The Prisoner - Living in Harmony

Episode Name: Living in Harmony
Original Air Date: December 29 1967
TV Airing Order: 14
KTEH Airing Order: 10
Summary - In an Old West setting, a lawman who resigned is trapped in a town called Harmony where the Judge wants him to be the new sheriff — by hook or by crook.

Yeah, I don't have much to say about this one. If I a certain interview with McGoohan correctly, this episode exists because no one in British television was interested in doing a western, so they put one into The Prisoner. Yes, this episode really is an old western tale, complete with its own introductory sequence. Yes, it also another scheme to trick Number Six into thinking he is somewhere other than the Village, in the hopes of getting him to do something. This time, it isn't about his resignation - instead, they force him to become the sheriff of their fictional frontier town so that he once again picks up a gun.

There's probably all sorts of analysis to be had with this episode, but just like with A, B, & C I feel that these questions are the wrong kind. They don't exist to drive home a point or to serve the story, but are simply due to the show's loose grasp of development and continuity. I don't really want to spend time getting anxious and frustrated as I try to piece it all together when there isn't much of a point. Since I was exhausted when I watched it, I approached this episode like it was an entry in a good old western show, and I had a lot of fun with it that way. Anything else can easily be written off as The Village becoming even more frustrated with their failure to break Number Six and that maybe, just maybe, their unorthodox methods are starting to take their toll on the people administering them.

Normally, I don't always like any analysis of a show that tries to write something off as "not being the point", but this wasn't an episode to worry over (it wasn't even shown in the U.S. back in the 60's). Hell, you could view it as a parable of a man's struggle with society in another period of time if you want. You'll still get something good out of it.

The Prisoner - A, B, and C

Sorry about the delay in posts - Thanksgiving came around, and I hadn't the ability to watch any episodes for four days. We'll be getting back to our regularly scheduled updates now...

Episode Name: A, B, and C
Original Air Date: October 13 1967
TV Airing Order: 3
KTEH Airing Order: 9
Summary - A desperate Number Two tampers with Number Six's dreams to discover where his loyalties lie.

We're going way back to the third TV episode here, though it feels much more at home in the KTEH order. It features the same Number 2 as The General, providing one of the few solid bits of continuity in the show. We also get the rare reminder that there is someone more powerful than Two, and they are most displeased with how difficult it has been to crack Number Six. Results must come soon, or he will most certainly be replaced.

This opening scene alone guarantees the episode's spot in the middle of the order. It makes sense that tensions would be running high, especially now that Number Six has been shifting his strategy yet again. He isn't trying to escape, nor is he mildly fucking with their minds. Now he is devoted to fighting back and dismantling their traps, hoping to destroy the establishment and gain victory from the inside. We saw this in full force in The General and to a lesser extent in The Schizoid Man (they put him through the ringer, but he ends up getting their man killed, and only a minor verbal gaffe botched his escape). Now it continues as Number Six wages his battle within the confines of his own mind. The Village has created a drug that allows them to observe and modify a person's dreams. They intend to use this to place the dreaming Six into a party along with three people he might have revealed his resignation to, in hopes that he'll play out the scene again without realizing that it is all in his head (and that it is being watched).

The scenario may be a familiar concept, but it is one that can be used in so many ways, all depending on what any given writer believes about the power of dreams. I expected a little bit of back and forth from the players, but instead Number Six easily figures out what is happening, and sabotages the second and third nights of testing. In the end, he completely humiliates Number Two, and all we learn is that his theory - that Six planned to sell everything he knew to the highest bidder - was incorrect.

The problem I have with this episode is not that Six gets the upper hand, but that the way he does so feels cheap. He gains a small victory in Schizoid Man because the Village did not expect him to put together all the pieces. He won in The General because they didn't expect him to get inside help. These are both fairly plausible mistakes to make, and aside from them the Village still had most angles covered and considered. Here, they lose because they didn't expect Number Six to notice the puncture wounds in his arm, or that the characters in his dream were acting out of place. Their security got so poor that they allowed him to follow a doctor into the testing chamber. The Village is lazy here, plain and simple, and I can only wonder if it is the result of inattentive writing, or something deliberate. Maybe they want to show that this Number Two is letting his fear and obsession obscure his judgment, or that the entire system only appeared to be airtight, back when Number Six wasn't as intent on poking around where he isn't wanted.

