The Prisoner - The Chimes of Big Ben

Episode Name: The Chimes of Big Ben
Original Air Date: October 6 1967
TV Airing Order: 2
KTEH Airing Order:
Summary - A new prisoner, Nadia, may have information about the Village that makes an escape attempt possible

The "official" second episode pops up a bit later in the KTEH ordering, but it honestly would work just fine where it was. I say this solely due to one fascinating scene between Six and the new Number Two. Unlike his colleagues, who sometimes carried out their tasks in a workmanlike fashion, this Two is very much in love with the concept of the Village, and makes this known in a conversation by the beach. He mentions that, aside from its purpose in extracting top secret information, the Village is in a way a prototype for a new civilization, which he hopes to see spread throughout the globe as under the command of a New World Order. It is a chilling exchange, filled with excellent lines (the entire episode has a great script, really), and it works to enrich the setting and context of the show, something which works best early on.

I mentioned in the last post that I was wondering whether the show was going to mix up its formula, and I can say that Chimes does not. Six still tries to hatch an escape that looks under the radar, but is in fact allowed by the Village. The plan is again inspired by interactions with a woman spying on him. He looks towards the sea for his freedom. I suppose I could start railing on the show for this repetitiveness, but in all honestly I can't bring myself to do so. Part of the reason is that I realize how influential the show has been over the decades, and that many of the more sophisticated stories I have seen are only so in part because of writers and producers inspired by The Prisoner. The other reason is that no matter how many of these basic aspects of the episode structure remain the same, they never play out the same way, and there are different themes to explore every time. There is always something new to chew on with each new entry, and that is something that easier said than done in the world of TV.

With this in mind, there are two important moments in Chimes, one that makes it a very crucial episode. The first is when Six enters his piece into the Village arts and crafts competition, which is in fact the boat he plans to use for escape. He talks directly about the ideas of freedom and escape to his fellow villagers, who nod their head and smile in appreciation, without ever remarking that his thoughts might be dangerous. Hell, they never even realize that the sculpture is very obviously a boat! Chimes discusses the concept of freedom more than any other episode thus far, but the reactions of the Villagers juxtaposed next to it are what make it so vital.

The second crucial moment is at the end, when Six gets as close as we have ever seen to revealing the nature of his resignation. In the end, we do not get it, but his first sentence is enough of a clue that we can make a safe guess as to what it might be. Combined, these two scenes dig into a core idea of the show, in that we never know what is going on in the minds of the Villagers. Are they really that naive, or is it all a ruse? Is Six escaping because he tricked his captors, or are they giving him a false sense of power? How much of what we see is premeditated, as opposed to being a reaction to Six's ingenuity? It isn't always easy to tell, for him or for us, and we see just how much of a problem this is going to be. Number Two was this close to getting the information he wanted, and all he had to do was let Six think he was outsmarting and outrunning the Village on his quest for safety, and let him get closer than ever before towards escape. If there is one clue we can garner, it is that the Village, while crafty, can make mistakes, as it is a very minor oversight that prevents Six from spilling the beans. It is a brief, last moment hint that his adversaries might not be as perfect as they appear to be, and it only makes future conflicts that much more intriguing.

On a final note, there is a striking bit of character development at the end, when Six reacts to his recapture with nothing more than a smile and a wink. He isn't comfortable in the Village, or happy, but he knows when to admit temporary defeat, and he does not give the Village the kind of rage and desperation they want to illicit in him. Getting out will be a challenge, but in the mean time, he might as well fuck with them.