(Episode 8 – “The Schizoid Man” & Episode 9 – “Many Happy Returns”)
The series is definitely getting better. As I said before, what’s neat about The Prisoner is that each episode, so far, is self-contained. For the most part, nothing we’ve learned from previous episodes carries over into the present, other than the general premise. You could catch the pilot episode and then skip a whole slew of episodes within the series, then hop right in here, at the eighth and ninth episodes, and not feel out of place. Well, “out of place” is a relative term when it comes to The Prisoner.
I’ve read a bit about this series in the past, without venturing into spoiler territory, and I’d seen the big white balls — The Village “security system” — referred to as “Rovers.” Until “The Schizoid Man,” I hadn’t heard of them being called Rovers, which made it all the more odd by having Number Six refer to them as such before we ever hear a Guardian use the term.
Something else odd in “The Schizoid Man” was how Number Six was suddenly sporting a “6” ID button, when he hadn’t worn one before (or, at least, it wasn’t obvious that he ever wore one). I understand that the button was a critical element to make this episode work, but it seemed sorta sloppy of the writers to rely on that device without making it obvious to the viewer as to why Number Six suddenly had a button. Then again, it could just be another thing to screw with our minds; I’m going with that.
Another odd thing about this episode was how Number Six made mention of reporting to “The General,” as though he had no idea of who or what The General was yet. In both the aired episodes and the DVDs, “Schizoid Man” came after “The General” episode, so what the hell?
“Many Happy Returns” is by far the best episode of the series so far. If this series of events didn’t completely turn Number Six’s mind to mush, I’m curious to see what the Guardians have up their sleeves next to extract information out of him. The amount of orchestration that had to go into giving Number Six the illusion that he was truly free of The Village is impressive and mind-blowing. To have everything end up with him back to the very place he escaped was heart breaking!
The other aspect of “Many Happy Returns” that I liked was in how we really got a sense of how cunning and bad-ass Number Six is when it came to escaping The Village, then the men on the boat. This guy’s so cool and calm about everything that he takes the time to remain civilized and shave while on a wooden raft that he made within mere hours — again! I think I’ve figured it out: Number Six helped design top-secret wartime sea vessels made of wood, so they wouldn’t appear on radar. The man’s a boat-making marvel!
Now that Number Six knows the location of The Village, I do wonder if that information will carry through to future episodes. Incidentally, The Village is actually the village Portmeirion, in the UK … or is it? You be the judge.
Past posts: Episode 1, Episodes 2 & 3, Episodes 4 & 5, Episodes 6 & 7
Clacked by Keith McDuffee 
on Jun 29, 2009 @ 15:00 EST5EDT
It really is Portmeirion. I’ve been there :)