This episode still manages to be entertaining thanks to the dream sequences (which are at times witty and dripping with 60's trippiness) and the small amount of continuity that we get. But I feel that this episode doesn't suffers the most on its first viewing. There's nothing here to anchor it down. Previous questions about the Village were inconsequential. It didn't matter why they did anything, because it always worked. But now that Six is altering his strategies, the changes to the Village are reactions rather than plans, and reactions always have consequences. Without knowing whether they'll step up their game, the episode ends with the feeling that it is missing some context that only the rest of the series can possibly provide. In other words, up until now The Prisoner has always dealt with the "good questions" that manage to thrill and entertain regardless of whether they are answered. Now I am getting that uneasy, "what will happen next time?" feeling that comes from the "bad questions" that make a show feel stilted and incomplete. I am fully confident that these feeling will go away by the next show, and that I'll feel a lot better about A, B, and C once I have completed the series. Let's hope I'm right.

Edit - There's a comment in the AV Club's blog reviews that says

"I can't help but recognize that A, B and C is... really good? I just never CONNECTED to it, you know? Not in the same way as Schizoid Man or Dance of the Dead."

While my choice of episodes would be different at the end, this sums up how I felt about A, B, and C as well

The Prisoner - The General

Episode Name: The General
Original Air Date: November 3 1967
TV Airing Order: 6
KTEH Airing Order: 8
Summary - An important prisoner's new speed-teaching machine poses perhaps the greatest threat to Number Six's independence.

The General popped up frequently in my research of the show, and it always reminded me of Chinese food (which makes me hungry), and the song of the same name by Dispatch (which makes me think of shaggy haired undergrads struggling to play some chords on Thursday nights in college). Neither of those are feelings I like to have, so it will be nice to finally get this episode behind me.

The Schizoid Man made the first mention of the General, and by the end of this story we learn exactly who he is. Until then, we see the entire Village become obsessed with "Speed Learn", a method of instantaneous learning allegedly created by our mysterious General, and taught by another Villager called The Professor. Number Six learns firsthand how well Speed Learning works, which naturally worries him. Any device that can teach so well can also be used to brainwash. What follows is what some fans consider a low point in this series, as it goes against what they consider to be the point of the show. Number Six gets genuine allies, and the final conflict involves feeding an unsolvable question to a super computer (you didn't think the General was going to be an actual person...). In a show that focuses on the struggles of one man against society as a whole, it seems odd to throw Six and some one time use characters into a plot straight out of Star Trek, or so the fans say.

I'm not sure if I entirely agree. The General shows sides of the Village we have never seen before. The Professor and his wife, for example, are neither captives or guardians, but rather voluntary citizens doing a job. We see a rare male spy/ally, whose interactions with Number Six are much different than what we have seen before (interesting to see that he is identified as Number 12, which was the number of the main antagonist in Schizoid Man). And it still highlights an important theme of the show - how technology advances faster than society can learn to use it. Speed Learn appears to be a more powerful and efficient method of learning than any traditional form of lecture, but all you really end up with are students who can fire off facts without any comprehension of what they mean. It isn't a form of education, but rote memorization. It does nothing for the pupil, and it can even take away from the importance of the subject matter.

As someone who is only a few years removed from the world of education, this hits close to home. I can still remember all of the students who could memorize everything they needed to in order to pass a test, but couldn't remember any of that material by the time they graduated. I saw my own brother struggle to write a good college essay, because he was told that anything he wrote in high school would be graded based on how well it fit a rigid, five paragraph structure. I read a sample from a decade's old elementary school exam that was considered a "real" test by some commenters, simply because it asked students to name the people elected to obscure government positions. Everyone argues about the right way to educate people, but few can let go of their love of rote facts. The General touches on these dangers, and even glimpses into the future's absurd, touchy feely approaches to education (a Villager who is sitting upside down is said to be "discovering a new perspective").

