MFU 30-Day Meme: Day 23

[carabele]

Day 23 – Defining character moment - Illya Kuryakin: The conversation with Napoleon in the car outside the country club shindig in THE LOVE AFFAIR

This one was a tough one for me to answer because honestly I just don't see as many defining moments in the series for the character of Illya as I do for the character of Napoleon. DMC's ultimate idea to keep the character of Kuryakin enigmatic kind of precluded those, in my opinion. And this moment I did pick, which I definitely see as character defining for Illya as a Soviet with very Soviet ideas, doesn't really hold up for what Illya evolved into later in the series (when his Russian-ness more and more disappeared beneath a British veneer).

Still, this conversation where Illya complains about the decadent rich captalists, obviously frustrated and somewhat flustered, really forwards Illya as a man of a very different social background, a Communist background. And I do think that was, at least initially, the very essence of the character.

Comments

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting scene. I actually wrote a short fic around it because of its intensity, short as it was. Even though DMc wanted to keep the details of Kuryakin's background in hiding, I don't think the writers would have ever done much more than what we have in that short bit of dialogue. Expounding on communist ideology probably would have gotten the censors involved in 1964.
In any subsequent seasons, the storylines just didn't support delving into the characters esthetics and philosophical leanings, which is a shame.

[carabele.livejournal.com]

Yes, I do think this is a very intense and well-done moment, both in the writing and the performance.

[st-crispins.livejournal.com]

I might vote for the first ten minutes of Neptune Aff.

[carabele.livejournal.com]

That's a good character defining moment for Illya (with Soviet-ness intact) as well, I agree.

[elmey.livejournal.com]

I like this moment too, I wish the same impetus had been carried through the rest of the series. I suppose the fact that it became such a big hit kept them on safer territory after Season One.
It defines Illya in the way I think about him, even if it doesn't in terms of his portrayal the rest of the series.

[carabele.livejournal.com]

I have often noted how I wish Illya had kept his Russian-ness through subsequent seasons of MFU.

Ah, but the Cold War times, the censors, a dip in writing at points during the run of the show, and the extraordinary popularity of McCallum on par with the Beatles (and thus sort of mushed in many ways with the wild popularity of anything British in the 1960s in the U.S.) kind of the short-circuited that.