--- title: "3x3 The Gatalea Affair" subtitle: "Rewatching the Man from UNCLE" author: Seth publish_date: 2026-01-10 00:01 date: 2025-01-10 00:01 hero_classes: text-light title-h1h2 overlay-dark-gradient hero-large parallax hero_image: header-uncle.jpg show_sidebar: true show_breadcrumbs: true show_pagination: true taxonomy: category: culture tag: [blog, review, uncle] --- I'm continuing to rewatch every episode of the Man from UNCLE series from start to finish. This review contains spoilers. This episode is sort of a mix between Pygmalion and Edgar Rice Burroughs' **The Mad King**. UNCLE is targeting a high ranking THRUSH agent. They determine they can get close to this THRUSH agent by way of one of his contacts, the baronness Bibi de Chausser. They happen to have located an exact look-alike of the baronness, named Rosy, in a european tavern. Rosy is obviously not a baronness but considering the importance of the mission, UNCLE decides they can train her to be an upper-class socialite. That's pretty typical prince-and-the-pauper stuff, but there's a clever twist to this one. About mid-way through the plot, there's a surprise double-bluff. THRUSH kidnaps Rosy as she pretends to be Bibi de Chausser, and places the _real_ Bibi de Chausser. But wait, there's another double-bluff coming. Bibi seems to be playing the part of a defector really well. So although the Bibi impersonator is Bibi herself, it seems that she might actually be on UNCLE's side. Or maybe she's on her own side, and she's playing for whatever team is in the lead? It's impossible ta say, and it's also pretty difficult to know from one scene to the next which woman is which. Bibi de Chausser played by Joan Collins. The body double trope feels obligatory, but then again that's what a trope is. You're going to see it done and re-done across all media, especially when a season contains 30 episodes. **Man from UNCLE** manages to innovate twice, despite the obvious plot. First, there's the double-double-bluff. It works as a plot device, but obviously it's the actress that carries it off. Joan Collins, and the show's make-up department, plays Bibi and Rosy awfully well. You can easily believe they're different people, especially during the introduction of Rosy. I honestly didn't realise it was the same actress, I think partly because of the make-up department but also for demeanour and, frankly, the bizarre setting. The second innovation is the way the introduce Bibi and Rosy to the audience. Bibi is established in the teaser, so we're used to her being high society. We see photos of her in the briefing room, we see surveillance footage of her. Her poise and elegance is set up nicely. When we meet Rosy, she's working in a tavern providing politely-erotic horse rides to paying customers. For a price, a man can sit behind Rosy on the horse, wrapping his arms around her waist, while they ride around the arena on horseback together. I don't know if that was actually a thing back in the 1960s, but it's a brilliantly bizarre introduction to the character. Rosy shares nothing in common with Bibi, not in demeanour, hair colour, make-up, accent, or environment. Her introduction establishes, in record time, that Rosy is different to Bibi, and it's really up to you as the viewer to find enough similarities in them to believe that Rosy could ever take Bibi's place. That's an amazing feat, given that Rosy and Bibi are literally the same actress.

Lead image by Anthony DELANOIX under the terms of the Unsplash License. Modified by Seth in Inkscape.