Peter Wyngarde: excellent. He was in the Hellfire Club episode of "The Avengers" (the one with Mrs. Peel in bondage gear). I always enjoyed his performances.

Number 6's plot to escape: very clever.

Being done in by his own plot because of the paranoia of The Village: brilliant.

Number 8 made to fall in love with Number 6: dull. Then again, since this concept was one of the few handled quite deftly by the AMC channel remake, maybe I'm comparing the two unfairly.

And yet, I can't help feeling this episode was rather weak in its overall execution. Maybe it was too many subplots. Maybe it was the lack you mentioned, of not having Number 2 and Number 6 do more verbal fencing. For all its good points, this is not one of my favorites.

Another perceptive review.

Be seeing you.