Finally, The General reminds us that no matter how robotic and procedural the Village is depicted to be, it is still run by and populated with human beings, who have flaws and dark sides and everything in between. It shows us the Education council that wishes to use Speed Learn for their own means, and it uses Number 12 to show that these mysterious elites can have a change of heart. When the ending conflict leaves the Professor dead, we are reminded that his wife will be left behind. The Prisoner may explore the human condition, but there are certain human qualities which it forgets to focus on, and The General brings them into focus, if only for a brief hour. While it is true that the 60's cheese may make repeat viewings difficult, the underlying messages are as strong as ever.

The Prisoner - The Schizoid Man

Episode Name: The Schizoid Man
Original Air Date: October 27 1967
TV Airing Order: 5
KTEH Airing Order: 7
Summary - Number Two replaces Number Six with a duplicate to weaken the real Six's sense of identity.

The KTEH ordering is starting to make a lot more sense. The initial batch of episodes always seemed appropriate, considering they all show a Number Six who is new and naive to the machinations of the Village. But now I see that the ordering is also the reason why so many of the episodes followed the same basic structure of "Six tries to hatch an elaborate escape plan that fails". Apparently this too was intentional, and luckily worked along with the other ordering rationale. But ever since Free for All, we have been in a new arc, which can best be described as "The Village tries to fuck with Six's mind in order to break his spirit". I only realized this after figuring out that the last episode, Many Happy Returns, was also just another elaborate mindfuck. The Schizoid Man continues the trend, only this time it doesn't try to hide from its intent.

That intent is a classic storytelling device - the evil twin/Bizarro impersonator. Six is faced with a double, one who claims to be the real deal. Only The Prisoner cannot use such a simple storytelling device without putting its own twisted stamp on it. It does so by putting the real Six through a gauntlet of psychological conditioning in order to convince him that he is the double and that the impostor is genuine. This isn't actually too confusing, though after reading some breakdowns of the episode, it appears that some folks thought that Six was sufficiently brainwashed into thinking he was an impostor. I didn't see this at all. He knows what is going on from the start, and tries to reveal the truth. The problem is that the Village has gone to great lengths to make the real Six look fake. This in turn causes him a bit of psychological trauma, but it isn't so much because he believes he is fake, but because he isn't sure how they managed their trickery. Eventually he figures it out, and uses it to hatch a hasty and failed escape.

If Free for All was a taste of the Village's methods, and Many Happy Returns was a twisted bit of benevolence, then Schizoid Man is an attempt to make Six forget his old identity and embrace his role as, well, Number Six, by forcing him to want to the role back from his double. By doing this, perhaps the Village believes he will be more willing to integrate into the system and eventually talk. We know that won't work, but this is another piece of filler that takes an entertaining concept and uses it to further the show's cause. A bit of a mindbender, but certainly a good one.

PS - after writing it, I didn't think this summary did the episode justice. I just found a remark from an AV Club commenter that I believe is important to appreciating it. The user said that, while you always know what is happening throughout the episode, you never feel absolutely certain about it. There is always something in the back of your mind that tries to make you doubt what seems to be the obvious truth. I felt the same way, which means that Schizoid Man essentially makes the viewer feel the same way as Number Six. That's as powerful as TV can get.

The Prisoner - Many Happy Returns

Episode Name: Many Happy Returns
Original Air Date: November 10 1967
TV Airing Order: 7
KTEH Airing Order: 6
Summary - After waking to find the Village deserted, Number Six returns to England but doesn't know whom he can trust there.

In case you were wondering, the summary for Many Happy Returns is not a joke. Number Six does find the Village deserted, and he does return to real old England. As you might guess, he also winds up back in the Village. What happens in between makes for one of the more difficult episodes to decipher. In a way, the plot is structured similarly to The Chimes of Big Ben, the difference being that this time, he actually gets to London. But it also feels entirely different. Very little of the episode takes place in the Village, instead focusing mainly on his journey. There is action at sea, adventure on land, and very little dialogue overall. When he gets home, there is all sorts of technical chatter as he and his old friends try to determine the location of the Village.

