The Avengers (TV Series) The Forget-Me-Knot (1968) User Reviews

The end of an era

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 13 March 2015]

When agent Sean Mortimer turns up at Steed's place with no idea who he or anybody else is; he just has a vague idea that he had to tell somebody a secret concerning a traitor within an organisation. Steed leaves him with Mrs Peel and sets off to see 'Mother'. 'Mother' is in fact Steed's boss and also a man! Mother agrees that Mortimer must be brought in and seen by experts and Steed returns to collect him. Unfortunately the traitor learns this and by the time Steed gets home both Mortimer and Mrs Peel have gone missing; the enemy agents having shot them with a dart gun that causes temporary memory loss. While at Mother's Steed meets awestruck trainee agent No 69 Tara King, she gives him her address and this proves useful when Steed himself is shot by one of the 'memory darts' as it is the only clue to who he is. By the time he gets to her place he has been missing for hours and has been placed on the wanted list… she doesn't believe he could be a traitor though and agrees to help; until she too is shot with one of the darts! If the traitors are to be unmasked somebody will have to get their memory back!

Anybody watching this episode without being forewarned wouldn't suspect it would be Diana Rigg's final appearance as Mrs Emma Peel… largely because when it was filmed it wasn't known that she was leaving! Thankfully she got to leave on a high note as this is an enjoyable episode. It also serves to introduce Steed's new partner; Tara King. Tara is a pretty young thing, quite a bit younger than Mrs Peel and she looks up to Steed rather than seeing him as an equal. I thought Linda Thorson did a good job in the role; it helped that her character was so dissimilar to Mrs Peel; comparison will of course be inevitable but as nobody could truly replace Mrs Peel it is good that the creators didn't try to bring in another character just like her. Tara isn't the only new character introduced in this episode; it is the first time we meet Mother; Patrick Newell does a decent job in the role and certainly isn't what one would expect Steed's 'Mother' to look like! The story itself is typical Avengers; a mix of sci-fi and espionage, humour and drama done in a way that I found most enjoyable. Since it wasn't planned Mrs Peel's departure does come a little out of nowhere but it gave a poignant conclusion to Diana Rigg's time on the series.

Bidding adieu to Mrs. Peel

[robert3750 · 7/10 · 11 July 2023]

And so, we come to the end of the saga of Mrs. Peel, and for me, the end of the series. In my eyes, The Avengers didn't exist before her (the first three seasons didn't even air in the U. S. back in the day, and the fact that they weren't shot on film kills my interest in them), and it didn't exist after her. I just couldn't accept Tara King. I was too attached to Mrs. Peel. This is not a criticism of Linda Thorson, who came across as quite capable, and I had forgotten how pretty she was, with a lovely face and beautiful eyes. But she couldn't be Mrs Peel. Last night, the song Embraceable You as sung by Sarah Vaughn came to mind:

Embrace me, my sweet embraceable you

Embrace me, you irreplaceable you

Just one look at you my heart grew tipsy in me

You and you alone bring out the gypsy in me

When I acquired the fourth and fifth season of the Avengers on Blu Ray a few months ago, I knew that there was an inevitability to this episode that I was both anticipating and dreading. What I didn't anticipate was just how sad I would feel after watching it. I got choked up. I read that Patrick Macnee wept in his dressing room after filming the goodbye scene with Diana Rigg (Steed called her Emma), and I don't blame him. They parted with tenderness, respect, and affection.

Goodbye, Emma.

Hello Goodbye- from Emma to Tara

[kevinolzak · 8/10 · 8 April 2011]

