From the outside Oldhill Monastery looks like a religious establishment but it is actually a maximum security establishment holding three enemy agents and the monks are armed guards. As the guards look into the prisoners' cells it one of them can't be seen. When the guard enters the cell for a more thorough search the man jumps him out of nowhere and escapes. While this is going on Steed and Tara are entertaining a couple of fellow agents. As they leave one of them is gunned down by the escaped man. Steed goes to the monastery and talks to Ezdorf; the most senior of the inmates. He tells Steed that the other prisoner will soon escape and kill his target then Ezdorf himself will escape and kill his target. Steed contacts Tara and she goes to the targets house but is just too late; she gets there in time to hear the gunshots but there is no sign of the killer
just footprints which went right past where Tara had just been. Steed sees Ezdorf again and he boasts that he will soon escape and kill his target
Steed! There are few clues as to how the men escaped; just that each had been reading a natural history magazine with some pages removed and had a bottle of Lizard Vodka in his cell. The bottles are cleverly designed to contain both the vodka and a liquid which, when applied to a person and their clothes gives them chameleon like properties.
'The Avengers' frequently combined science fiction elements into a thriller story and this is a good example. The idea of a substance that gives a person chameleon like properties is rather fun although the way it works is rather too rapid due to budget special effects. There are some gripping moments; especially at the end when Ezdorf goes to Steed's flat and captures Tara. Regular guest star Peter Bowles does a solid job as Ezdorf. Tara isn't used much in the action; relegated to questioning an expert on lizards and trying to get a copy of the magazine the men had been reading. The prison in a monastery is impressive and a rather fun idea. Overall this is a fairly standard episode; fun but not really a classic.
'The Avengers' frequently combined science fiction elements into a thriller story and this is a good example. The idea of a substance that gives a person chameleon like properties is rather fun although the way it works is rather too rapid due to budget special effects. There are some gripping moments; especially at the end when Ezdorf goes to Steed's flat and captures Tara. Regular guest star Peter Bowles does a solid job as Ezdorf. Tara isn't used much in the action; relegated to questioning an expert on lizards and trying to get a copy of the magazine the men had been reading. The prison in a monastery is impressive and a rather fun idea. Overall this is a fairly standard episode; fun but not really a classic.