This final set of episodes from the 1967-1968 season of The
Avengers follows the delightful, pop-surreal series through the concluding
chapter of Diana Rigg's involvement as agent Emma Peel. On tap is "The £50,000
Breakfast," in which a ventriloquist is discovered to be carrying a stash of
diamonds in his stomach, leading Mrs. Peel and John Steed (Patrick Macnee)
into an investigation that involves murder, dummies, and borzoi dogs. "Dead
Man's Treasure" finds a mortally wounded fellow agent hiding important
documents in the home of a racing enthusiast--whose driving "simulator" nearly
kills poor Mrs. Peel with a lethal dose of electricity. This set also includes
the terrific "You Have Just Been Murdered," in which a gaggle of blackmailers
and assassins accosts prospective victims with toy weapons to prove they can
easily be killed. Steed and Mrs. Peel enter the fray, just as they do in "The
Positive-Negative Man," a tense but amusing plot about an electrically charged
killer dispatching members of a scientific research team (and very nearly our
heroes) with one touch of his high-voltage finger. Also contained in the set
is the dark and scary "Murdersville," in which Mrs. Peel is kidnapped in a
town full of killers-for-hire. Following that is the cheeky "Mission Highly
Improbable," featuring Steed and Emma as shrunken versions of themselves after
being subjected to a miniaturization device. The series ends--rather sadly for
worshippers of Mrs. Peel--with "The Forget-Me-Knot," introducing Steed's next
partner, Tara King (Linda Thorson), in a story about a traitor within the
intelligence community. A coda in which Steed and Emma say goodbye is indeed
unforgettable. Fortunately, the good times and quirky humor and whimsical
sexuality between this perfect pair live on forever in this set. --Tom Keogh