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The Prisoner: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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he Prisoner television series started out as a sort of Orwellian James Bond in which a kidnapped secret agent's thwarted escape attempts from "The Village" were counterbalanced by his dogged determination not to divulge the information his captors seek to pry from him "by hook or by crook." But as the series comes to its conclusion with these last three episodes, the transformation from a spy story with science-fictional trappings to something considerably more surrealistically avant-garde is completed. (The set also includes such extras as a detailed overview of the series, The Prisoner Video Companion, as well as "behind-the-scenes" footage.)
While the actual location of the quaint seaside town that served as "The Village" is revealed in the final episode as Portmeirion, North Wales (which has become a tourist attraction for Prisoner aficionados), little of the action takes place there in these closing episodes. Purportedly the reason had less to do with artistic considerations than with economic ones, in order to save money by choosing stock studio sets over more expensive on-location shoots. Indeed, in discussing the show's artistic merits, it is interesting to note how production expediencies and the inherent shortcomings of the medium amalgamated with the sometimes seemingly crazed creative vision of series creator and star Patrick McGoohan to conjure a singular video experience that continues to tantalize more than 30 years after its original broadcast.
"The Girl Who Was Death" is a whimsical spoof of the spy genre with a trick ending that's oddly out of sync with the two interrelated concluding episodes, "Once Upon a Time" and "Fall Out." In part, that can be explained by the requirements of weekly television to come up with a certain number of episodes per season, even if they don't all always meaningfully advance the premise or maintain the same storyline quality. Perhaps because of such "filler" episodes, McGoohan decided to end the series. Although "Once Upon a Time" was originally conceived as the 13th episode and a season finale, not the denouement, McGoohan instead reshot its ending to segue into what remains one of the most baffling series conclusions in the history of television.
All you needed was love
In what became the penultimate episode, Leo McKern repeats a previous stint ("The Chimes of Big Ben") as Number 2, the nominal head of The Village, played by a revolving cast. He has returned with the mission to either break McGoohan's character, Number 6, or be broken by him. His weapon of choice; "Degree Absolute" (the episode's original title), a technique which somehow recreates the psychological state of a man's seven phases of life recounted in the famous Shakespearean speech that begins, "All the world's a stage." Number 2 takes on the various authoritative roles in key incidents from Number 6's past (reportedly based on McGoohan's own life experiences) in an attempt to at last wrest the information Number 6 has so stolidly refused to divulge. In this struggle of difficult and complex personalities, it wouldn't be revealing much to say that Number 2 fails. As a reward for his triumph, Number 6 is promised that he will at last get to meet Number 1.
And here's where the viewer enters some unprecedented and decidedly strange territory chock-full of metaphoric symbolism, artistic daring, pretentiousness and/or incoherent rambling, set to the Beatles anthem "All You Need is Love." Part of the reason for this simply reflects the aesthetic ideals of the times—this was, after all, the '60s, an era noted for all the aforementioned characteristics.
Another reason was the pressure to finish up and get it over with. McGoohan wrote the final episode in a marathon session just before it was filmed, with parts of it ad-libbed on the spot. Also of interest is that "Fall Out" was shot a full year after "Once Upon a Time." By then, McKern had both shorter hair and a smooth chin. Because he objected to false whiskers, an explanatory scene was invented to explain the character's resurrection with a more clean-cut appearance. No great meaning there, just a workaround. Further contributing to the seemingly pastiche effect was that, again to save money, certain scenes were simply recycled from earlier episodes.
When "Fall Out" originally aired in early February 1968, there was a flood of protests from viewers angered over what they found an incomprehensible climax. Certainly there are no easy answers, no simplistic resolutions. Whether the Prisoner, and by extension, any one individual, can ever really escape is largely left open to interpretation. Which is one hallmark of a work of art, as opposed to just another trite piece of television entertainment.
Some of the '60s references may be lost on those who don't remember when Beatles music was actually cutting-edge stuff, drugs were supposedly mind-expanding, a nuclear missile war was possibly impending, and hippies pretended to be changing the world. If so, it's worth doing the research to try to figure this all out. And if for some reason you haven't been collecting the earlier DVD sets, a mega-set of all 17 episodes is now available. Be seeing you. — David
Also in this issue: Roswell, Soulkeeper, and Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict
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