Many Happy Returns feels more like an episode in a classic spy show, and I suppose that there is a reason for that. This is the first episode in the KTEH ordering that was not part of McGoohan's original seven, and in fact all of the episodes from here on out are part of the extra ten shows, save for the final two. With that in mind, it is understandable that it feels like there is little going on. But I do feel that there is some reason for its existence. It exists as a character piece, showing us just how good of an agent Six was in his former life, and how he behaved when he was at home working with his mates.

There is also one major point revealed at the end, when one of Six's colleagues has a line that says something like "he is an old friend, a man who doesn't know when to quit." This single utterance gives us the most important clue about Six. He is good at his job, but he can easily become single minded in his pursuits. This gives context to his early escape attempts, and why the Village is always able to get him back. It may even be another clue as to why he resigned (he was already a part of a system he wanted to be rid of). Six is a smart man, but he is flawed, and these flaws are why he cannot be free, no matter where he goes. And even if he were rid of those flaws, the nature of the world is such that there may no where that is free from the control of the powers that be.

At this point I thought it would be appropriate to mention another aspect of 60's television production. Back then, TV viewers rarely watched every episode of a show every week. This is why an episode like this one can be similar to Chimes, and why the show would have been hurt by having stricter continuity between episodes. The Prisoner can be trippy enough as it is, let alone if it relied on last week's story to make a lick of sense.

Many Happy Returns might be our first example of filler, but you could do a lot worse. The quiet scenery within is beautiful, and where previous episodes brought feelings of fear and despair, this one has a subtle but overwhelming sense of hopelessness.

The Prisoner - Free For All

Episode Name: Free For All
Original Air Date: October 20 1967
TV Airing Order: 4
KTEH Airing Order: 5
Summary - Presented with the opportunity, Number Six runs for election to the post of Number Two.

Interestingly enough, every single ordering of the show I found other than the KTEH order have Free for All appearing earlier in the list. I can see why this is the case. The episode features both a mention of non alcoholic alcohol (as seen in Chimes) as well as Six intention to discern who is a captive and who is a Guardian (which he does in Checkmate). Still, I have an idea as to why it is slotted here, as we will get into shortly.

This episode was written by Patrick McGoohan under a pen name, and leave it to him to give his show a kick in another direction, at least for a brief duration. Number Six learns that it is time for the Village to hold its democratic elections, and that if he wants to, he can try to run for the office of Number Two. In fact, he pretty much has to, as there is no opponent to Two, and everyone thinks he would be an ideal candidate. This puts the character between a rock and a hard place. Six knows that the role of Two changes constantly, and that any election that the Village would hold would be a farce. It would seem silly to try and play along, but he knows that they would make him do so anyway, and perhaps he feels there is a chance he could indirectly sway the Villagers toward his cause.

During the initial phases of the campaign, Six learns just how much of a joke the election is. He is bombarded by reporters who create their own news when he refuses to comment (and put down no comment when he has something to say). This information is in turn printed immediately into the newspaper. We know the Village has complete control over every aspect of life, but here we see it in action.

It doesn't last too long, however, because Six eventually plays into the trap that was set for him all along. After a tense and disturbing scene, he is brainwashed into approaching the election with the utmost seriousness, promising the citizens things that he would never agree to in his normal state of mind, and quickly becoming the favorite candidate. Throughout this time, he occasionally snaps out of it, and during these bouts of fear and confusion we see him try and fight back. These attempts are futile, and by the end of the show the replacement Number Two has him carted away like a looney. The ending of the episode was fairly clear - the election was held solely to remind Six of just how much power they have over him, and that in the end, they can make him do whatever they want, short of extracting his secrets. If he doesn't want to experience something like this again, he will need to talk.

The Village has never been this rough on him mentally, and it is almost painful to watch. McGoohan does a fantastic job of making it appear that Six's mind is a mess of thoughts and emotions, and while there are two clear moments when he breaks free of the brainwashing, there are other times when it is not so obvious, where it looks like his true feelings are coming out while under the spell. If this is the case, however, who is to say that this is not going on when he is towing the party line? This is why I think the episode works well in the five slot. At the end of Chimes, Six narrowly avoids falling into a trap, and walks away defiantly. In this context, the events of Free for All act as a sort of revenge from the Village, to remind him who is really in control here.

