Now that AMC's ambitious Prisoner mini series is over -- and I have watched and re-watched it several times in order to make sense of it -- I think I have answers to most of the questions that were raised by the series.
Before I get into that, I'd like to state that I am a big fan of the classic Patrick McGoohan "The Prisoner" series, and came to this with low expectations for it to be better than the original. As far as I was concerned, going in, the new show had one thing going for it, and one thing only: Ian McKellan was going to play Number 2.
(more below the jump)
I was not at all enthusiastic when I read that Jim Caviezel was going to play #6. I still recall an interview he gave to an in-flight magazine that he was attracted to the part of "Jesus," in "Passion of the Christ" because he was the same age as Jesus when he was crucified (at the time) and that he "ha[d] the same initials." (Yes. Go ahead and slap your forehead. That is profoundly dumb).
In any case, knowing that the opriginal priosoner was a psychological battle of wits -- I was not at all sanguine with "J.C." playing McGoohan's seminal part -- number 6 -- in this reboot. It turns out, though, that Jim Caviezel was not horrible in the part of #6 -- primarily because it was dumbed down and completely turned upside down from the original conception of the part.
Caviezel, in other words, was one of the least of the problems this Prisoner faced. Now, onto my analysis of what it all meant.
I am not going to recap or summarize all the episodes. Let's get that out of the way. This is going to be SPOILER LADEN SO YOU SHOULD STOP READING HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE SHOW! Frankly, if you have not seen the show, you will not know what the hell I am talking about anyway. So, here goes.
- Who is number 1? Well -- it turns out #1 is really #2 catatonic wife, the biochemist in real life, who apparently figured out a way to enter into this sort of shared collective aletrnate consciousness. In fact, she is the peron of "dreams" the Village into existince, and creates all of its conventions and rules.
- Who is number 2? He's Mr. Curtis, apparently the CEO of the Summakor corporation in real life -- but also the person who administers the Village/Dreamstate on behalf of his wife. She's the absentee landlord, so to speak, he's the management company.
- What is the Village? Well, as far as I can tell, its the dream construct of Mrs. Curtis (#1). But, I am only talking about the Village and the rules and conventions it follows. The actual place where the Village is located, appears to be an independent construct of human consciousness. So, whoever "dreams" the Village sets the rules for it. But, they do not create the landscape or the milieu, if that makes any sense.
- Who are all the people in the Village? They are people who were picked out via Summakor's surveillance program as candidates to be "treated" and brought into the village. You, apparently, exist in both the real world and the village at the same time -- without knowing of either self -- except in a subconscious way. Villagers get "dreams" and shadows of their real lives. People in this world get deja vu and remeberances of tehir Village lives -- and the psychic residue of those lives.
- Why is 6 so important? Michael or "6" thought he was doing routine surveillance work for Summakor, but then got upset with the whole process and resigned because he thought it was wrong. Initially, Curtis and Sunnakor tried to shut him down and break him in the Village -- but over time Curtis/#2 decided that Michael/6 would serve a more useful purpose.
- What did the endimg mean? I believe that, intitially, #2/Curtis was trying to protect the village and summakor from Michael. but, once Michael was brought into the Village, he created doubt in #2's mind -- and alo longing to be with his wife. Thus, #2 broke the rules and woke his wife in the Village -- thus leading to the emergence of the holes.
#2/Curtis' plan then changed from breaking Michael/6 and protecting the village -- to escaping from the Village and freeing his wife from the responsibility of maintaining it. For this, he needed 6 to replace him as #2 -- but also someone else he loved to replace his wife as the "dreamer." Thus, he manipulates 6 and 313 into repplacing he and his wife.
- Why did 313 shed a tear at the end? She shed a tear because 6 had become 2. He decided he was going to make the Village work "no matter what the cost." She also, at the point, realized that she was trapped and could never enjoy her relationship with 6. He was more in love with the village and the concept of making it work and a good place to live than being with her.
The end.
talk amongst yerselves.