A jeweler's wife (Annete Kerr as Mrs. Ross) gets a facial that turns deadly, prompting John Steed (Patrick Macnee) and Mrs. Cathy Gale (Honor Blackman) to investigate what looks to be the beginnings of a new crime syndicate.
Steed goes undercover as a green jeweler after the death, buying the Ross family home. He asks Cathy to pose as his wife for the investigation, peaking her interest by implicating the syndicate in smuggling and selling conflict diamonds. It's revealed early in dialogue exchanges, however, that Steed believes the syndicate keeps its members in line by threatening their wives.
Although earlier scripts of the Steed/Gale alliance were re-written replacing Ian Hendry's David Keel before production began; this teleplay by Eric Paice was conceived only with Mrs. Gale in mind. (I seriously doubt that British television would have had an open mind to a Keel/Steed marriage in 1962.) You can tell that Paice ran as much as he could with the assignment.
It's a piece that examines the cultural role of woman in the 1960's. A strong supporting character is Jackie Ross (Toni Gilpin), who is moaning her mother's death, but more concerned about her ailing father, and her upcoming nuptials. She is just as gifted a jeweler as her father – Samual Ross (Meier Tzelniker) – or her fiancé – Nicky (David Sumner) – but she's kept in the dark about the behind the scenes drama, and pushed into the role of a subservient by both fearful men.
Much of the story contrasts the bored upper-class housewife and their helplessness with Cathy Gale. Firstly, she finds it difficult to believe that Steed thinks she could pose as a housewife. Secondly, she finds it difficult to understand that someone would actually believe that she was a helpless housewife. In one magnificent scene, goons come to threaten the helpless Mrs. Cathy "Steed", and get the surprise of their lives.
What's really impressive about the episode is that fifty years after it was written, it seems as refreshing today as it must have been then. Or maybe that's something to pause at.