All in all, Free for All has so much going on. We get commentary on voters, candidates, the absurdity of elections, and the power of government. Most importantly, we get a lot of psychological trauma that I found to be down right scary. In a way, this has everything you could want from The Prisoner, save for the spy games and action of other episodes, but in another way I feel this is the make or break episode. After both Free for All and Chimes, there is danger that a modern viewer may give up. If you watch these two episodes with a desire for every scene to have a logical explanation, you will be beyond frustrated.

This is where one must realize that The Prisoner is not about logic. Not everything will fit together neatly. Perhaps this is due to production issues, or the difficulty of creating a show that was so unique for its time. But in the end, much of it is intentional. It isn't that The Prisoner wants to confuse you - in fact, I would say the intent is quite the opposite. It simply assumes that the viewer has enough intelligence to understand what is important and what is not. For example, the question of why Number Six would choose to run for office is not important. We know as well as he does that there is little choice in the matter, or if you chose to watch Free for All earlier, you might assume that he does so out of naivety. Either answer works. The important thing is what happens later, what it means for Six, and what greater points about society the show wants to impart on the viewer.

This is why The Prisoner is so brilliant. Depending on what order you watch it, and what you bring to it, there are many bits and pieces that can be interpreted and analyzed however you wish. They can have different meanings for different people. But there are certain big picture concepts that each episode aims to tackle, and each of these different paths winds up at the same place at the end. The show is saying "you can deal with these parts however you want, but I expect you are smart enough to figure out the main thrust." It doesn't matter what the answer to any given question is in the end. If you walk away from Free for All feeling a bit more depressed about the nature of government, if you feel the same sense of dread as Number Six, if you are on the edge of your seat waiting to see when the Village might push him a little farther, then you have "gotten" the episode. And if you ask me, it was an episode worth "getting".

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.

The Prisoner - Checkmate

Episode Name: Checkmate
Original Air Date: November 24 1967
TV Airing Order: 9
KTEH Airing Order: 3
Summary - Number Six thinks he has a means to tell the prisoners from the warders, and assembles a group for an escape attempt.

Checkmate continues the trend of logical episode reorderings. Number 6 still takes a brute force approach, asking people he runs into basic questions about the Village and the identity of Number One, even though we know that nothing will come of it other than canned, Orwellian responses from the citizenry. An early scene shows a game of chess played with human pieces, in which the players (sans 6 and his questionee) believe they are playing with some semblance of skill and tactics, rather than simply following orders of the two players. Quite frightening, especially when one of the players makes a move on his own, and is taken away for "reconditioning". The Village really does have a hell of a vicegrip on its populace. The mental conditioning continues when they take 6's new friend and potential ally, and brainwash her into a "lovestruck" spy.

However, Number 6 is starting to learn, and amidst all of this he begins to try and recruit other Villgaers to help him escape, by determining which citizens are captives, and which are the Guardians that keep an eye out on everyone. The plan goes off with little complication, and 6 is able to keep away from his spy with startling efficiency. Everything looks to be going all too well, and by the time the escape is "finished", we discover that this quite is true.

Checkmate's ordering as episode 3 is a double edged sword, depending on how you look at it. It is the third time in a row that a woman has been used as some sort of bait, as well as the third time that Number 6 has looked toward the sea as a means of escape. We also get an even better peek at how much control the Village has on the minds of its captives. A pattern is starting to form, one that risks repetition. On the other hand, it makes sense to place them in this order. We can explain Number 6's actions as the result of him still testing the waters, coupled with his continued (but lessening) underestimation of his situation. The same can be said for the Guardians and their mind tricks. We'll have to see if the plots start mixing it up in the future.

Despite the feelings of retread, this episode was a good one. Even though we know the scheme is going to fail, it is difficult to hold back those feelings of "he's going to make it this time!" Checkmate's chess based symbolism is also an obvious but much needed allegory that helps reinforce the idea of the Village, as well as the show's opinions on government control.

Next episode goes back to the second show in the TV ordering. Will we get the same old song and dance, or will something new pop up entirely? You'll have to come back for the next post.

Be seeing you....

