Production order: Unknown | ITC code: 5108 | Airdate order: 21 | DVD order: 20
Those Responsible
Writer: Philip Broadley
Director: Ray Austin
Where & When
Bond Street, London, England: January 18th
The Inexplicable Mystery
Sir Curtis is at an auction where an antique mirror that he estimates is worth no more than two and a half thousand pounds sells after a bidding war for a whopping nine thousand. The smug buyer, pop star Terry Mitchell, goes home to admire his prize - only to be shot by one of the losing bidders.
The Mystery Explained
Stolen Rembrandts are being smuggled inside the mirrors. That's it.
Review
By this stage in the series, the arrival of another Philip Broadley story is about as welcome as a sleet storm, and as enjoyable. The deterioration of the show's format continues apace: 'Death On Reflection' doesn't even bother with a bizarre mystery (it's painfully obvious that there must be something valuable hidden in the mirror, and guess what? There is!), and the entire setup with the auction is contrived to the point of stupidity when you consider that one of the people involved in smuggling the stolen paintings owns a mirror shop. The clients could simply have walked in and bought the concealed artworks without worrying about being outbid - or drawing the attention of suspicious diplomats with an eye for antiquities.
 |
| The cursed mirror had trapped his soul! |
Sir Curtis does later try to address this (by claiming that the reputation of the auction house, a one-letter-changed knockoff of Sotheby's, puts the transaction above suspicion), but really doesn't make a terribly convincing case. Nor does he for why this is a job for Department S in the first place. A pop star being murdered over a mirror that multiple witnesses saw bought in an expensive bidding war ought to have the police all over it, but the obvious suspect - weird-beard shopkeeper Gresford (played by the same actor who portrayed Nazi-fetishist Kyle in 'A Cellar Full Of Silence'), who's so nervous and sweaty he seems on the verge of blurting out a confession the moment Stewart walks through his door - doesn't even appear to have been interviewed. When Stewart questions why he and his team are being put on such a mundane mission, and Seretse has to ply him with wine rather than give a plausible answer, the dialogue is in danger of being drowned out by the noise of a barrel-bottom being scraped.
 |
| "The police report says he was shot seven times in the head and locked in a trunk. Verdict: suicide." |
About the only interesting thing about the episode is that Seretse himself plays a much greater role than usual in the investigation. Having previously abused his position in 'The Man Who Got A New Face' to make the Department investigate a case for personal reasons, he's now positively drunk with power, ordering surveillance on pretty much everyone who has bid on a mirror, owned a mirror, or at some point looked at themselves in a mirror. Since he only has two staff and an alcoholic writer on call, he has to get involved himself, finally giving Dennis Alaba Peters the chance to act rather than merely be an exposition delivery system. It's a shame for him that this script was all he had to work with.
 |
| "Of course I know the vintage. It's a nineteen-fifty-GET-DOWN-MY-NECK!" |
Otherwise, this is a thoroughly humdrum episode. The art theft angle makes it feel like another rejected leftover from The Baron (Broadley never worked on that show, probably because Terry Nation was hogging the episodes, but since he wrote for many of the ITC adventure shows of the Sixties it's not hard to imagine him pitching ideas to the rest of the company's productions), as there's certainly nothing extraordinary or even vaguely unusual about the case that would make it a Department S story. It's also heavily padded, with the old time-filling stop-gap of showing us the private lives of the villains (we don't care) or having Stewart and Annabelle flirt (we might care, but Moonlighting this ain't), and scenes of Jason chatting up mirror shop owner Countess Corinne that would be interminable if not for Peter Wyngarde's ability to make his character charming even under the dullest circumstances.
 |
| "Stop! My tongue piercing is caught in your moustache!" |
Jason himself is at his most... well, I would say "James Bond-ish" here, as he's initially off on a Pacific assignment for the CIA (!) and somehow saving the world in amongst trysts with nubile young chess-playing twins trying to get hold of his bishop, but our teak-faced lothario is by now so over the top that Austin Powers comparisons are inevitable. If there's a saving grace to the episode, and it's a very small one, it's that he at least gets a fair few witty lines, accounting for this review's longer than usual quotes section.
 |
| Ah, one of those old Baroque tinfoil mirrors. |
Only two more Broadley stories to go, then. And we still haven't reached his worst one...
 |
| "I can't wait." |
Fancy Quotes
[When Seretse gives him the case, Stewart speaks for all of us]
Stewart: Well, I'm sorry, but I don't see how this ties up with the Department.
[Jason's most Roger Moore-esque moment is missing only a raised eyebrow]
Twin 1: Care for another game, Jason?
Jason: Oh, no. No, you're far too clever for me. Perhaps I'd have more luck on a surfboard.
Twin 1: Wanna bet?
Sir Curtis: Who put the mirror in the auction sale in the first place? I should think that's the next point we have to investigate.
Stewart: [with veiled sarcasm] You know, Sir Curtis, you should have been a field operator.
Jason: I've just saved America. What's next?
Jason: There's a tiny card in your window which says, "English spoken".
Corinne: That is correct, monsieur. I speak English.
Jason: Oh, good. My French only becomes fluent after my first drink.
[Jason admires himself in a mirror]
Corinne: You suffer from vanity, I see.
Jason: Incorrigibly.
[Jason brings the Countess some roses]
Jason: Better give them a drink.
Corinne: Is that a hint?
Jason: Yes.
[After a fight with Corinne's boyfriend Yves]
Corinne: Are you hurt?
Jason: Not at all. Broken wrist, couple of fractured ribs - nothing that a good stiff drink won't help.
Sir Curtis: Only a fool would pay more than four thousand pounds for that mirror. [raises his hand to bid] Five thousand!
Cheers!
• Jason is playing chess against twin girls, and gets quite annoyed at the way they fondle their pawns. So much so that he stops playing in a sulk and drinks whisky instead.
• A subtle hint on arriving at the Countess's apartment is all Jason needs to get a glass of champagne (and a snog).
• Another visit to Corinne's place, but she's run out of champers. Never mind, Jason is always happy with whisky.
Fight!
Yves may be a killer with a gun-cane, but Jason has the upper hand when it comes to a plain old beatdown. At least, at first... (Actually, since both Jason and Yves are bruised but still standing afterwards, it's possible it was more like Hugh Grant's and Colin Firth's pathetic flailings in Bridget Jones's Diary!)
This Looks Familiar
Stewart and Annabelle engage in a spot of B&E at the villainous Yves' apartment. Which you won't be surprised by now to learn is accessed via the Department S corridor.