"The Forget-Me-Knot" was scripted by Brian Clemens to introduce Steed's new partner Tara King, played by 20 year old newcomer Linda Thorson, while also performing the delicate balancing act of bidding farewell to Diana Rigg's incomparable Emma Peel. The Beatles had just come out with a hit McCartney single titled "Hello Goodbye," and Clemens came up with a serviceable plot line that accomplished nearly everything it needed to do. Another new character introduced at this latter stage is called simply Mother, played by Patrick Newell (previously seen in "The Town of No Return" and "Something Nasty in the Nursery"), the last of numerous superiors issuing instructions to Steed, and one that found favor with the American audience, returning in "You'll Catch Your Death," and missing only five of the last 24 episodes. Missing agent Sean Mortimer (Patrick Kavanagh) escapes captivity long enough to find his way to Steed's apartment, despite being shot with a dart that induces instant amnesia, remembering only that there is a traitor in their midst. Believing Mortimer safe with Mrs. Peel, Steed drives off to tell Mother about what happened, and has a brief encounter with raw recruit Tara King, who mistakenly tackles him in a training exercise. A short time later, the suddenly smitten Tara properly introduces herself, and tells Steed that many of his techniques are now being taught, and how she knows of his weakness for beautiful women, not hesitating to write down her name and address for him. This knowledge comes in handy once both Steed and Mrs. Peel fall victim to the amnesia darts, with Emma spending the remainder of the story imprisoned with Mortimer in an abandoned glass factory, while Steed regains his senses through Tara's initiative. Also present are series veterans Jeremy Young ("A Touch of Brimstone" and "Never, Never Say Die"), Jeremy Burnham ("The Town of No Return" and "The Fear Merchants"), John Lee ("The Bird Who Knew Too Much"), and Edward Higgins ("The Mauritius Penny"). It can be said that Linda Thorson had a tough act to follow, but was not playing Emma Peel, so while the chemistry wasn't the same between the two stars, it was certainly worthy of another season for Tara, except that the money was no longer available, plus she was at a disadvantage in that Britain were quite late in viewing her work, after American audiences had already shown their approval. A natural brunette, Linda had dyed her hair for the part, and suffered the indignity of having to wear a multitude of wigs until it grew back in all its original glory. The attractive young actress made an interesting contrast with the much older Patrick Macnee (at age 45), but still needed a little time to bring her character to life. As for the departing Diana Rigg, the final moments between John Steed and Emma Peel provided the only instance of a cast member leaving the series in a genuinely touching and heart wrenching manner. Steed's loss of memory finds him seeing Emma's face almost everywhere, while Emma herself does the familiar "he loves me, he loves me not," which brings forth an ecstatic "Steed!" (as if we needed any proof that Steed and Emma were truly in love with each other). Once both have regained their senses (in a stirring last hurrah for Emma's fighting skills), she decides to jog his memory by inaudibly whispering (in a classic Rigg ad lib), "are you the man who dallies with me?" to which his smiling response is, "I'm afraid so!" The next scene features headlines depicting the rescue of Peter Peel, Emma's long lost pilot husband, thought to have died in the Amazonian jungle, who will shortly pick up his waiting wife from Steed's apartment. She quietly offers a distraught Steed some advice: "always keep your bowler on in times of stress, and watch out for diabolical masterminds," barely able to speak above a whisper, before giving him a good bye kiss on the cheek. Just as she is about to leave, he calls her by her first name, which he'd never done before, to say simply, "thanks." To bridge the final gap, Emma greets Tara's arrival with a friendly word about Steed's tea drinking habits. And while we never see his face as the departing Emma waves from the car, we can't help but notice Peter Peel's immaculate suit, umbrella, and bowler on top, an absolutely brilliant idea that never fails to amuse. Nothing fancy, but played with great emotion between two superlative stars who worked as well together as any male-female team ever has, their 51 episodes providing the peak of the series in its prime. It's understandable that it is remembered more for Emma's farewell than for Tara's introduction, but the series would continue, with many more gems to come.

Excellent episode, but!

[yajustgotaloveit · 10/10 · 6 January 2022]

It was an excellent episode, but it was the last one starring Diana Rigg, so for that reason it made me sad and depressed. Despite Honor Black being the original Avenger woman, to me Diana Rigg was the only Avenger woman. I wonder how Patrick Macnee felt about this in reality! I can't say anything more, other than the Avengers with Diana Rigg was and is my favorite television series of any, and of all time.

The most interesting is the smooth climax.

[searchanddestroy-1 · 8/10 · 26 March 2019]

As I have always said about this episode, the topic itself, with amnesia and so on, is boring at the most. If you want to enjoy it fully, watch it only a s a kind of transition episode where the awesome Tara King is introduced and the magnificent Emma Peel kisses her Buddy goodbye, just before she meets Tara King for only a minute. Besides those points, nothing exceptional here. But I love this episode.

The Times, They were a-changing.

[mickcsavage · 8/10 · 18 December 2021]

One of the few occasions when genuine emotion breaks through the artifice of TV.

Steed's sadness at Mrs Peel's departure is obvious and touching. But Patrick's heartache at Diana's leaving transcends even that.

Linda Thorson tackles her role gamely, but can't really help exemplifying the difference between the early and late 60s. From effortless grace and style we come to a rather more self-conscious zaniness. Doe eyes and psychedelic-tinged surrealist plots abound. Op art to Pop art. A certain clunkiness is observed. Not her fault, but a sign of the times.

Nice to see Paddy Kavanagh by the way. And on a Father Ted subplot, Rio Fanning ('Frostie') crops up elsewhere in the Rigg colour series. ' (Dead Man's Treasure' from memory).

Sad way to see Mrs Peel leave like this. But - let's face it - any way would have been equally heart-wrenching. And not just for Patrick.

DON'T GO EMMA PEEL!!!

[asalerno10 · 9/10 · 25 May 2022]

Enemy agents use an ingenious weapon that shoots amnesia darts to achieve their goals. This episode had many setbacks during its making. Diana Rigg had already left the series and was filming a James Bond movie, it took a lot of work for the production to convince her to intervene in a farewell chapter for Emma Peel, she agreed but was subject to the schedules of the movie that was rolling. In such a way that she filmed her scenes on the one hand all together and then they were edited to finish the episode, throughout the episode we notice that the characters of Tara King and Emma Peel never cross until the brief final scene. The editors did a great job to get a satisfying end result. The way Emma leaves is a great twist in that we see her leave with her boss but it's actually John Steed himself.

