Confirmations

In the 1960s, when I was a fan of the James Bond novels, the James Bond films and The Man From UNCLE TV series, I thought that the Ultimate Computer would be able to match a male character with a perfectly compatible female partner. David McDaniel's The Final Affair reveals that Napoleon Solo married a Thrush agent on precisely this basis. Thrush faked her death when she reported that she would be unable to turn Napoleon.

At least twice in the TV series, there were major power conflicts within Thrush. Mandor, describing himself as "the second man in Thrush" and pretending to defect, got UNCLE to close down only those Thrush bases that were not loyal to him. Two agents were to release a gas that would destroy free will in all human beings except those who were protected with them in their base. They were to be joined there by the current leaders of Thrush but decided to release the gas before those leaders arrived... Of course, UNCLE thwarted the plan in any case. The Final Affair confirms the occurrence of "...a power struggle which had shaken the whole Hierarchy." (p. 56)