Yes, that is the lovely Yvonne Craig as Ecstasy de Joie. She does a fie turn as one of the more memorable femme fatales of the series.Jim and Artie are assigned to protect the despotic Grand Emir of the Ottoman Empire while he is in the United States. His eminence is much more interested I wine, women, and song, which makes te task much more difficult. Doubly so when he invites Ecstasy for dinner after she tries to kill him. Twice.
The third time is the charm as the Emir is kidnapped by the Club of Assassins. They are a professional group of assassins who murder political figures for a few. The Club is lead by a Brit named T. Wigget Jones. Surprisingly, for this show, he is not a renegade colonel, so we are breaking with tradition. Jons does offer Jim membership, however, so at least one common thread continues.
There is another--Ecstasy is not really a villain. She has never assassinated anyone in her life, although she would like to kill the Emir for his cruel ways. Ecstasy exists only to serve as a pretty girl who betrays the Club and falls for Jim. Not that I am complaining, mind you:
Jones has hatched a plot to ransom the Emir in exchange for the desert surrounding the Suez Canal. Quite prescient, that is. The clueless emir is not bothered. He is having way too good a time at the Club’s victory celebration to care that Jim and Artie are risking booby trapped swords, bladed tambourines, and poison gas filled prison cells to rescue him. A fun episode, but I am disappointed the asassins were not as colorful as one would have oped for this series. Subsequent episode will more than make up for it, but why not here, too? They have eccentric personalities. Why not some nifty gimmicks, too? I think “The Night of the Grand Emir” is another of those cases in which we are supposed to look at the pretty girl so as not to dwell on such plot points.
Rating: *** (out of 5)
