Miscellaneous Affairs office secretary Mona Ellerby (Dixie Seatle) entreats her co-worker V.H. Adderly (Winston Rekert) to look in on the husband of her friend Jenny. She thinks he is having an affair. It isn't what Adderly - a veteran of intelligence work, is used to. But he owes Mona a thing or two for covering for him at work many times. It also beats the superfluous assignment their boss Melville Greenspan (Jonathan Welsh) assigned to him - one Mona agrees to do.
Adderly looks into fellow International Security and Intelligence (ISI) employee Gary Fields (Peter Dvorsky - no relation to the Slovak operatic tenor) who might be bent (Selling plutonium to pay down gambling debts). But other ISI agents are already looking into it and they don't want Adderly around. He can't help it when he sees how badly ISI agent Marge Websin (Wendy Crewson) is handling it. After it goes as poorly as Adderly promised it might. But Marge words her report to their boss Major Clack (Kenneth Pogue) skillfully blaming it all on Adderly.
Wendy Crewson's character is meant to show the kind of agent that Adderly could never be and would never try to be. She can mess things up royally and claim the only reason it wasn't worse is because she was there. Adderly is focused on the making whatever the job is come out right - not throwing a colleague under a bus of potentially career-ending blame if the result is unfavorable.
Marge Websin, on the other hand is so volatile and vindictive she chooses to interpret commands in the most malignant way possible. Who knows what she'll do when Clack orders her to find a way to keep Adderly out of it. Who knows what will happen to Jenny if ISI's absurd sting operation entangles her and her husband is in over his head.
The efficient episode gives us further insight into the main character. He got his hand crushed on assignment but, as this episode and others tell us, that is far from the only reason he has been shunted off to Miscellaneous Affairs. The thing with his hand is just an excuse for reassignment. Many episodes of the series give us an indication that he is really there for reasons related to the politics of the bureaucracy - things his psyche has committed too much contempt for, to understand or navigate.
We also see Mona assert herself more in this episode too. She brings Adderly into it not knowing that ISI has an op going. She then ably assists Adderly in the field - something she has dreamed of doing since the first episode. That helps address one of the criticisms of the show which was that Mona is Adderly's cheerleader and her only joy is doting upon the hero.
Wendy Crewson is one of the most successful performers ever to come out of the Canada's entertainment industry. She is also one of Canada's most appealing women. But here they put a hairdo on her that looks like it was made by sticking her finger in a light socket. It was the 1980s. The difference in styles is also reflected in Winston Rekert sporting a mullet and wearing 'bespoke' menswear that makes him look like he is head of security at a Loverboy concert.
Adderly looks into fellow International Security and Intelligence (ISI) employee Gary Fields (Peter Dvorsky - no relation to the Slovak operatic tenor) who might be bent (Selling plutonium to pay down gambling debts). But other ISI agents are already looking into it and they don't want Adderly around. He can't help it when he sees how badly ISI agent Marge Websin (Wendy Crewson) is handling it. After it goes as poorly as Adderly promised it might. But Marge words her report to their boss Major Clack (Kenneth Pogue) skillfully blaming it all on Adderly.
Wendy Crewson's character is meant to show the kind of agent that Adderly could never be and would never try to be. She can mess things up royally and claim the only reason it wasn't worse is because she was there. Adderly is focused on the making whatever the job is come out right - not throwing a colleague under a bus of potentially career-ending blame if the result is unfavorable.
Marge Websin, on the other hand is so volatile and vindictive she chooses to interpret commands in the most malignant way possible. Who knows what she'll do when Clack orders her to find a way to keep Adderly out of it. Who knows what will happen to Jenny if ISI's absurd sting operation entangles her and her husband is in over his head.
The efficient episode gives us further insight into the main character. He got his hand crushed on assignment but, as this episode and others tell us, that is far from the only reason he has been shunted off to Miscellaneous Affairs. The thing with his hand is just an excuse for reassignment. Many episodes of the series give us an indication that he is really there for reasons related to the politics of the bureaucracy - things his psyche has committed too much contempt for, to understand or navigate.
We also see Mona assert herself more in this episode too. She brings Adderly into it not knowing that ISI has an op going. She then ably assists Adderly in the field - something she has dreamed of doing since the first episode. That helps address one of the criticisms of the show which was that Mona is Adderly's cheerleader and her only joy is doting upon the hero.
Wendy Crewson is one of the most successful performers ever to come out of the Canada's entertainment industry. She is also one of Canada's most appealing women. But here they put a hairdo on her that looks like it was made by sticking her finger in a light socket. It was the 1980s. The difference in styles is also reflected in Winston Rekert sporting a mullet and wearing 'bespoke' menswear that makes him look like he is head of security at a Loverboy concert.