Who is number one?

Well, I finally got around to seeing the last episode of The Prisoner, courtesy of The Video Underground. This is the old British cult spy/SF/paranoid thriller that was featured on television back in 1968. The basic outline of the story involves a British spy (refered to in the show only as number 6) who resigns in anger. He is followed back to his apartment, gassed, and wakes up the next morning in The Village. The Village, on the surface, has the look of some pleasant seaside resort. But its a place from which there is no leaving, and whose members are stripped of their individuality. The show follows his attempts at trying to escape from the Village, and the efforts, led each episode by "the new number two", to try and break number six. Who runs The Village? Like so many things in the show, that bit of infomation is left ambiguous.

As I've heard, the final episode leaves more questions unswered than answered. It's certainly ended in a crazy and over the top manner. Does number six really escape? Fans of the show are still dabating this, and I probably have nothing new to add to the endless arguments of ardent fans over the last 36 years debating what exactly The Prisoner is all about. Though something in the final episode does remind me of the escape sequence and ending of Terry Gilliam's Brazil.

Be seeing you...

Comments

[pam]

"Teletubbies" reminds me of The Prisoner. Four characters, locked in an idyllic pastural setting, no clue why they're there, ordered about by a disembodied British-accented voice. When my daughter was of age, and lurved Teletubbies, that was the only thought that kept me sane during all those episodes.

Voice: Teletubbies say hello!

Tinky Winky: Where are you? What do you WANT?!? Damn you!! [waves handbag threateningly]

[Joe]

I think you may be right. I always thought there was something menacing about the Teletubbies, especially that creepy baby in the sun.