Find and Return

This episode has some nice twists and turns. Two nice character actors, Donald Pleasance and Warren Mitchell. Pleasance is known for the early Halloween horror film series, but also for great performances in movies like "The Great Escape," Polanski's "Cul De sac" and the early James Bond film, "You Only Live Twice." Here he plays a meek and annoying man, a bureaucratic spy who seems to be doing it just for the money it brings him. He is a nice anti-Drake. Warren Mitchell played Alf Garnett in the British television series, "Till Death Do Us Part," which was the role that became Archie Bunker, when the series was Americanized as "All in the Family." Here he just has a very brief but effective scene as Stashig, an old friend of Drake who is now on the other side. He knows that he should eliminate Drake, but he decides that he has too few friends left to lose another one. This is an episode where McGoohan really shows what a great James Bond he would have made. He even makes a joke after being shot at in the James Bond style. What distinguishes "Danger Man" from most Bond movies is that you really feel something for the characters. This episode is a good example.

It takes more than Pat's sophistication and swagger to carry this show, as for the life of me I couldn't find the hook establishing this story. It makes sense on paper, but plays out as sheer nonsense.

McGoohan protests right at the outset to his superior, not wanting the mission at all, but goes along with it on the prospect of receiving 10,000 pounds commission. He's sent to some mythical Middle Eastern country (I thought it was Cyprus or Greece but "piastres" is name-dropped as currency, sounding like Egypt), on a stupid mission to grab Moira Lister plus her British passport to be brought back accused of treason as a spy.

Donald Pleasence plays the local functionary working in a typewriter repair store but an agent for England, in a goofy role - befuddled and milquetoast one minute, and a callous killer (for the good guys) the next.

The spy versus spy skullduggery makes little sense and is of zero importance, with nothing hanging in the balance -no balance of power, high stakes in the realm of international relations. Just a stupid story of a mysterious woman who we are never privy to any information about her history or character. As usual, Pat can do no wrong, always able to outwit any straw villain or bystander in his way.

For the entire half hour, my reaction remained constant: Who cares?

In this episode we have Donald Pleasance again, the sympathetic would-be assassin Stashig, and of course Mr. Hardy, all of which add viewing pleasure and a little humor. Then there's McGoohan in his white tux. Not a bad little entry.

As is so often the case for this first season, "Find and Return" rushes from one scene to the next with a lot of connective tissue (i.e. Plot) left for the viewer to surmise. Luckily the scenes themselves are so sumptuous in dialogue and acting that the story itself almost seems secondary. And whereas most of the secondary DM characters are stock spy/noir stereotypes, "Find and Return" gives us Donald Pleasance as Drake's contact who complains about his impecunious lifestyle and Paul Stassino as a millionaire obsessed with showering. There's even a little grace note at the end for Drake which I for one did not see coming.