`The Quick-Quick-Slow Death' isn't necessarily the best episode of `The Avengers,' but is a good example of the high style and high spirits of the series.
Some viewers may find it too campy, but it's the closest thing to surrealism in TV serial form of anything but `The Twilight Zone,' and generally in better humour.
In the opening, a man is pushing a pram along a crowded street. It rolls away from him, at unexpectedly high speed, and when it overturns there's a dead man inside. No, none of this is remotely plausible, but it is exciting and strikingly inventive. Right from the start, you realize this isn't the usual police procedural.
Fortunately, unusual investigators are near to hand. Patrick Macnee as suave spy/counterspy John Steed and Diana Rigg as posh tomboy Emma Peel sort through the usual Avengers-style clues: rented evening wear, a message on a garlic sausage, a rose tattoo, a delivery of shoes.
Our heroes investigate in their charmingly aggressive fashion. There's a great, thrilling visual where Steed really must mind his step, while Emma has a shoe salesman in a sweat when she puts her attractive tootsies in his hands. In true Avengers fashion, all of this somehow leads to a dance studio, where there's chicanery afoot.
Emma gets hired as an instructress for owner Lucile Banks, while Steed soon becomes a very important client. Momentum gathers for a graduation gala with drunken band leader Chester Read presiding over recorded music. None of this quite tops the opening pram trip, but viewers should enjoy the ride.
An interesting casting note: Lucille is played by the beautiful Eunice Grayson, who appeared as James Bond's girlfriend in Sean Connery's first two outings. Of course, Diana Rigg was the leading lady in the subsequent `On Her Majesty's Secret Service' with George Lazenby as Bond. Both experiences went poorly.
Grayson's recurring part was written out. Spurned by Lazenby after a brief affair, Rigg publicly feuded with him. Despite their common link to Bond, the two women could hardly be more different physically: Grayson is dark, voluptuous and no more than average height; Rigg red-headed, boyish and fairly tall.
Just like the two women's Bond careers, not everything works well here. Rigg's wardrobe isn't particularly flattering, she's not exactly a dancing machine and putting her in high heels to have her looming over short male dance partners demonstrates the show's comedic writing is not always sophisticated.
But the ending is fizzy with madcap mayhem, which still manages to ooze style. Macnee looks very handsome, a truly glamorous leading man who has Eunice Grayson right where he wants her. Grayson wins the evening gown competition in a walk: her black dress hugs her dangerous curves, while Rigg's white V-neck hangs limply on her flat bosom. But Rigg's lack of cleavage poses no obstacle in action scenes, even when it's necessary for her to firmly chest butt a partner across the dance floor. And if you find this description hard to follow, don't miss her summing up.