The Prisoner - Dance of the Dead

Episode Name: Dance of the Dead
Original Air Date: November 17 1967
TV Airing Order: 8
KTEH Airing Order: 2
Summary - Number Six tries to save an old friend headed for destruction at the hands of the Village.

Dance of the Dead marks the first time that the KTEH ordering deviates from the original TV airing, and as such I was nervous as to how well this whole episode shuffling business would work. I suppose I am simply used to modern shows with strict continuity and cannonical underpinnings (not to say that The Prisoner is marred by any lack of this strictness). In any case, I'd say it worked out pretty well on a whole, save for the first five or so minutes. The first thing to throw me off was the modified introduction, which apparently will be used from here on out. After that, we are treated to scenes that suggest that the leaders of The Village have been continuously experimenting on Number 6, and that he has grown rather accustomed to his new place in life. This is quickly shattered when he eventually reacts to a situation in his home by saying "I'm new here". From here on out, he once again begins to act like a newcomer, someone who doesn't know all the answers and believes that his escape is all but guaranteed. If you shrug off the opening scene as being a bit of In Media Res storytelling, you can see that shifting this episode to the 2 slot is a smart move. I can't imagine that the original second episode would fare better (though I'll find out two episodes from now!)

Another reason why this is a good ordering choice is the sheer crudeness of the scheming. Number 6 is still relying on little to no planning in his escape attempts, and Number 2 and crew try again to use a woman to spy on him (which didn't work out too well the first time). Both sides appear to be underestimating each other, but that notion is thrown away once the Carnival begins. The Village Carnival is the focus of the episode, and it is important for several reasons. First, it gives us more insight into the villagers themselves. We learn that they actually ordered to have fun during the festivities, though every time this happens, the looks on their faces are anything but cheery. I'm not sure if this was an intentional bit of direction, but the villagers react to the Carnival with a kind of indifference that borders on sadness. I won't go so far as to say that they are all unhappy with their lot in life, but they certainly look broken. There's no real happiness here, only orders to do one thing or another, which they carry out without question.

But their tone changes dramatically at the end of the party, when Number 2 and crew reveal just how quickly they learn from their mistakes. Number 6 is put on trial for breaking an important rule, which is a bit surprising considering he broke it right in front of 2 and his Observer. Apparently is wasn't going to go unpunished. In fact, the trial is over almost when it begins. 6 is found guilty of his crimes, and his sentence is death by the people. The result throws the villagers into a frenzy. They immediately go from gloominess to sheer joy, as they form a mob that happily chases Number 6 through the Town Hall, every one of them eager to kill him. The trial is also strange in that his Observer servers as his prosecution, even though we see just how much she regrets the idea of 6 being slain. No matter what she feels, she still must obey her commands. They way both she and the other citizens change their tone on a dime is creepy as hell, and shows just how powerful the rulers of the Village are.

But it isn't even the strongest example. 6 doesn't die, of course, but he is only saved due to Number 2, who takes one of 6's rescue attempts and uses it to fake his death. At first, I thought this scene brought everything together, but after a few days I changed my mind. On one hand, it is chilling to realize that the people in control of 6 are also his main protection. Yet the ending doesn't make sense. If the villagers are told that he is dead, surely they will realize that he is walking around afterward. And reversing the sentence would never happen. The only solution to this plot hole that I can think of is that their minds are so flexible that they can quickly be convinced that everything is alright sometime later, and that the whole exercise was meant to remind 6 of just how screwed he is.

In the last post, I mentioned how I was looking for that episode that would hook me in, and Dance of the Dead was it. Despite the oddball ending, it showed the twisted, trippier side of the Village, and ended with the feeling of hopelessness that I was waiting for. All I could think of at the end was that I needed to see just what else they would try on Number 2, as well as whether or not he would change his tactics. We'll have to wait for Episode 3 to see what happens.

Be seeing you...

The Prisoner - Arrival

Episode Name: Arrival
Original Air Date: Sept 29 1967
TV Airing Order: 1
KTEH Airing Order: 1
Summary - After waking up in the Village and discovering his captivity there, Number Six encounters a friend from the outside who may have a possible escape.

