This episode provides a transition for the activist spy Sidney Reilly, who once envisioned himself to be the next Czar of a Bolshevik-free Russia. Now he is the emigre Reilly---doomed to wander like The Flying Dutchman from London to Paris and New York---in search of self-esteem and a new life. Sentenced to death in absentia by a Russian court and treated with little respect by the British establishment, the episode ushers Reilly into a "wilderness period." He wants to continue as a high level Bolshevik irritant, while being significant in unraveling the turmoil that followed from the failed Lenin assassination attempt. Reilly was gone from Russia--but he was never forgotten.
While his associate Lockhart shared much the same adventure in escaping from Russia, he (unlike Reilly) gradually drops in importance from our story. Eventually the ailing Lenin succumbs to his injuries and dies---only to be replaced by a far more ruthless menace---Josef Stalin. Reilly himself barely dodges an assassination attempt in London, and continues to attract attention from attractive women---from the delightful prostitute known as The Plugger to the young religious mystic Caryll Houselander. All of this activity is merely the calm that precedes a much more interesting storm coming on the horizon.
Not generally noted in comments about the casting of the Reilly series is the fact that Ian Charleson played the English adventurer Bruce Lockhart. Charleson is perhaps best known to American audiences as the famous Scot runner Eric Liddell in the 1981 international hit Chariots of Fire. And Norman Rodway, a stalwart primarily of the British stage, continues to shine in his great supporting role as Cumming---Reilly's sometime superior in the often sordid but never dull world of Anglo intelligence.
While occasionally slow moving, our narrative is always interesting. Sam Neill remains a commanding presence as Sidney Reilly. And Tom Bell's Felix Dzerzhinsky is surely a close second in that department!
While his associate Lockhart shared much the same adventure in escaping from Russia, he (unlike Reilly) gradually drops in importance from our story. Eventually the ailing Lenin succumbs to his injuries and dies---only to be replaced by a far more ruthless menace---Josef Stalin. Reilly himself barely dodges an assassination attempt in London, and continues to attract attention from attractive women---from the delightful prostitute known as The Plugger to the young religious mystic Caryll Houselander. All of this activity is merely the calm that precedes a much more interesting storm coming on the horizon.
Not generally noted in comments about the casting of the Reilly series is the fact that Ian Charleson played the English adventurer Bruce Lockhart. Charleson is perhaps best known to American audiences as the famous Scot runner Eric Liddell in the 1981 international hit Chariots of Fire. And Norman Rodway, a stalwart primarily of the British stage, continues to shine in his great supporting role as Cumming---Reilly's sometime superior in the often sordid but never dull world of Anglo intelligence.
While occasionally slow moving, our narrative is always interesting. Sam Neill remains a commanding presence as Sidney Reilly. And Tom Bell's Felix Dzerzhinsky is surely a close second in that department!