User Reviews

"Lobster Quadrille" was the final episode for Honor Blackman, who decided that Mrs. Catherine Gale should go out while still on top. Plotwise, it's a curious throwback to the more realistic early crime stories, as it deals with heroin smuggling through the fishing industry, with the two stars rather subdued for much of the episode (especially the naturally exuberant Patrick Macnee). Corin Redgrave, son of Michael and brother of Vanessa and Lynn, plays the main villain, Quentin Slim, who had faked his own death one year before to avoid being arrested for his illicit smuggling activities, and has been using his father's company as a front ever since. Jennie Linden, who worked for both Hammer (1963's "Nightmare") and Amicus (1965's "Dr. Who and the Daleks"), plays the not-so-grieving widow, all too aware that he's not dead, being wined and dined by Steed while Cathy Gale follows a clue leading to a chess shop run by Mason (Burt Kwouk, "Kill the King," "The Cybernauts"), who eventually takes her captive. The final showdown in a burning shack leaves the audience wondering who died, as an anxious John Steed awaits the ambulance at the morgue. The final sequence between Steed and Mrs. Gale was supposedly ad-libbed by the two stars, with Steed mentioning how Cathy would be "pussy-footing along those sun soaked shores" in the Bahamas (Honor Blackman immediately went on to play Pussy Galore in "Goldfinger," which also featured Burt Kwouk). He presents her with a one piece bathing suit as a gift for her upcoming holiday, is promptly surprised at her emphatic goodbye, then immediately phones an unnamed female to do a little job for him (end credits). Norman Scace would return for "What the Butler Saw," and Gary Watson, veteran of "Death on the Slipway" and "Immortal Clay," would return for "Wish You Were Here." Making his last of five appearances (all as nameless bodyguards) is Valentino Musetti, veteran of "The Decapod," "Death a la Carte," "The Secrets Broker," and "The Outside-In Man." This would also be the last of the live videotaped shows, completed in March 1964, enabling the series to reinvent itself on film with a new female partner for Steed when the fourth season began broadcasting in September 1965, this time for a worldwide audience of 120 countries, a record that stands to this day. Once Diana Rigg came aboard as Mrs. Emma Peel, American audiences were introduced to THE AVENGERS in March 1966, when ABC kept the series going for the rest of its original run. Honor Blackman did indeed go out on a high note, not wanting to exhaust the character through repetition, and remains the most beloved Bond Girl of them all. 43 episodes in total, and it was fun while it lasted, never once getting stale. Bring on Mrs. Peel...

This, the last episode to feature Dr Catherine Gale, sees Steed investigating the death of a colleague named Williams, who had been looking into the activities of a group of lobster fishermen. The only clue is the discovery of a distinctive chess piece on the dead man's body. Cathy looks into the chess piece at a shop run by a man named Mason. She says she Williams is staying with her and she wants a set like his. Mason confirms that he knows Williams and states that they were playing a game of postal chess with him; he asks Cathy to take the next move to him. When she looks into the game the two were playing it becomes obvious that they weren't from a chess game and are presumably a code. Steed meanwhile heads to the coast to look into the lobstermen; he befriends Katie, the widow of one of the lobstermen, whose late husband had disappeared just before he was due to be arrested for smuggling and might not be as late as people believe.

This is a pretty good send off so Honor Blackman's Cathy Gale; she does a fine job and has several good scenes; this include the expected fighting with villains and banter with Steed. This banter includes some fun hints at her next, and most famous role; Pussy Galore in 'Goldfinger'. The episode has a good story; nothing too far-fetched; when we discover what is going on it doesn't involve any criminal masterminds or grand plots… just a case of drug smuggling. Burt Kwouk does a solid job as Mason and Jennie Linden has some fun scenes with Patrick Macnee's Steed as Katie. Overall this was a solid episode that gives Cathy Gale a good send off.

Steed investigates the death of one of his colleagues, who was looking into a man believed dead for the past year, apparently killed in a boating accident JUST before he was about to be arrested for smuggling. The trail leads Steed to a lobster import business, and Cathy to a company that specializes in very ornate chess sets. Amidst this, Steed spends a lot of time hanging out with the daughter-in-law of the import company owner, who sings at a local nightclub (HMM, where have I seen that before?).