Beginning of the end

[zeppo-2 · 6/10 · 1 November 2006]

To my mind, this is where the rot set in, before this, the Avengers might have been at times, ridiculous, far-fetched, outlandish, eccentric or even weird and bizarre. But this is where they started to be just silly.

The replacement of Emma with Tara doesn't help but it's not all her fault, following the Divine Mrs Peel was always going to be a thankless job and to give credit where it is due, Linda Thorson did the best with what she had to work with. It's just all about her, it was getting more daft and brainless, the previously shadowy control known on various occasions as the Ministry or the Treasury or some other organisation, is known be the person known as 'Mother.' A fat bloke in a wheelchair is overseeing England's secret service and the fate of the free world is in his pudgy (and usually filled with a glass) hands.

The plots become more zany and wacky, here a drug delivered by blow gun, makes the person lose memory, never fully explained why, it's just a hook to hang segments and set pieces about Emma, Steed and Tara losing their memories. Why the villains don't just kill them is never considered except to let them run around constantly saying, "who am I?"

The partnership with Steed is changed forever here too, before his female aides were very much equals with him. In many cases making crucial solutions to the crimes with their scientific knowledge. Neither Cathy Gale or Emma Peel were ever anybody's fools.

But Tara King is very much in Steed's shadow, secretly in love and always in awe of him, she is now the Dr. Watson to his Sherlock Holmes. Oh, she can kick and fight with the best of them, but is still the lost little girl who needs Steed's help. Making her far younger than the previous women doesn't help, she never seems in command of a situation like Cathy and Emma were, even when they were powerless in front of a gun! You knew they were just waiting for their moment.

There are nice moments in this episode as it is the farewell appearance of Mrs Peel and the meeting of Emma and Tara is handled well. And you tell that at the end, Patrick Macnee was going to miss her both professionally and personally.

Good-bye, Mrs. Peel. (Sob)

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 14 January 2009]

I don't know that this episode is any more whimsical than the others. The plots were rarely the point anyway. The point was understated style, and this episode has that in abundance. But there are differences between this and the earlier episodes. The Organization that Steed and Mrs. Peel worked for is here revealed as The Treasury. The plot is farther than usual away from reality -- not that the others were rooted in the same behavior stream as yours and mine. Emma departs the series, to its detriment. She wasn't only a stunner in her predatory, foxy way. She was a fine actress too. Did a splendid job as Regan in Olivier's TV production of "King Lear." And that burnished voice. Tara King isn't bad but she's hardly an adequate replacement, cute without being exotic.

Pretty silly, but great fun.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 3 September 2022]

Steed's fellow agent Sean Mortimer arrived at Steed's flat in a hugely confused state, he and Mrs Peel are assisted by trainee Tara King.

Mrs Peel, it's been a riot, Diana Rigg was simply sublime, even when episodes were a little under baked, which is the case here, she still added something. I look forward to seeing what Tara King adds, first impressions were really rather good.

The story, it's decent enough, though no explanations are given for anything, including the villain's reasons, or how the gun came to be.

It's a bit on the silly side, it's definitely very funny, I wonder if Rigg had any input on the tone of this final episode, maybe she wanted to leave with a light hearted episode.

I like that at the end we got to see the new style closing credits.

Overall, I enjoyed it, I'm not sure anyone could argue that the script was strong, but the character play made it worth watching, 7/10.

A farewell to Emma Peel: enter Tara King

[coltras35 · 7/10 · 5 May 2022]

An amnesia drug causes a whole load of problems for Steed and Emma Peel, they both lose their memories; it's a standard episode with the usual quirky and fun aspects, however it's a little sad as the series bids the iconic Emma Peel farewell. Even Steed looks visibly sad as she says goodbye. The bit about her husband returning after having disappeared for so long is a bit weak reason to leave and so sudden. Linda Thorson as Tara King takes over as Steed's assistant and fares competently. It's apparent that she's different from Miss Peel and that's a plus point. Matter of fact, further down the line she establishes herself as an able Avenger lady, full of energy and sass.

The Forget-Me-Knot

[guswhovian · 6/10 · 26 September 2020]

When an amnesiac agent comes to Steed's home, Steed and Mrs Peel set out to discover a spy in the organization with the help of trainee agent Tara King.

The introduction of Tara to the series was all but a smooth affair for the production team, and The Forget-Me-Knot was a last-ditch attempt to have a smooth transition between Mrs Peel and Tara.

Overall, it's not a particularly good episode, with a rather silly plot and bad writing, with the villains especially seeming two-dimensional. It's sad to see Diana Rigg go, but Linda Thorson proves herself an able replacement.