Round Table - Super Spy Solo

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

Last night I watched the movie version of the Alexander the Greater Affair, One Spy Too Many.  Now, I don't know why they chose that title because I don't see any correlation between it and the story.  I have to surmise that they just three darts at a board full of titles for the movies and wherever it hit was what they went with.  None of them make much sense except for the first one.
Anyway, Napoleon has some stellar moments of keen deduction, not the least of which is in the temple where he answers Tracy's questions so brilliantly that Illya replies "I'm glad I didn't have to ask that question".  In other words, he did not deduce with the same brilliance as his partner.
How often do we see this side of Solo?  He's a strategist, a charmer and obviously very good at his job.  But in this episode he's really brilliant at figuring things out; very obtuse details that range from intent to mineral content in the stone numbers left by the nefarious Alexander.
So, any fic out there detailing Mr. Solo's brilliance, or other episodes that center on that aspect of his skills?

Comments

[st-crispins.livejournal.com]

It's because the villain is obsessed with Alexander the Great in history and wants to 'best' him by breaking every one of the 7 deadly sins. There's some Greek history floating around in the story, too.

[st-crispins.livejournal.com]

http://st-crispins.livejournal.com/201680.html

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Wow a great discussion on Napoleon. I'm in complete agreement with the assessment of Solo being intuitive, and his intelligence being different from his partner's. Illya is book smart, but Solo is clever and resourceful, not that Illya isn't but Napoleon is more so. His optimism fuels him, while Illya at times let's his fatalism side track himself.

[alynwa.livejournal.com]

"I think it's fair to say that Solo specializes in understanding people; Illya understands things."

This hits the nail on the head. To use another iconic TV team to illustrate, Spock and Kirk are very similar. Spock's logic and Kirk's intuition make them unbeatable, also. They complement each other; neither one would be as successful on his own.

It would be way too easy to say the intuitive half of the team is weaker, but it simply is not true. Some may think that though Napoleon is not dumb, he IS dumb compared to his partner. Also not true. They are different, but equally intelligent.