A Man to Be Trusted

As another reviewer pointed out, this episode is heavier on dialog and lighter on action. It's a very worthwhile issue however, as dialog plays a significant role in the Danger Man series. John Drake is often plagued with seemingly insurmountable problems but somehow he always comes up with a plan to resolve them. Drake's plans are often articulated as dialog, and half the fun of the show is hearing him explain how he's going to defeat his adversaries. Why? Because we've been on the edge of our seats wondering just how the heck he is going to get of this mess!

This episode is all about trust. Someone has betrayed the trust placed in them and agents have died as a result. But who is the betrayer? It comes down to two people, but there are few clues, so Drake has to lay his life on the line to discover who has been compromised by the opposition.

Drake's main contact is Lieutenant Mora, a man Drake needs to help unravel the puzzle. But is Mora a man to be trusted? Another M9 agent says he is not. The center of gravity in this episode is Drake and Mora's verbal play. Both men know that there are trust issues, Drake does not pretend he trusts Mora. In fact he is constantly reminding Mora that he may be the betrayer. This makes for some interesting exchanges, and fortunately the actor playing Mora (Harvey Ashby), with the help of the script, turns in an excellent, three-dimensional character for this show.

It is a shame Ashby did not show up in other Danger Man's. He is really what makes this installment sizzle. In fact, Ashby was so good, and it was so common for guest stars to make numerous appearances in the Danger Man series, one has to wonder if maybe something happened between him and McGoohan. ??

After two M9 agents are murdered on a Caribbean island, Drake is sent to investigate.

A Man to Be Trusted is one of my favorite Danger Man episodes. The main pleasure of the episode is Harvey Ashby's wonderful performance as Lieutenant Mora, and the voodoo subplot is fun.

Very entertaining episode. It features a real "whodunit" up until the end on a 3rd world island with Voodoo. Look for at least two actors who were on the TV show UFO. The trivia section also talks about a connection to Live and Let Die! I wish to convey the story of how I got here today in 2024. I have been watching a lot of actor Donald Pleasence's work lately and remembered him being in a Danger Man before and remembered the title had the word "Trust" in it. After a YT search, I jumped on this although I vaguely remembered it was only a 30 minute episode, not 1 hour, I figured I was mistaken. So about a few minutes in I realize it's not the Donald Pleasence episode, but was hooked anyway. I looked up the Donald P episode it's named "Position of Trust" BTW. I'm going to watch it now as a sort of double feature. To wrap it up, I didn't know who the bad guy was until the end, 8 out of 10. Scary ending!

As others have pointed out, this is a dialogue heavy episode, fortunately the dialogue is clever, fast paced and charming. This has become my favorite episode and has also been pointed out, quite sad that it is Harvey Ashby's only guest appearance in the series, playing Mora. He did a wonderful job, and quite the compliment for our John Drake.

On some unnamed Caribbean island*, two British agents have been tortured and killed. Drake's job is to determine if they divulged any information before they died as well as to protect another agent who is still living--an agent who doesn't realize that they are in danger. When Drake arrives in the country, he's assisted by a local policeman--a guy who seems a bit difficult to trust. The trail leads not only to the surviving agent but his wife. Who's on Drake's team and who isn't?

"A Man to Be Trusted" is one of the talkier episodes of "Secret Agent". While there is some action, much of the time, there is just lots of talking. Overall, a very subdued episode--even with the voodoo angle. Okay, but not much more.

*While the exact island is uncertain, it sure seemed a bit like Haiti (although folks did not speak French) with the voodoo subplot.