I’m binging Man from U.N.C.L.E and I’m 16 episodes in and so far I understand two things: one, Napoleon is the bi king of sass and two, Illya must be gay.
I would like to believe that The Man from UNCLE and Get Smart exist in the same universe
CONTROL is the cousin you don't like to be around at family reunions for UNCLE. Like Napoleon is on his way to intersect a plot to destroy the world, but he notices a man talking to his shoe and gets the first flight out of the fictional country the plot was happening on. Napoleon actively avoids being in the same city as Maxwell Smart bc he fears for his safety
Of course this goes both ways, KAOS is an organization THRUSH would rather call CONTROL on than work with
They all try to avoid each other but try to take over and save the world all at the same time
Based on things that he says in the show and that people say about him ('You don't exactly rate with Dun and Bradstreet', thanks, Illya), I'm interested in Napoleon's relationship to and experience with money. In my imagination, his family was initially well off, but overextended in the stock market and lost nearly everything in the crash. So, Napoleon would have been born solidly into the Great Depression and spent his earliest years in a family that was a) broke and b) desperately holding on to a veneer of prosperity. Mix in to taste the interpersonal conflict, blame, and shame that occur in a family experiencing a sudden financial setback.
I expect that they eventually clawed their way back to stability as the US economy rebounded in the 40's and 50's, but also that their experience left some cracks that could not be papered over. Young Napoleon would have learned the importance of keeping up appearances, been used to adults hiding things from him, and gotten good practice in hiding things from others. In his chosen profession, he is well served by his persistent ability to maintain a vague illusion of glamour under all circumstances.