Round Table - The Foreign Legion Affair

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

First of all, just so everyone knows ahead of time, the Round Table will be moving to Uncle du Jour ( uncle_du_jour ) beginning in May.  That community was envisioned as a place for discussions, trivia and such regarding the show and all of its elements. mrua7 has taken the helm there and is looking forward to doing all of that and more.  Many of you know the first MFU Crossover Challenge will post there with a target date of June 10.  I hope everyone will drop in and support the re-launce of a very viable resource and gathering place for MFU fans.
Now, for today's discussion:
I watched the Foreign Legion Affair the other night and was struck by how disagreeable Illya is during the first segment and again at the end.  He seems entirely too put out at his discussion with Mr. Waverly over the private plane he's chartered, and of course is very irate with Napoleon when his partner shows up a little late for the action.  Napoleon's reaction is not very professional either, demanding that the vehicle turn around.  When Illya tells the girl not to worry, that he'll be back, we of course are being led to believe that this is their regular MO (modus operandi), and that they act like this a lot.
The question is this then:
Is that who Illya is?  I've used the word petulent before in stories when describing his attitude, but after seeing that episode I realized that the word truly fits his character at times.  Does another situation come to mind where the Russian is acting out a little?
You must admit, he's kinda cute when he's being petulent.

Comments

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Petulant at times, yes that fits IK, and Napoleon does seem to take advantage of his partner as well, again at times.They have a great partnership but at times egos and testosterone seem to get in the way.

I always forget the episode...I think it's the one where IK misses the diamonds...the episodes ends with them squaring off in a fistfight (though we don't actually see them come to blows as the image fades)

Napoleon is a more fly by the seat of his pants guy, still a brilliant strategist. Illya seems a little more strict in things going to plan. He can be a little fussy, and definitely has an ego, especially when it comes to disseminating information that his partner is unaware of.

How many times at the conference table has Illya said something to Wavery, information-wise, coming across as a bit of a know it all...and the looks that Napoleon gives him are priceless. Solo doesn't like being upstaged...case in point when IK gets the girl (which is rare)

In spike of these personality differences and quirks, they make their partnership work.

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

The Girls of Nazaron affair… Illya doesn't tell Napoleon that the formula was a dud, and all along he's thinking he failed because it was lost. What a mischievous fellow is our Russian.

[threecee.livejournal.com]

I think the writers couldn't think of a better way to show Illya was intelligent than to write him as an arrogant know-it-all. (That highly intelligent well-educated people were invariably emotionally stunted and unlikable was a common TV trope in the 60's if memory serves.)

By 3rd season, they were also doing a running "joke" where Napoleon admits to ignorance of some topic and Illya immediately displays his knowledge of it.

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

Professor Kuryakin ;) I don't that there had been an 'action' hero who had a PhD previous to Kuryakin, although that doesn't show up until the third season. Still, there is the assumption that he is smart and very knowledgable about quite a lot early on. As for the pouting… it's interesting that the writers saw him that way.