Post by rhort on Feb 1, 2013 4:25:28 GMT -5
Beginning in Cricklewood, the doorbell is ringing, and a half-shaven Gary is forced to come down from upstairs to answer it because Yvonne is engrossed in a phone conversation, working out the details of her upcoming business trips. As she leaves with the driver who was at the front door, Gary engages in a bit of frivolity with her dictation machine, showing something of his lack of seriousness when it comes to Yvonne’s career. Ron’s arrival a short time later shows him to be in a much better mood with Gary than he has been of late, even to the point where he is buttering him up somewhat. I always thought this might be leading up to something, but couldn’t understand what.
On to the 40s, and Gary’s meal with Phoebe in an upmarket restaurant leads immediately to intrigue, as the soldier waiting in reception seems to be staring most intently at Gary. Gary convinces Phoebe that he’s staring at her in her nice dress, however, after they are seated at their table and are midway through their meal, Phoebe has noticed that a number of the other diners are also staring. After a brief investigation as to the reason they might be staring at him, Gary asks for the bill, only to find that it has already been paid. As Gary and Phoebe leave, one of the other diners appears and instructs Gary, most insistently, to get into a waiting car with him.
A wartime MI5 interrogation room is not the place Gary thought this evening would end up, but as Lieutenant-Commander MacDuff interviews him, it quickly becomes apparent that his normal level of backstory isn’t going to help on this occasion. An outstanding performance by Timothy West here, carries most of this scene with his usual aplomb, filling his character’s dialogue with various terms of public school origin. As Gary makes an attempt to come clean, telling MacDuff that he’s a time traveller in order to avoid being mistaken for a spy, he finds he is completely ignored, as the officer has far more pressing matters at hand, which will make use of Gary’s uncanny resemblance to a senior French field officer. In return for Gary’s cooperation in impersonating Colonel DuPont, MacDuff offers him genuine MI5 papers and a more or less complete reality to his existing cover story.
Interesting side issue here (for a geek like me anyway) is the part where MacDuff hints at Gary’s knowledge of classified information, such as any knowledge of ‘D Day’ might further reinforce the suspicions that he is an enemy agent of some sort, leads Gary to say “Day after C day?”, which in fact, the ‘D Day’ in question was. When most people hear the term ‘D Day’, they automatically assume that it refers to 6th June 1944, when the Normandy Landings took place, and further assume that the term ‘D Day’ uniquely identifies that day, however, it’s a fairly common term in military operations, for two good reasons: Firstly it means that if the plans ever fell into enemy hands, it doesn’t identify any specific date or dates, and secondly, if at some point during the planning stage, a decision is taken to change the date of the operation, it’s not then necessary to reprint all the existing copies of the current plans, which would also increase the chance of at least one of them falling into enemy hands. From this we see that Gary didn’t really do himself any favours there.
With everything resolved, for the time being at least, Gary and Phoebe return to the west end flat and discuss the issue. This week’s eagle-eyed viewer moment comes from Gary’s “Black car, revolver” line, when you might have noticed that the gun MacDuff used to encourage Gary’s compliance was a semi-automatic, not a revolver; exactly the same mistake was made by the makers of the board game Cluedo. As the conversation develops, the realities of the mission begin to hit home for Gary in a big way, and as always, when a crisis comes up, Gary runs to Ron, and we see him discussing the problem with him. Ron, however, is no real help this time, as he seems already convinced that there will be danger, and plenty of it. Gary’s announcement that the mission is simply to the Isle of Wight doesn’t really do much to put Ron off, and Ron’s hypothetical version of events that might unfold then is then used to great effect for much of the rest of the episode.
Back to the 40s, and the MI5 office where another briefing is taking place for Gary, and he’s using the time to basically relay Ron’s hypothesis to MacDuff. The meeting is then interrupted by the arrival of Colonel DuPont, which highlights the incredible resemblance between the two men, and reinforcing Gary’s suitability for the role. After the installation of his false moustache, Gary returns to the Royal Oak, and finds Reg there, who instantly assumes that he is, in fact, DuPont, and so tries out his one and only French phrase on him; hilarity ensues. Reg also comes up with the same theory as Ron as to what might happen to Gary during his mission, and then when Phoebe arrives, she suggests exactly the same. Reg then carries the end of this scene by trying to recount a joke, with typical results.
Arriving back at Cricklewood, Gary find’s Yvonne’s dictation machine in the front room, which has details of a task she’s like him to do, telling him that he’ll find further instructions upstairs, however, when Gary gets there, he find Yvonne waiting in bed for him. She goes on to tell him that a model is coming to take part in one of her ad campaigns, and that she needs someone to look after her on Saturday, however, this will conflict with Gary’s mission. As she goes on to explain about the various successes her business is experiencing, she points out that she currently has a three hour window in her schedule, which Gary, after going through a few excuses, decides to take advantage of.
Back at the shop some time later, and Gary is packing when Ron arrives, complete with a flack jacket for him, showing us something of the level of concern Ron clearly has for his friend at this point. Briefly on to the 40s ward room, and Gary has a final moment with MacDuff before leaving on his boat, however, after being dropped off, the French signage on the buildings, combined with the German troops marching around the place, quickly tell him that he is not on the ‘Eel of Wigget’!
