The Avengers “The Master Minds” #4.6 (1966) (TV)

“He’s just a pawn in the game. The man we’re after is the king.”  14 July 2021

A government minister is shot during a robbery of top secret documents.  However, he has no recollection of committing the crime.  Steed and Mrs Peel become suspicious of a Mensa-like organization called Ransack.  Is someone using the brilliant minds of the Ransack members to commit crimes?  

As I said the last time I wrote about The Avengers, I’m not sure there’s a bad Mrs Peel episode.  It’s just that I don’t find The Master Minds as good as most of others who’ve taken the time to rate it.  My biggest complaint is that it’s all too predictable.  It’s as easy to guess how the crimes are being committed as it is to guess the chief mastermind behind it all (hint: it’s the only person with a significant speaking role that we never see involved in anything nefarious).  More mystery would have gone a long way toward making a good episode a great episode.

Still, this is The Avengers so it’s not all bad.  There are plenty of scenes with Steed being witty - whether it’s with Mrs Peel or the game's mistress - that I particularly enjoyed.  And there’s a longer than usual fight scene near the end that’s a lot of fun.  Finally, the episode opens with a leering look at Mrs Peel from head-to-toe - what’s not to like about that?

6/10