So here it is - the one and only first episode. We get to see The Village and its inhabitants, which are at once peaceful, creepy, and full of fab 60's era style. We also learn just enough about Number 6 and The Village's plans for him to whet our appetite, but it isn't enough to spell anything out, or worse yet, confuse us to the point of frustration. By the time the episode is complete, we are treated to multiple escape attempts and double crosses (with just a bit of action sprinkled in for good measure). Arrival gives you a taste of the many things The Prisoner offers, from the thrilling to the exotic.

However, I might argue that all of these little tastes fail to add up to a full meal, and they aren't exotic enough to get you hooked. What I mean is that there is nothing here that makes you wonder what will happen next, nor is there anything trippy enough to entirely appeal to one's retro curiosities. It is good enough to convince you to watch more, but perhaps not enough to instill that "just one more" sense of addiction that a good show can produce.

That being said, I really do think it is a fine standalone episode. Despite the fact that the crew had a leisurely 57 minutes of show to work with, they manage to cram in so many events and so much information without it feeling like a rush job. When I first watched it online, I stopped around Number 6's first escape attempt. When I started it up again, I realized I was only halfway through! If they had ended the show there, I would have been satisfied, but the fact that it kept going allowed Arrival to do an even better job of establishing just how skilled the guardians of The Village will be at keeping our hero captive. I understand that television programs these days cannot run for so long, but it does wonders for the plot and pacing.

Actually, I should clarify on the "rush job" remark. One of the more jarring aspects of the episode was how quickly it cut from one scene to another. At one point Number 6 is invited by Number 2 for a chat later in the day, and the next thing we know, they're sitting down to talk. I can't say it is bad way to handle things - better to cut to the chase than to add some unnecessary scene in between - but it takes some getting used to.

So there you have it. A fairly straightforward, but no less exciting introduction to The Village. I can't say that the show's purported magic is on full display here, but it did convince me to dig deeper. In the end, you can't ask for much more in a first episode.

PS - Apparently The Onion AV Club did an episode guide of their own leading up to the AMC Remake. I'm promising myself to only read them after writing my own posts, so as not to affect my own views and opinions.

Be seeing you...

The Prisoner

I learned about the cult classic TV show The Prisoner on the day that Patrick McGoohan passed away. After seeing some clips, I realized that, in fact, I had seen it before, in the form of homages and parodies in other pieces of entertainment. I also learned that the full series was available for viewing on line on AMC.com, as something of a preparation for their eventual remake.

Said remake just finished airing, and in the time between these events I only managed to watch the first episode of the original Prisoner. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy it - I simply struggled with the idea of watching every episode from the uncomfortable position of a computer chair. Months went by until I eventually forgot about it almost entirely.

Thankfully, the remake rekindled my interest, and this time I intended to be serious about it. Looking online, I discovered that my delay was a blessing in disguise - the show has been recently released on Blu-Ray, with remastered footage and a bunch of extra content. And so I did what I have rarely ever done - bought a television show on disc. Considering The Prisoner is considered one of the best cult classics of all time, I think it will be worth it.

From here on, I will be doing a small post for each episode I watch. I'm not sure if I will discuss them with or without spoilers, but I will warn everyone ahead of time. I'll try to get them out as soon as I am finished with each one, though it might take longer if I decide to rewatch certain episodes with commentary on.

With all that said, a few more remarks before we get started -

- The show was originally envisioned as lasting just seven episodes, making it more of a proto miniseries than a full television show. However, the studio bankrolling it wanted more, and so a compromise was made at 17 episodes. This means that there are only 7 which, as the fansites declare, "actually matter" in order to understand the plot.

- When the show originally aired, it was not done so in the correct order. These are the only things I have been able to ascertain in regards to this:

1. The only episodes that were shown in the proper order are the very first, and the final two
2. The seven important episodes have something of an official order
3. No one is sure about the rest
4. Various fan groups have created their own preferred orderings that they feel work best, though they admit that many of them can be ordered in whatever way the viewer wishes, in order to examine certain themes or ideas

For the purposes of my viewing, I'll be using the ordering made up for public television station KTEH, which is "reportedly approved" by series creator Patrick McGoohan.

That's it for now. It should be interesting to see where this one takes me. Be seeing you...