The Prisoner: Many Happy Returns

October 31st, 2007

Episode 9

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

Number 6 awakes to discover The Village completely abandoned — presenting yet another opportunity for escape. He takes a bunch of photographs (to show the folks back home) and builds a raft to escape by sea. A black cat cracks a cup as Number 6 makes his way onto open water.

Number 6 falls asleep on the raft. A boat pulls up, and the boat driver takes the possessions off the raft. Number 6 sneaks aboard and after some scuffling where he unsuccessfully takes control of the boat, he abandons ship and is washed ashore near a lighthouse. Lucky for him, it’s the British coast.

After encountering some gypsies that speak a bizarre language, Number 6 makes his way back to London, and his old flat. Someone he’s never met before — Mrs. Butterworth — is living there, and driving his car.

Eventually Number 6 meets up with his old espionage bosses, Thorpe and The Colonel. Number 6 tries to convince them of The Village’s existence and purpose, but even after showing them his candid photographs, they are skeptical and find the story hard to believe.

They do agree to send Number 6 out on a reconnaissance flight via jet to establish the location of The Village, which through some calculations of ocean currents and elapsed time, is thought to be on the coast of Morocco. Number 6 takes off with a pilot, but just as he sees The Village from the air, the pilot pulls an eject lever and Number 6 is sent down to earth. Realizing he’s back where he started, he returns to his apartment in silence — and is soon greeted by Mrs. Butterworth — who reveals herself to be this episode’s Number 2.

Thoughts

This is the first of the “surreal” episodes, which rely much less on logical mind games and more on evoking particular emotions, or symbolic events of themes that have come before. Contributing to the surreal nature is the absence of dialogue for the first half. An abandoned Village means Number 6 has nobody to talk to, and his escape is depicted mostly visually. The first people he tries to talk with are gypsies whose language he doesn’t understand.

Some events just don’t make sense. The location of The Village and the behavior of his former bosses contradict what has come before (perhaps they feign ignorance?). What are gypsies doing next to a major British highway? And based on what happened in The Chimes of Big Ben, Number 6 is too trusting upon his return home. Perhaps this entire episode is a drugged-up hallucination — a dream sequence where reality is Number 6 strapped to a now-familiar hospital table, his mind probed by Number 2.

Or, if the episode is real, the escape and return is a gross display of power — to teach Number 6 that even if he were to return home, he would still be under surveillance and ultimately powerless against The Village. He can trust no-one and may perpetually be a prisoner — even if he escapes. But we already knew that, from the episode The Chimes of Big Ben.

All in all, an okay but lacking episode.

Next Episode: It’s Your Funeral
Previous Episode: The Schizoid Man

IMDB: Many Happy Returns
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iTunes Store Link: Many Happy Returns — The Prisoner (Classic)