For most of it, this doesn't feel like Honor Blackman's swansong on the series! In fact, the dark, moody, excessively-talky story FEELS like something from season 1 or early season 2. The production design, which from start to finish is obsessed with black & white chessboard motifs, combined with outragious camera angles, make it LOOK more like something from season 4!

And as an aside, "The Lobster Quadrille" is the 10th chapter of Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland". It mentions England and France, as does this story, and I suppose it's why the nightclub the singer works at has both chessboard designs and illustrations from Carroll's book on its walls. (Is that getting a little too obscure or "artsy" for the show's own good? Hmm...)

Gary Watson is "Bush", an employee of the import company who's using it to smuggle HEROIN. Boy, that goes all the way back to the beginning with Ian Hendry! I've seen him in 3 AVENGERS, a SAINT, and a MISS MARPLE ("Sleeping Murder" with Joan Hickson).

Burt Kwouk is "Mason", who runs the chess shop, which more than any other part of the story really looks like it stepped out of a later season. I've seen him in many things, including 2 AVENGERS episodes, GOLDFINGER, A SHOT IN THE DARK (and its many sequels), THE BRIDES OF FU MANCHU, CASINO ROYALE (the 1967 alleged comedy), 3 DANGER MANs, 3 SAINTs, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, THE STRANGE CASE OF THE END OF CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT, a really terrible Peter Davison DOCTOR WHO story, and a SPACE PRECINCT (this guy really got around!).

Corin Redgrave is "Quentin Slim", a man who faked his own death to avoid the cops. I've also seen him in A STUDY IN TERROR, the MYSTERY & IMAGINATION adaptation of "Dracula" (as Jonathan Harker), and EXCALIBUR (as "Cornwall").

Jennie Linden is "Katie", the not-quite grieving widow who Steed takes a shine to. Seeing Steed getting very friendly with a nightclub singer seems a deliberate throwback to the 6 season 2 episodes with "Venus Smith" (Julie Stevens), who I absolutely adored. I can easily imagine Steed spending a lot of his free time with her between assignments. I've seen her in a Douglas Wilmer SHERLOCK HOLMES ("The Illustrious Client"), DR. WHO AND THE DALEKS, 2 episodes of THE SAINT, VAMPIRA (alias "Old Dracula", OY), and a PARTNERS IN CRIME.

A lot of suspense is built up at the climax, as not once but TWICE Cathy has to rely on her own skills to rescue HERSELF, as Steed is nowhere about! The 2nd time, it momentarily appears she may have succumbed to the same horrible fate as the colleague of Steed's who was murdered before the episode started. When a body is recovered from a fire, Steed is CLEARLY very, very upset and concerned that it might be Cathy who was killed... and quite releved when he learns it wasn't.

What follows was an epilogue that genuinely made me laugh, as Steed, on learning Cathy's going to the Bahamas for a vacation, informs her there's trouble brewing down there, and since she's going to be there anyway... and instead, she tells him bluntly, "GOODBYE". "I'm not going to be pussy-footing on the beach-- I'm going to be lying on it!" "I must have been mis-informed." Given they must have known that Honor Blackman had been cast to play the outragiously-named "Pussy Galore" in the 007 film "GOLDFINGER", this is clearly a blatent in-joke.

Steed immediately gets on the phone with some OTHER woman, and tells her he "has a job" for her... which reminded me of the angry question Cathy tossed in Steed's face all the way back in her debut story, "Warlock": "Why don't you do YOUR OWN WORK?" One can only imagine what-- and who-- he gets up to, between this episode and THE NEXT ONE ("The Town Of No Return").

The 2010 Region 2 Studio Canal DVD has decent picture but rather rough sound (nothing unusual there). The final disc also contains a documentary, "Avenging The Avengers", which includes interviews with Patrick Macnee, Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg, Linda Thorson, Brian Clemens, and several writer & directors. Although the interview segments seemed fine, ALL of the clips from episodes seemed to be running AT THE WRONG SPEED! What the...? (I had enough of that nonsense when The CBS Late Movie decided to speed up all their shows in 1984-85.)