This Friday on 'The Prisoner' ep 2 'The Chimes of Big Ben'

Well, well. Obviously, duh, Number 6 wasn't going to escape in the second episode. Unless... Unless I had a mixed up episode order, in which case I would've helped ruin our little dramatic experience. But the way things ended, it seems we can have a great deal more of adventures in the village. I just hope it's not just the same pretend escape like the last two times.

OK, Numbers 6 and 8 supposedly arrive in Poland, and in the 1960s that was a communist country, or "behind the Iron curtain" as Fotheringay points out. And 6 couldn't be walking around talking to people willy-nilly or he'd be caught and arrested by the local communist authorities. So, I understand why he trusted Nadia's contact the whole time.

However, the whole thing seemed staged or like a nightmare which never ends. At no moment he goes into a city or see any large group of people, streets, cars, etc. He's just put inside a crate and, after a whole bunch of stock footage images of a ship, a plane, a truck, he gets to a room with a few people he thought he knew. And I'm surprised he accepted being taken throughout England inside the crate. The moment he found out he was in his country, I don't see why he wouldn't just take regular means of transportation for the rest of the way. The whole story seemed amateurishly developed, or brilliantly crafted if something we learning later episodes explains why things happened this way. Let's wait and see.

The way 6 built his "abstract canoe" was also unreal. First he worked with a prehistorical tool, and oh boy, was that ax efficient! It was enough to cut a tree down and carve it in the shape he needed. And he didn't even break a sweat doing it. I could swear this whole "village" scenario must be in his head, because only then things would make a lick of sense. After all, you could build a whole ocean liner with an ice pick in a dream. Again, let's wait for the big finale for me to see if I'm marginally on the right track.

I think they should keep one Number 2 as Number 6's nemesis. The first time #2 was replaced it was a jolting move. Number 2, who was nice, had failed, so they bought a new Number 2 who was more obnoxious. Now the change doesn't have the same impact. But Number 2's ruse didn't work, and Nadia said something like "Nice try," but it's clear to me this #2 failed and we won't be seeing him next week. But what happens to the "retired" Number 2s? (Don't answer!)

I just don't know why some people have said we don't know what side Number 6 is. To me it'll be a big surprise if he isn't working for the British government, or some sort of rogue agency. We know he lives in London, and from the dialogue we can surmise he was reporting to some government agency. And 6 supposedly sent a message from "behind the Iron Curtain" and Fotheringay reacted as Number 6 expected (Poland is in enemy territory), so Number 6 can't be a communist spy. I know nothing is said directly besides the fact his home is in London and he drives a puny little car, but from now on I'll consider him a British agent.

This show walks on a fine line between brilliance and incompetence. OK, this time, it gets Number 6, or 6 paleolithic axes.

One of the problems of showing "The Chimes of Big Ben" is that it really should be shown as the #5 or #4 episode. The problem is that they broadcasted this episode second. The A & E DVD sets placed this as the #5. If you notice in this episode it doesn't really feel like the #2 episode because #6 familiarity and comfort with the place. There's also a feeling that #6 has been here longer since we first saw him in "Arrival". The first season of Star Trek also has a problem with episode air date and production order.

Leo McKern is one of my favorite #2. The one thing that is very interesting about his #2 is that he actually thinks that the Village is the inevitable future of the world. He's fully vested in the Village as the preferable future for mankind. There's a great little scene with him and #6 by the beach. He also has a great rapport with #6 as he's essentially lying through his teeth.

There's a good little scene with #6 and the General when they play chess.

I like how #6 is defiant by putting the radio in the fridge.

It's also chilling how all the arts and crafts are all essentially painting or drawings of #2.

Number 2 find a bit of a weakness with #6 as he feels sorry for her because he believes her to be suicidal. First with the swim and then later with the electric shock floor.

Number 2 is also playing the long con and not going for the direct aggressive approach.

The one thing that's really good about this series is that we want to know why #6 resigned and we also want him to succeed. So even though telling #2 why he resigned would be pleasurable to the viewer it would also be disappointing as well.

This episode works as a pretty good spy story escape and we almost buy it in the end and there's a cleaver reveal with the Chimes being off.


Overall, I give this 9 Chimes out of 10.

I'm out this week - sorry. I have nothing to play this week's episode on. My Crappy New Year continues. My laptop acts up at home, but not at the store. They tell me it's the other computer on my home network causing the problem. They now have that at the store, debugging it. So with the other machine gone, and my laptop diagnosed as fine, it should work fine on its own now, right? Wrong! It's still slow as molasses, get weird error messages, and acts like crap. I made one attempt to watch the episode on YOUTUBE. The picture freezes while the sound plays. No need to continue the abuse. If by some miracle they can fix this soon, I'll try to do this week's episode later. For now, it's a lost cause. I wouldn't be in a very generous mood this week anyway - which is sad, as I recall this is a really good episode. So long for now. Be seeing you, I hope.

by brimfin » 7 hours ago (Sat Jan 10 2015 03:00:55)
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I'm out this week - sorry. I have nothing to play this week's episode on.

by JohnQ1127 » 13 hours ago (Fri Jan 9 2015 20:44:25)
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Yeah, we assume he's an ex British agent but we don't know if he's flipped to the other side. There's also an ambiguity as to who is running the village. Is this just a a Western village or is this a village jointly run by both sides? Or is this all a ruse and there really are no "sides" everybody just works under the umbrella of a world order etc.

