The Prisoner - Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling

Episode Name: Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling
Original Air Date: December 22 1967
TV Airing Order: 12
KTEH Airing Order: 13
Summary - Deprived of his memory and placed in another man's body, Number Six travels back to England to seek a missing scientist.

Another episode that opens with a slightly different intro. But no matter, as there's no telling what they'll do next time. This episode happens to be the one I read about earlier, in which Patrick McGoohan was almost entirely unavailable for filming, and so they had to make a story that has almost no need for him. The writers chose body swapping, another classic trope that gets a Prisoner twist.

It turns out that the Village wants a certain scientist who mastered the ability to swap two minds. Only problem is that he went into hiding before he could master the reversal process, or so they think. They also know that Number Six knew him before being captured, so they his mind into another body and send him back to London, knowing that he will track down his old friend in hopes of setting things straight. A few twists occur, and the ending results in another small victory for Six.

As an episode that is almost entirely devoid of McGoohan, this ended up being a more traditional spy thriller. Not too bad considering the circumstances, though again it feels rushed. The victory at the end is achieved only thanks to a plot hole that past episodes would have refuted, and a potentially powerful revelation - Number Six was engaged before being captured - is barely covered and will likely never be followed. This could have been an interesting character piece, but the opportunity is squandered. Still, as a standalone thriller it works well enough. We're getting close to the end, with only three more filler episodes left, so at this point I am willing to put my mind on cruise control and see where the ending takes me.

The Prisoner - It's Your Funeral

Episode Name: It's Your Funeral
Original Air Date: December 8 1967
TV Airing Order: 11
KTEH Airing Order: 11
Summary - To save the prisoner who is being set up to take the fall, Number Six must intervene in a Village power struggle and prevent the assassination of a Number Two.

Holey moley, the episode order matches up! Not like that means much at this point. What does matter is that after Living in Harmony's detour, It's Your Funeral gets the show back on track with one of the best "filler" episodes so far. This one is all about an assassination attempt, with one Number Two trying to kill another. We also learn of a group of Villagers called "Jammers", who apparently hatch fake plans of resistance in order to confuse the Observers. I must admit that most of this episode was highly confusing for me, perhaps moreso than any episode to date. The problem was that It's Your Funeral is a mix of influences. It harkens back to the earliest episodes, in which the Village tricks and leads Number Two through some elaborate scheme without the use of drugs or mental conditioning. Yet it belongs where it is because just like the last few shows, Number Six gets the upper hand and foils the plot.

From what I can tell, the assassination attempt is real, and Six only factors in because the conspirators hoped to keep the Village's freest thinker from thinking all the right things that would allow him to stop the plot. The Number Two that is marked for death also seems to be played as a fool, because he actually is. The only thing I can't figure out is why his replacement wants to kill him, and whether it has to do with the Jammers.

There was some good character work here too. Number Six is fully knowledgeable of what tricks the Village likes to use, and skepticism and lack of genuine interest (at least at first) is a stark contrast to his earlier behaviors. This episode also contains a lot of interaction with other Villagers who aren't all (deliberate) spies or mindless drones. Between them and the struggles of the ruling members, we get to see a lot deeper into the Village on a whole, and the cracks in the foundation are starting to show.

Ultimately, despite being my most confusing episode, It's Your Funeral was not frustrating in a bad way. I believe that all the answers are there as to what was going on, and I just have to pay a bit more attention to piece them all together. Also, part of the reason for the confusion is that, in a rare change, the Village's plot is real - the only lies are small ones used to jerk around the players. It isn't common for them to act so straightforwardly (relatively speaking), which made it difficult until the very end to figure out what was really going on.

I don't like when television shows play these games with the viewer for the length of an entire season or more, but for the purpose of one episode I can appreciate the fact that The Prisoner decided to play with my mind for a change, and give Number Six a bit of a break.

Edit - I did some reading, and no one else can come up with a good reason for the questions I still had. That really puts a dent on the whole point of having this episode. Add in the fact that there's no real theme or message (aside from one that I need to get into in the future), I'm beginning to change my mind and agree with the folks that say this was perhaps a rush job. The fact that the episode contained a lot more of the Village than I have been seeing lately is probably what endeared me toward it.