In the opening scene we see an injured man driving for his life pursued by two other men; he briefly gives them the slip and breaks in to a nearby house. Here he places a small box in a red 'treasure chest' then takes an invitation to a motor race and posts it to Steed. He then drives to Steed's house but dies before he can give full details. Outside the two enemy agents listen in as Steed and Mrs Peel try to make sense of what the man said. When the invitation arrives Steed and Mrs Peel head to the house but are told they can't have access to the chest; it contains the prize money for the race; if they want it they will have to win. Steed tries to explain the importance but Sir George Benstead, the man organising the event, is killed before he can tell Steed anything. The race takes the form of a treasure hunt and to make things more interesting driver's racing partners are selected at random. Steed is paired with Penny Blaine; a woman who has lost countless fiancées and Mrs Peel acts as navigator to a man who will cheat to win. Meanwhile the two enemy agents have managed to get into the race. To confuse matters it becomes apparent that they didn't kill Sir George; there is another dangerous person involved in the race and we don't know who it is.
This episode was a lot of fun; while it is ostensibly about retrieving the box before the bad guys get it in reality this is all just a set up to give us an enjoyable car race/treasure hunt. Arthur Lowe makes a welcome if short appearance as Sir George and Valerie Van Ost is a lot of fun as Penny; just about everything that happened reminded her of one of her many fiancées who'd died in some dramatic manner. The race was fun with some amusing moments, classic cars and some lovely rural scenery. This all leads up to a very tense scene where the previously unknown killer has Mrs Peel in a racing simulator which will electrocute her is she goes off the track! While the identity of the killer isn't a total surprise there are a decent number of suspects to choose from; Both Steed and Mrs Peel's driving partners as well as Sir George's Butler who is driving around to ensure fair play. There are a couple of minor, and easy to overlook, plot holes; what happened to all the other competitors in the race and why did Sir George build a simulator that could deliver a fatal shock? Overall a lot of fun and to my mind a classic Avengers episode.
This episode was a lot of fun; while it is ostensibly about retrieving the box before the bad guys get it in reality this is all just a set up to give us an enjoyable car race/treasure hunt. Arthur Lowe makes a welcome if short appearance as Sir George and Valerie Van Ost is a lot of fun as Penny; just about everything that happened reminded her of one of her many fiancées who'd died in some dramatic manner. The race was fun with some amusing moments, classic cars and some lovely rural scenery. This all leads up to a very tense scene where the previously unknown killer has Mrs Peel in a racing simulator which will electrocute her is she goes off the track! While the identity of the killer isn't a total surprise there are a decent number of suspects to choose from; Both Steed and Mrs Peel's driving partners as well as Sir George's Butler who is driving around to ensure fair play. There are a couple of minor, and easy to overlook, plot holes; what happened to all the other competitors in the race and why did Sir George build a simulator that could deliver a fatal shock? Overall a lot of fun and to my mind a classic Avengers episode.