The Avengers: How to Succeed... at Murder

How to Succeed... at Murder (1966)
Starring: Diana Rigg, Patrick Macnee, Christopher Benjamin, and Sarah Lawson

Director: Don Leaver

Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A secret society of personal assistants are making themselves indispensable to the company the work for, then murdering top executives they assist and being promoted to their positions. John Steed (Macnee) and Emma Peel (Rigg), the goverment's top trouble-shooters are assigned to find evidence of the society's existence, determine who's behind it, and bring them to justice.

"How to Succeed... at Murder" is the third or fourth time that the Avengers have had to unravel a plot targeting Britain's corporate leaders and captains of industry, but the "women's lib" angel to this one made it feel fresh. There is also a very well executed twist--one that is subtly set up early in the episode--that was ahead of its time and gives the episode a more modern feel that many of the episodes.

This is another episode where the Avengers run their investigation on two tracks that are separate but which intersect and criss-cross as they unfold: While Steed sets himself up as a target for the secret society by hiring someone believed to be connected to it as his personal assistant, Mrs. Peel infiltrates the group to discover their secrets from the inside. Naturally, things don't go as smoothly as they might have hoped for, but we the viewers get to see Emma Peel taking on a mob of female assassins who, like her, are trained in hand-to-hand combat.

Despite the slightly repetitious nature of the threat, this episode is mostly a fun one. It's full of eccentric and interesting characters and the banter and witticisms exchanged between Steed and Peel, and between Steed & Peel and their friends and foes are all cute or clever. 

Unfortunately, the show falls apart a bit toward the end. Despite the clever twist/Big Reveal referred to above, the episode is dragged down a bit by the villains suddenly seeming very, very stupid, despite having been presented as very intelligent up until the finale. I also have a minor quibble with Emma Peel even being able to infiltrate the group, given that she should actually be quite famous in business circles (established canonically in "The House That Jack Built"). That same disconnect also makes Steed's comments to Peel about how women shouldn't be left in charge of important business seem either insulting or inexplicably sarcastic, since she was once in charge, and still the owner of, a multinational corporation.

"How to Succeed... at Murder" has its flaws, but the good outweighs  the bad, making it an above average entry in the series.

On a side note related to another topic of this blog, I found myself wondering whether this episode of "The Avengers" was a primary source of inspiration for one of the quirky villains in Richard Sala's magnum opus "Mad Night"--not to mention partly informing the many leotard-clad female assassins that pop up all throughout his work. (Which reminds me... I really have to get around to making that blog post about the Brigitte Bardot/Richard Sala/"The Chuckling Whatsit" connection. And, for that matter, reviewing both "Mad Night" and "The Chuckling Whatsit"!)