Comments from The I Spy Forum continued
Author: Alta
Date: March 7 2002 at 3:19 PM
Quickie, cause I'm in a long-drawn out write-up of another possibly forgotten Robert Culp show . More to follow on that tomorrow !
I found the early scene with our guys discussing the death of the drunk spy rather disquieting . I'm paraphrasing but Kelly's " That's what we sign on to do ...get killed " is cold, cold, cold. I'm thinking I'm looking at the mind of a deeply depressed individual . If that's where his thoughts drag him, I don't want to visit that place, and I can see why he constantly has a drink nearby . You don't see this side of Kelly often .... and it's a throwaway scene here but effectively done .
Speaking of drinking, I also liked the misty drunk scene with Lori . Not only did this bit of staging clue us in to the fact that we were seeing a flashback, but it effectively portrayed the storyline through the eyes of a drunk . You know, when you're at the point when everything feels far away and floating.... not that a one of us has been there, right ?
Malachi Throne takes a good part here . Even when he's playing the next-to-be-killed victim, he opts to do it in such a weasely, unpleasant way that it's actually a pleasure when he reveals that he's the killer and you know that he's gonna get his .
Bill Cosby is very good in this one . Scotty is obviously attracted to the singer, Lori, so that when he has to start questioning her loyalties, he does so in the mode of someone bending over backwards NOT to be favorably biased . He's obviously bothered by his suspicions though and BC pulls off that divided mind bit with style .
Liked the three drunks having to pull the guys out of the bushes when they got clonked . It was fairly pointless but I enjoyed it !
Oh yes..... those hotel beds . I always used to wonder how our guys managed to stuff them in their suitcases . Come on fellas, towels are bad enough !
Enjoyed the honeymooners bit though it seemed to have only a minor tie-in with the actual plot... just an excuse to get our guys out of the room so the phony code book could get stolen . Loved the wife telling the little shrimp husband to "take" Kelly, after he crawled out from under the bed . Then Kelly stands up, looming over hubbie, and the visual is a lot of fun. So is the one where Scotty also crawls out from under the bed . You'd think there would have been a little more discussion from husband and wife as to what exactly our two guys were up to under those beds . The short scene where Kelly carries the wife over the threshold was fun too . Looked like she wouldn't have minded "taking" Kelly a bit herself !
The confrontation scene with Lori is the strongest one in this episode and both Cosby and Nancy Wilson are very intense here. Very nicely done . I like that they gave Scotty some hard edges here . He obviously doesn't do well with what he considers betrayal.... either of his country or his personal regard .
My score ? Pluses....good acting . Minuses....it seemed a little uneven, the script could have been a bit tighter . Missed some of the Kelly/Scotty banter, though I realize we can't get that in every episode . Still in all, it weighs in ok and lands in my goodie pile .
Alta
Author: Tatia Loring
Date: March 7 2002 at 11:45 PM
made my notes before reading Aunty Alta's comments - and we came up with many of the same ones.
I liked several things about this episode, most especially including Nancy Wilson, Hoover Dam, and Gershon and his lovely bride ... (so what WERE our guys doing under those beds??? ... what happened to the generic hiding-in-the-closet number???) .... and that was some creative hotel room - it was like climbing through an empty picture window just to get to bed) ..... BUT there was something flat and rather one dimensional about this episode - I can't quite place my finger on it.
Nancy Wilson, who is a marvelous singer (I have always, always liked her) did a really excellent job as "Lori." I have never seen her perform as an actress other than in this episode - she was cool, sophisticated, but obviously under great pressure and on the edge - she did not overplay her character, but kept her as controlled as possible under the circumstances facing her. She was very good in the role and very believable.
I looked Ms. Wilson up on IMDB and she did a few other guest starring appearances, in "Police Story" for one ... but she usually just appeared as herself on variety shows. It also said that she had her own show in 1966 "The Nancy Wilson Show" - there was no information on it - but I imagine it must have been a musical, variety type of program.
Greg Morris was wasted here - he was rather wooden and one-sided - perhaps it was the part, perhaps it was him.
There are few scenes that stand out in "Lori" ... and make this episode rise above average ...
One was that very cold scene with Scotty and Kelly in their superior's office after the man was killed at their nightclub table (which Alta mentions also).... where Kelly very unemotionally responds to his superior who has just commented that the other agent's death was a waste ...
Kelly - cold and dispassionately replies in almost a monotone "So he died, it's nothing to get upset about. He got killed. That's what he signed on for. That's what we all signed on for - to get killed. That's why they added a next of kin line on the application form and threw in a couple of insurance policies ..." Whoa - that's enough to drive even Scotty to drink!!
From his cool demeanor throughout this short exchange, you can tell that there is so much more going on inside of Kelly and that he is just holding it all together .... very interesting and very well done scene!!
And this was a very different Scotty presented to us - a chance to see his violent side, his rage, a chance for him to take on Kelly's usual persona - the man of action ... At first, I almost felt that this role didn't fit Scotty - he was after all the intellectual - the one who handled things with calm and reason as compared to Kelly who was always far more open to an emotional response .... but it worked!! We see that under the surface Scotty, too, has more going on - anger, rage .... perhaps this is something that is always a part of Scotty, but always kept under control .... until something pushes him to the edge and he explodes - someone like Malachi Throne's "weasly" (nice descriptive choice Aunty A) Keegan ...
... but Scotty held true to himself and his character and did not push Keegan off Hoover Dam (that would have been an interesting shot .... though the Hoover Dam footage was impressive all by itself)... but he remained in control of himself and his actions ... and remained the noble and honorable Scotty that we know and love.
Culp said "somewhere" that only he knew how to write for Cosby ... and comparing "Lori" and "Angel" (and "Home to Judgment") to most of the other scripts, I think he is right, especially in the realms of action and emotion .... (though Scotty did very well holding his own as the romantic lead in both "Laya" and "Tonia" ...)
And as the Colonel mentioned, I was surprised to hear Keegan call Scotty "Boy!" ... except for one other reference in "Tonia" they truly did stay away from any racial commentary - following the Culp and Cosby tacit "racial non-statement" they followed as their example.
"Lori" - I'll follow the Colonel's lead on this one .... B - ... some very good moments scattered throughout - but lacking in others ....
As ever, Tatia
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