October 2009

In anticipation of the re-imagined The Prisoner, coming to AMC November 15th, and in celebration of the new blu-ray release, I’m re-watching all 17 classic episodes. Join me, won’t you?

“A, B and C”

This was an… interesting episode.

The premise was simple – The New Number 2 (who sweats and gulps a lot) thinks that McGoohan resigned in order to “sell out” and so he decides to test that theory – by making him dream about it.

Which is kind of an amazing premise. If the warders of The Village can watch (and even influence) the dreams of their prisoners, is there any hope for them at all? They can GET IN THIER MINDS and INFLUENCE DREAMS, for pete’s sake. A capability that was never mentioned on the series again. In affect, this was the first “holodeck episode,” ever – airing the same year that Star Trek first did.

I hate holodeck episodes.

So, suffice to say, this is not a favorite. The rest of the premise, that they use this technology to see if McGoohan would sell his secrets to one of three suspected agents – “A”, “B” or “C” – by creating such an opportunity in his dream… well, it’s weak. Yes, if McGoohan reveals any secrets in his dream, then he is one step closer to being “broken,” but we all know that ain’t gonna happen. HIS LIFE IS HIS OWN! There’s no real drama here. Most of the episode is A DREAM.

In the end the only character who is any danger is Number 2, because he is under direct orders to get the answers in this affair from Number I himself (the first time we see any character talk to Number I on the phone is in this episode), and grave misfortune would befall him if he doesn’t deliver – which, of course, he doesn’t. McGoohan is so cool he can even control his own DREAMS.

(Of course, he must not have been in TOO much danger because the same Number 2 reappears in another episode later in the series).

Meh. The next episode is much better. Much MUCH better. ‘Till then, be seeing you…

Here’s your “Prisoner-in-a-minute:”

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From SNL, here’s Jon Hamm from Mad Men in character giving advice on how to woo the opposite sex. Very well done.

I’m tellin’ ya, if Warner Brothers doesn’t sign Hamm ASAP to play Superman, they have room-temperature IQs.

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In anticipation of the reimagined The Prisoner, coming to AMC November 15th, and in celebration of the new blu-ray release, I’m re-watching all 17 classic episodes. Join me, won’t you?

Ah, yes, I now reflect on “The Chimes of Big Ben (Big Bill),” episode number 2. And how appropriate that his episode also brings us the best Number 2 the series ever had, in Leo McKern. He was so good that he was the only one to come back more than once, appearing in the last two episodes… but more about those later.

“The Chimes of Big Ben”

McGoohan gets a neighbor, the new Number 8, and she’s got a suspicious hairstyle that set me on edge right away. McGoohan was also suspicious, but somehow her June Foray-style Russian accent got through his defenses. As we shall see, big mistake.

McKern as the New Number 2 is just wonderful – bustering and loud and oh-so-over the top. His laugh alone elevates the episode beyond typical 60’s spy fare. His scenes with McGoohan are where the episode really crackles, and the casual conversation by the water about his theories – “The whole world, as The Village?” “That is my hope.” – both entertains and makes me shudder at the same time.

The Village has an art competition – primarily to give them something to do, methinks – and McGoohan joins in order to get Nadia, who attempted escape, out of the “hospital” (really a place of physical and psychological torture in The Village). Number 2 considers this a victory, and states that maybe McGoohan is mellowing and growing less resistant to his warders.

Not a chance.

His entry in the contest, an abstract piece that he carved out of really bad stock footage of a tree that was cut down, was in actuality a boat, and the sail is made of a tapestry another Villager made (that shows a regal Number 2). Nadia had let him know they were in Lithuania, and they set off for Poland.

Six and Nadia escape Rover, meet up with a colleague of Nadia’s (which was mighty damn suspicious, but McGoohan was obviously too water-logged to notice) and they are smuggled back to London, where they arrive in his old boss’ office – the cracked tea cup from the opening resignation scene notably absent.

His boss, Fotheringay, starts questioning him as to why he resigned, and McGoohan is just about to spill the beans when… Big Ben strikes eight.

The thing is, McGoohan’s watch ALSO reads 8, and the jig is up, cause the watch is from Nadia’s friend in Poland… and Patrick knows his time zones.

