Get-A-Way!

"Get-A-Way!" is indicative of the problem with the early Tara King episodes, in that a return to more 'realistic' plotting from earlier seasons means that any attempt to try to regain the sublime wit of the Emma Peel formula would prove to be difficult to recover. Although scripted by the prolific Philip Levene, author of the memorable Cybernaut entries, there is very little humor to be found, a far cry from the same writer's "The See-Through Man," another story depicting an invisible opponent. Captured enemy agents are able to escape (disappearing into thin air) and complete their assassinations of Ministry foes, while the ringleader, Ezdorf (Peter Bowles), bides his time in a cat and mouse game against Steed (the unusual climax makes everything worthwhile). Tara continues to be underused, working apart from Steed, as the new era struggles to find its way. Peter Bowles makes the last, and weakest, of his four episodes, after "Second Sight," "Dial a Deadly Number," and "Escape in Time," while Andrew Keir ("The Fear Merchants"), playing the prison warden, does a warmup for the same role in 1970's excellent "The Night Visitor." Also present are Peter Bayliss ("The Murder Market"), Neil Hallett ("Dead of Winter" and "The Winged Avenger"), Barry Linehan ("The Golden Fleece"), and James Belchamber ("Quick-Quick Slow Death").