The Avengers go under cover, and in both cases the fight is accompanied by a soundtrack that is fast-forwarded or slowed down (it’s a tape-recorder here rather than a film, but the concept is strikingly similar). What this one lacks in wit, however, it makes up for with the terrifying titular room with its blank window. The room, and the mystery of its replica (with a view) is the one element of this story that I remembered between originally viewing this story and getting to re-watch it during the 90s C4 reruns.
Paul Whitsun-Jones is entertaining enough as the…what is the gastronomic equivalent of a voyeur? He previously appeared in The Man With Two Shadows and The Wringer. Peter Arne, the man who played two different roles in consecutive episodes is back too. Peter Jeffrey, the bumbling spy in this, will be back and in a far better role in The Joker, as well as another Avengers and a New Avengers too.
The tag scene is a Steed drawn rickshaw. With speeded up film.