He never left The Village – the office is a ruse, and his old boss is In On It. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. McGoohan walks away, glaring and staring at Nadia as she and Number 2 sigh at the results of their failed plan.

This is probably the best episode one can use to introduce someone to The Prisoner. The acting of the two leads McKern and McGoohan are great, and the twist at the end is really well done. Is it the best Prisoner episode ever? Maybe – at the very least, it’s a personal favorite of mine. Here’s Prisoner-in-a-minute, for those ADD readers out there…

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There are few things in life I love more than The Prisoner, that great 1960s spy series that was the brilliant creation of actor/writer/producer Patrick McGoohan. I wrote of many of the reasons I loved it in my obituary of McGoohan here, and I will not repeat that here – suffice it to say, it just works for me.

Next month (November 15th – 1+5=6) AMC will be showing a new “reimagining” of The Prisoner, which I think is going to be more of a sequel than a remake. What excites me about that project is it will give many people who have never heard of the original the opportunity to see of the ideas that McGoohan proposed in his original… proposals about the nature of man and freedom that I think we are in dire need of being reminded of today.

To celebrate the new, I’m taking a trip back to the old – rewatching the original 17 episodes, in order, and posting my thoughts here. i hope to get through all of them (I’m especially excited about rewatching and reflecting on the last episode, “Fall Out”) before the new mini-series airs. So, let’s get on to it, shall we?

“Arrival”

Wow, McGoohan is ticked off.

(Oh, and while I know that the scripts referred to his character as PRISONER, I will in my musings on the series call him McGooghan – his character and his own views are so intertwined that I just consider the character on the show a reflection of the actor, and the man – hence, to me he’s McGoohan – and not John Drake, or Prisoner, or Number 6.)

We begin, and before titles start, McGoohan glares at EVERYTHING, starting with you, as he drives his Lotus through the London desert (!) – this is a man not to be trifled with.

Driving out of the desert and back to London, McGoohan resigns from some double-aught spy organization at the beginning of the series, and he’s so mad he bangs the desk of his superior and breaks a tea cup. When an englishman does something like THAT, you know he means business.

As he arrives at his flat (after glaring at the door), he passes a hearse and before he can pack his scuba gear and copy of Esquire for the flight, gas pours in the keyhole and he’s knocked out.

He wakes up in The Village.

Which, we will find out as the series progresses, is everywhere. And nowhere. We are all in The Village, in some way or another… and McGoohan is the only one who is angry about that.

The Village is for people who have secrets – information that should not be “let out” and must be controlled by the Powers That Be – Powers we all report to, in one way or another.

After stumbling around to try and find out where he is and what has happened, McGoohan meets the head of the Village, Number 2, who does a great bit of monologuing to explain the basic premise of the show to the viewers.

(We also get a wonderful “tour” of Portmeirion, in Wales, where the series was filmed – the unique landscape and mixed architecture being the perfect setting for the series. I hope to go there, someday.)

McGoohan resigned, and the Powers that run The Village want to know why. McGoohan’s response? Surprisingly, he glares at him. Number Two tells him “You can’t escape, Number Six” – the number he is assigned in The Village – McGoohan, of course, then immediately tries to do so, and runs across a weather balloon with attitude called Rover (the weather balloon was a last-minute replacement for a mechanized vehicle that ended up sinking the first time the producers tried to use it).

Knocked out, McGoohan wakes up in hospital, meets an old spy friend Cobb – who then proceeds to jump out the window. Or did he? The Village is filled with secrets.

Later, at Cobb’s funeral, Mcgoohan sees a woman crying – a friend of Cobb he confronts and asks what she knows. Apparently, she doesn’t know how to respond to glaring because she bursts into even more tears and promises to help him escape. Which… is a trick. You see, they are trying to demoralize McGoohan, and make him realize that he can’t escape.

We’ll see about that.

All in all, a great start for the show – McGoohan is wonderful, the premise is terrific and the show will go on to bigger and better things.

And hey, don’t have time to rewatch it like I did? Here’s Prisoner-in-a-minute!

We’ll continue, soon, with “The Chimes of Big Ben.”

Be seeing you.

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