The Prisoner

AMC's remake of classic espionage/mind-screwing series The Prisoner doesn't live up to the original, though it does do some interesting things differently and at least has some sense of a cohesive story and an actual ending. It's a bit slow at times, and it's probably a good thing that Ian McKellen's name comes before Jim Caviezel's in the credits despite the latter being the protagonist because well... he's a lot better. Caviezel's 6 just isn't a very likable guy, and McKellen's 2 provides the vast majority of the miniseries' good lines and moments. Instead of a series of barely connected episodes where a sequence of people attempt to wrestle some secret from a captive 6, 2 tries to convince him that the Village he's been whisked away to is the only society that actually exists, and there's questions about the true nature of reality on everyone's minds.

When you think about the supposed premise, it doesn't really make sense. The original series was strange, but at least the citizens of the Village didn't seem completely deluded the whole time. But once the story actually unfolds, things come together and actually seem to work if you squint a bit and can actually follow out what's going on. The last episode can be easy to get lost in if you don't pay rapt attention, but even without entirely grasping it I got the gist and had a sort of "oh" moment. It makes me glad they decided to air it over three nights instead of six weeks, because more time to absorb, forget details, and form biases might have made it harder to figure out. The Prisoner isn't the sort of thing I'd want to watch very often, because it drags more often that it should and it's sort of tiring to follow. But I thought it mostly succeeded at retaining the spirit of the original without retreading the same ground, and had enough bits to keep fans of things that mess with your had happy for the most part. Sorry if this seems a bit scatter-shot, but my mind's kind of preoccupied.

The Prisoner

I heard about this old series when its star and creator Patrick McGoohan died earlier this year. AMC has filmed a remake which will air this year, and on their website you can currently watch the original in its entirety. It's a unique mix of espionage, science fiction, and psychological absurdity. McGoohan is an agent of some sort who suddenly retires from his post, and is then drugged and brought to a strange village on a remote island, where everyone has a number instead of a name, and he doesn't know who to trust. He's number six, and a string of number twos along with their secret allies try a variety of methods to find out what secret led to his retirement, from psychotherapy to virtual reality and everything in between.

For the most part it's a battle of wits between six and his captors, as he constantly attempts escape and once in a while even makes it back to England, before eventually being returned to the island. There are occasional fisticuffs and scenes where a giant white balloon chases him, though mostly the conflict in the show is more cerebral. I mostly enjoyed the series, which had some mostly boring episodes but also some really good ones, especially one where he avenges an innocent woman's death by making number two paranoid enough to declare himself unfit for service. The show gets stranger as it goes on, culminating in the final episode, where court is held before an audience of men in white robes and masks, and bizarre musical interludes and imagery accompany a completely ambiguous ending. It can be frustrating when you've spent all that time wondering what was really going on, but in the end it's a pretty interesting and influential show.