I’d give this episode a 90% rating. This has everything that this series should have, and I only wish there were more episodes like this one. Luckily, there is…
On to the 40s, and Gary’s meal with Phoebe in an upmarket restaurant leads immediately to intrigue, as the soldier waiting in reception seems to be staring most intently at Gary. Gary convinces Phoebe that he’s staring at her in her nice dress, however, after they are seated at their table and are midway through their meal, Phoebe has noticed that a number of the other diners are also staring. After a brief investigation as to the reason they might be staring at him, Gary asks for the bill, only to find that it has already been paid. As Gary and Phoebe leave, one of the other diners appears and instructs Gary, most insistently, to get into a waiting car with him.
A wartime MI5 interrogation room is not the place Gary thought this evening would end up, but as Lieutenant-Commander MacDuff interviews him, it quickly becomes apparent that his normal level of backstory isn’t going to help on this occasion. An outstanding performance by Timothy West here, carries most of this scene with his usual aplomb, filling his character’s dialogue with various terms of public school origin. As Gary makes an attempt to come clean, telling MacDuff that he’s a time traveller in order to avoid being mistaken for a spy, he finds he is completely ignored, as the officer has far more pressing matters at hand, which will make use of Gary’s uncanny resemblance to a senior French field officer. In return for Gary’s cooperation in impersonating Colonel DuPont, MacDuff offers him genuine MI5 papers and a more or less complete reality to his existing cover story.
Interesting side issue here (for a geek like me anyway) is the part where MacDuff hints at Gary’s knowledge of classified information, such as any knowledge of ‘D Day’ might further reinforce the suspicions that he is an enemy agent of some sort, leads Gary to say “Day after C day?”, which in fact, the ‘D Day’ in question was. When most people hear the term ‘D Day’, they automatically assume that it refers to 6th June 1944, when the Normandy Landings took place, and further assume that the term ‘D Day’ uniquely identifies that day, however, it’s a fairly common term in military operations, for two good reasons: Firstly it means that if the plans ever fell into enemy hands, it doesn’t identify any specific date or dates, and secondly, if at some point during the planning stage, a decision is taken to change the date of the operation, it’s not then necessary to reprint all the existing copies of the current plans, which would also increase the chance of at least one of them falling into enemy hands. From this we see that Gary didn’t really do himself any favours there.
With everything resolved, for the time being at least, Gary and Phoebe return to the west end flat and discuss the issue. This week’s eagle-eyed viewer moment comes from Gary’s “Black car, revolver” line, when you might have noticed that the gun MacDuff used to encourage Gary’s compliance was a semi-automatic, not a revolver; exactly the same mistake was made by the makers of the board game Cluedo. As the conversation develops, the realities of the mission begin to hit home for Gary in a big way, and as always, when a crisis comes up, Gary runs to Ron, and we see him discussing the problem with him. Ron, however, is no real help this time, as he seems already convinced that there will be danger, and plenty of it. Gary’s announcement that the mission is simply to the Isle of Wight doesn’t really do much to put Ron off, and Ron’s hypothetical version of events that might unfold then is then used to great effect for much of the rest of the episode.
Back to the 40s, and the MI5 office where another briefing is taking place for Gary, and he’s using the time to basically relay Ron’s hypothesis to MacDuff. The meeting is then interrupted by the arrival of Colonel DuPont, which highlights the incredible resemblance between the two men, and reinforcing Gary’s suitability for the role. After the installation of his false moustache, Gary returns to the Royal Oak, and finds Reg there, who instantly assumes that he is, in fact, DuPont, and so tries out his one and only French phrase on him; hilarity ensues. Reg also comes up with the same theory as Ron as to what might happen to Gary during his mission, and then when Phoebe arrives, she suggests exactly the same. Reg then carries the end of this scene by trying to recount a joke, with typical results.
Arriving back at Cricklewood, Gary find’s Yvonne’s dictation machine in the front room, which has details of a task she’s like him to do, telling him that he’ll find further instructions upstairs, however, when Gary gets there, he find Yvonne waiting in bed for him. She goes on to tell him that a model is coming to take part in one of her ad campaigns, and that she needs someone to look after her on Saturday, however, this will conflict with Gary’s mission. As she goes on to explain about the various successes her business is experiencing, she points out that she currently has a three hour window in her schedule, which Gary, after going through a few excuses, decides to take advantage of.
Back at the shop some time later, and Gary is packing when Ron arrives, complete with a flack jacket for him, showing us something of the level of concern Ron clearly has for his friend at this point. Briefly on to the 40s ward room, and Gary has a final moment with MacDuff before leaving on his boat, however, after being dropped off, the French signage on the buildings, combined with the German troops marching around the place, quickly tell him that he is not on the ‘Eel of Wigget’!
I’d give this episode a 90% rating. This has everything that this series should have, and I only wish there were more episodes like this one. Luckily, there is…
