Man in a Suitcase‘s “Mac” McGill is the off-brand James Bond. Where Bond has a smooth swagger, McGill has an awkward stride that resembles most accurately Gru from Despicable Me. His dialogue delivery is forced (not to mention entirely cheeseball), and he takes himself way too seriously, despite his constant inferiority to the episodes’ antagonists, who continually blackmail, threaten, (and in one episode, brainwash) him. If Man in a Suitcase didn’t try to market him as being someone as suave as James Bond, that’d all be fine.
The show itself isn’t bad, though, believe it or not. It deserves points for casting an American in the main role as McGill, despite being a British show. The fact that the show at least attempts to show American perceptions of Britain makes it interesting in that regard, though that aspect receives very little screen time.
The show also has hints of its contemporary, The Prisoner, bleeding through. In the first episode, McGill is captured by a deposed African king and subjected to copious amounts of brainwashing. While McGill spends most of the episode stumbling around in a stupor, it’s fun to watch the tactics used by his captors to crack him. “I’m going to shoot you, McGill,” one character repeats, over and over, and it actually becomes a little scary.
The stories themselves are also solid; as typical of 1960s television, it’s all standalone. But the stories remain fresh and each of the fifteen included episodes brings a drastically different story, which is of course a good thing. “Variety is the spice of life,” is a very true expression, and thankfully, the show understands that.
In most respects, Man in a Suitcase is a success. It’s not a bad show at all — the lead actor just doesn’t feel right. If you can stomach him, the rest of the series is entertaining, if not downright fun.
This four-disc set is released in the same, bare-bones format as other Acorn Media titles, which serves the show’s purpose adequately. Acorn will be releasing this title on January 25, and it might be worth a try. You can order the set on Amazon for $44.99.
Set 2 of the series, which contains the last fifteen episodes, is expected sometime in the future.
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