A little tribute to Burt Kwouk, with a feature on his character in The Avengers’ ‘Lobster Quadrille’: A good role with decent dialogue (real conversation, in ‘real English’), decent character airtime, not like so many of the other roles written for ‘native’ or ‘foreign characters, admittedly - but it’s not that rare either, and it’s not something we should feel lucky he got, as it’s what every character ought to get, and in those golden years of television, we were fortunate for characters like this one! We get some good repartee between Mason and Cathy as we expect, and Mason is a highly instrumental character in the plot as it begins to unfold and develop through the episode - not a ‘sidekick,’ not an ‘extra,’ not a ‘cameo’ or ‘appearance,’ but a nice, three-dimensional character.
His dismissal of Cathy’s stereotyping sharply jolts the viewer from the complacency of ‘the other.’ His second dismissal of Confucian principles adds a layer of complexity to his character, and one that is written for him, for his character - not ‘Chinese man who represents all Chinese men,’ but certainly an intriguing man all the same, who has something to say about China. He represents what every character deserves: themselves (”even a poor tailor is entitled to some happiness,” Motel would say) Xo
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