2x17 The Deadly Goddess Affair Affair

I'm rewatching every episode of the Man from UNCLE series from start to finish. This review contains spoilers.

In this episode, the UNCLE agents go to a small Hellenic island called Circe, after the goddess. In myth, Circe's island was called Ææa and I'm assuming that the show producers were equally mystified by its pronunciation as I am and wisely chose to just call the island "Circe" instead. The island, as I understand it, doesn't actually exist so what name it's given doesn't much matter.

Modern day Circe, in the fictional world of UNCLE, is poverty-stricken and full of 1950s actors who have only vague notions of what a Greek accent might sound like.

Plot

The plot is a good one. The evil but jovial Mr. Hubris (yep, that's his name, and I respect it) has been sent to Cerce to receive a package scheduled to be delivered by drone. Unfortunately for him, the UNCLE agents have done something right for a change, and have constructed a jammer to bring down the drone. They do, but they're arrested almost immediately after jamming the signal and so they lose the package. But so does Mr. Hubris.

Solo and Kuryakin aren't arrested by THRUSH, for a change. They're arrested by the sole policeman of the island, who wants very badly to marry his sweetheart. She won't marry him until, in accordance to local tradition, her older sister is married.

Now the UNCLE agents have two problems:

1. They've lost a THRUSH package containing a million dollars
2. One of them is going to be forced to marry an attractive young Greek woman and live in a Mediterranean paradise

Well, arguably they only have one problem, but I guess it depends on your perspective.

Guest stars

UNCLE episodes are sometimes too short, and this is one of them. The show could have used a few extras, too, because by the looks of it there are only five people living on the island (the barkeep, the policeman, and the two women and their father). But I really enjoyed the citizens of Cerce, and would have loved to see more of them. The ladies and the policeman are amiable and fun, the barkeep is friendly but just suspicious enough to keep you on edge, and the father is a loose cannon because he's old and forgetful. It's actually a really fun episode, but you don't feel like it's trying too hard. Everyone plays the story straight, and there's not really any comedy in it so much as there's just a good cast.

Mr. Hubris is really good, too. He's got a small band of criminals he brings along with him, and of course they get picked off one by one so their actors don't get more than day rate. Hubris himself is actually pretty clever, very patient, and seems to be enjoying his time on Cerce.

Good one

This was a good episode. I'd watch it again.