The Prisoner: Chimes Of Big Ben

July 4th, 2007

Episode 5

The Prisoner: Chimes Of Big Ben.

The Prisoner is a 1967 British television series, starring Patrick McGoohan as “Number 6,” a top-level government agent who resigns his post. As a result, he’s kidnapped and imprisoned in “The Village”, where his captors hope to interrogate him for “information.” The series documents Number 6’s repeated escape attempts and the progressively more extreme methods employed by his captors to break his will.

Synopsis

This episode features the “best” Number 2, Leo McKern who re-appears in the final episodes. He’s a bit more inquisitive to Number 6, striking up friendly conversation while trying to extract the “information”. Number 6 tells Number 2 that he’d like to escape and return to wipe the place off the face of the earth. Number 2 is taken aback by this announcement and seems to wonder if he’s bluffing with such a dire threat. The Village is having an arts and crafts fair, and Number 2 wants number 6 to participate, in yet another conformist exercise.

A new prisoner - an Estonian woman - is brought to The Village. She is dubbed Number 8. She’s called in to meet with Number 2, and bewildered, she asks Number 6 for directions. It’s kind of neat to see the role reversal, as Number 6 went through this same bewilderment in the first episode. Number 8 is as distrustful as he was upon arrival. She claims she’s on The Island because she resigned - as did Number 6.

Number 8 soon attempts escape. She is revealed to be an Olympic swimmer, and tries to swim away from The Village. Rover is deployed. She is pulled onto the beach, unconscious, and taken to the hospital.
Her “rehabilitation” takes place in a room with an alternating current on the floor: three seconds on, three seconds off. Number 2 explains that with confidence, she could time a simple walk to the door and escape. It is a test of her will. But at the last moment she throws herself on the floor, attempting suicide.

Number 6 agrees to watch Number 8 in exchange for participation in the arts and crafts fair. Naturally, he has an ulterior motive, which is an accomplice for escape. Number 6 begins carving a wooden boat, under the guise that it’s an abstract wood sculpture for the fair. Number 2 is not pleased with the tools Number 6 has built but looks the other way.

Number 6 begins conspiring with Number 8 and they deduce that The Village is located on a coast near Poland. She voices her wish to hear the chimes of Big Ben, meaning an escape to London.

At arts and crafts fair, most of the art created by the prisoners feature realistic portraits of Number 2. People seem confused by Number 6’s abstract sculpture. He says his sculpture “means what it is” and is titled “escape”. He wins a prize and uses the prize money to buy a tapestry with Number 2’s face on it.

That evening, Number 6 and 8 move the sculpture onto the beach, and transform it into its true purpose as a boat. The previously purchased tapestry becomes the sail. They depart under cover of darkness.

Rover makes an appearance, and Number 6 and 8 abandon the boat. As they swim ashore, Rover is shot at by a sniper on the beach - an accomplice of Number 8. After a quick conversation, Number 6 and 8 are put in a wooden crates to be shipped to London. Number 6 swaps out his waterlogged watch for the sniper’s working one.

After a long, bumpy ride in darkness, the two crates arrive in London. Two old friends of Number 6, Father Ingay and a Colonel, await their arrival. The Chimes of Big Ben are heard. Number 6 talks with the Colonel about where he has been, describing The Village, who has no idea what he’s talking about. This is a bit odd, as the Colonel was the one who presumably sent him to The Village. Soon the conversation moves back to familiar subject:

The Colonel: Why did you resign?

Number 6: A matter of conscience. Because for a very long time…

Number 6 cut off as he again hears the chimes of Big Ben. He realizes the watch he got was already set to London time, which doesn’t jibe as The Village was supposedly in Poland. His paranoia returns. The traffic and chiming sounds were coming off of a tape recording, and he has been in The Village all along.

He walks out the doors to see Number 2 sending Father Ingay back to London. Number 8 emerges and it’s clear she was working with the powers that be all along.

Thoughts

Number 6 mentions “conscience” as part of the reason (or perhaps the reason) why he resigned. Plus, The Village can obviously go to extreme lengths to maintain a deception. In this episode, they almost extracted the “information” by faking an entire escape situation and making Number 6 think he was back in London, where he would let his guard down.

The Twist Ending

This episode utilizes a “twist” ending that left me questioning the entire episode. So while Number 6 and 8 were in the crates, were they really placed on a plane to complete the illusion? Did Number 2 realize the true nature of the wooden sculpture all along? Did the deception go back as far as having Number 8 subtly goad Number 6 towards escape?

During the episode, I thought something was amiss, but this is likely because since the sixties, many movies utilize a “twist” ending, leaving modern audiences wary for any indication that things aren’t what they seem and the potential for an alternate explanation. M. Knight Shyamalan (some say to his detriment) has practically built a career out of making films that change perspective once the ending is revealed.

Here’s a short list of films I can think of off the top of my head that fall into this category, where nothing is as it seems until the film’s end.