The series is also steeped with allegory so it's not just a series about Western vs East Bloc spies.

There's a good little scene with #6 and the General when they play chess.

I like how #6 is defiant by putting the radio in the fridge.

It's also chilling how all the arts and crafts are all essentially painting or drawings of #2.

Number 2 is also playing the long con and not going for the direct aggressive approach.

The one thing that's really good about this series is that we want to know why #6 resigned and we also want him to succeed. So even though telling #2 why he resigned would be pleasurable to the viewer it would also be disappointing as well.

This episode works as a pretty good spy story escape and we almost buy it in the end and there's a cleaver reveal with the Chimes being off.

This Friday on 'The Prisoner' ep 02 'The Chimes of Big Ben'

Number Six you must learn never to trust anyone it’s not going to get you anywhere. Just when I thought he might have escaped they were just playing with him hoping to get out of his mind why he resigned from whatever job he had? I must assume some type of spy but who knows. He built a boat made it beyond the village then rode on a plane inside a box only to be returned to the village. I’m developing a theory on who is number one I plan to share this information as time goes by unless I forget which has been known to happen. We need you back Agent Stone you’ve missed two shows but in reality you haven’t missed much.

They should use drugs to try to get number six to talk it was the sixties.

Backed to scoring this one gets a six imagine that.

I’m definitely late to the party on this one. But since I missed this episode due to computer issues, I figured I’d wait until it came in sequence before I watched it – and I’m glad I did.

Great episode right from the starting gate, with Number 6 showing his defiance by putting his radio in the refrigerator and later putting 3 lumps of sugar in his coffee. This week’s Number 2, an impressive Leo McKern, makes notes about the Prisoner’s sense of humor and inflated self-image. Later, Six takes a shine to the new arrival – Number 8, who’s also a model of defiance. She identifies herself by name – Nadia – and she tries to swim to freedom. But that nasty bubble has other plans for her and drags her back to shore. Conditioning her doesn’t work for her captors either. She elects death over playing their Pavlovian-style games and Number 2 has to turn off the electricity to save her. Our hero then offers a rare compromise. He’ll try to take part in community events if they’ll release Nadia to him instead of giving her more conditioning.

But of course, Number Six doesn’t give in without an ulterior motive. He joins the arts & crafts fair and carves a boat out of a tree – in pieces so it isn’t obvious. He wins the fair for his new age sculpture – a salute to freedom - and uses his winnings to buy a banner with Number 2’s image on it to use as the sail on his boat. He and Nadia sail off after sunset and are almost out of range when day breaks. As in “Free for All”, when the bubble approaches, he jumps ship – but this time it makes sense as a.) they are close to shore and b.) you can’t plow a sailboat into a bubble like you could a motorboat. The bubble seems to be impervious to bullets, although it does flee the scene after being shot multiple times.

Number Six and Nadia are shipped to his headquarters, where he is about to reveal why he resigned. But Big Ben then chimes the wrong time and it’s Number Six who this week gets to tell his captors why their plan failed rather than vice versa. Good thing he wasn’t wearing a waterproof watch, or he’d have fallen for their elaborate charade. One last reveal is that not only was Nadia part of the plan, it looks like she may have engineered it. Nadia was very deceptive. She’d make a good spy. Oh...right.

The episode is not without its flaws: Number 6 uses a homemade stone axe to chop down one large tree and carve it into the shape of a boat. And we hear the 45 minute chime of Big Ben when he arrives at headquarters, but it chimes for the hour less than 15 minutes later. But it makes up for those flaws with crisp dialogue, a steady pace, an intriguing lady, and a lively Number 2. There’s even some creative camerawork with the side by side shot of Six and Nadia in their crates supposedly headed for England. So I’ll award it 1 sail with Number Two’s image, 2 thousand work credits, 3 lumps of sugar, and 4 pairs of chimes from Big Ben – for a total of 10. I can understand why CBS wanted to run this episode so early on – even though it shot continuity all to heck.

Random thoughts: Last week, number 8 was a woman. When Nadia is brought in this week as the new Number 8, Number 6 asks what happened to the old one and Number 2 refers to the old Number 8 as “he.” Granted, weeks could have passed between episodes and people could have been shifted around in that time. But couldn't they have just picked another number?

The big bubble is capable of sprouting two mini bubbles to help carry people back to shore. I guess we’ve seen it before, but it was very obvious from this viewing. Also, if people earn work credits, I guess they must do some kind of work; I wonder what Number Six does. Acting, perhaps?