section7mfu | working on timelines...

Some of you may have paid attention to a recent trend in my stories that have to do with validating the Return Movie, that most vilified of MFU non-episode yet solidly canon film in which we have Messrs. Solo and Kuryakin no longer with UNCLE but out having a life elsewhere.

I'm also delving into pre-New York life, particularly Illya's, in which there must be a reasonable timeline established for his remarkable assortment of degrees, accomplishments and general Illya-ness.
The other night I watched the Gazebo in the Maze Affair, in which Napoleon states that he and Illya encountered Emory Partridge seven years prior. Now, the episode was shown in the spring of '65, so I'm going to go with that, which means they would have been in South America routing Emory sometime in 1958.
Illya graduated Survival School in '56, correct? He would have already had his Bachelor's from the UG in the Ukraine by then, and before heading off to South America he should have finished the Master's at the Sorbonne. He would then, after ruining the Partridge's party, have needed to head straight for London and start on his doctorate at Cambridge while working, we have all surmised, for Harry Beldon. Now, I'm not sure how long it takes someone to gain a PhD in Quantum Mechanics from Cambridge, but I'm thinking he's going to just make it to New York in time to film the pilot in 1963... tongue in cheek here.
Does that track with people here, or am I missing something? Those writers in Season 3 should have checked on what happened in Seasons 1&2 before they started handing out doctorate degrees to a man on such a tight schedule. No wonder Illya doesn't show a lot of interest in women, he's probably still pooped from all of that academic overload.

''Can I just rest now?''