The Prisoner Episode Recap: "Arrival" and "Harmony"
AMC's re-imagining of the 1968 cult classic, The Prisoner, kicks off its first night with a man called Six (Jim Caviezel) waking up in the desert with no idea how he got there. (Maybe he turned a frozen donkey wheel?) Worse, after being chased by men with dogs, taking a few cab rides, and meeting with a snazzy dresser known as Two (Ian McKellen), he realizes he also has no idea how to leave this mysterious place, known to its inhabitants as The Village. Along the way we get glimpses into Six's "other life," and we meet some of the other citizens of the village. However, as Six hangs around and is introduced to his "family," he begins to wonder if maybe all of this is real after all. Thus, we are thrust into a mind-tripping story that poses new questions at nearly every turn.
I'll admit up front that I've never seen the original (though I'm hoping for a copy of the Blu-ray in my Christmas stocking). So, I'll be recapping the first two hours of the three-night event based purely on what was on-screen. However, please feel free to share your comparisons and contrasts in the comments below. But please be mindful of spoilers, since I'm sure some of the plot points of the original have yet to be revealed.
"There is no New York. There is only The Village."
The man we come to know as Six wakes up in the desert and stumbles upon a man named 93, who's being chased over the dunes. 93 is able spit some nonsense about how he got away and also notes that Six is not "from here" before dying. Luckily, he also sends Six to find someone called 554 and tell him/her/it of 93's escape.
Back in town, everybody already knows Six, even though he feels like he's in a strange place. "Everybody knows everybody," one of the villagers tells Six. There's just one problem: Six can remember bits and pieces of his life back in New York, and he won't stop talking about it. Worse, Two wants to know how and why Six was out in the desert with 93. When he tells Two he wants to go home, Two simply scoffs. "There is no out, there is only in," Two laughs. So, Six breaks into 93's apartment to look for clues, and he finds a drawing hidden in a bottle.
It turns out that 554 is a waitress at the diner that serves only wraps (heh), and when Six tells her he found 93's drawings, she finally spills her guts. Like Six, 93 was able to remember his other life, and he drew his visions. He also was able to spot other villagers who believed there was more to the world beyond The Village and began telling them all they were prisoners. Just as Six begins to get somewhere, a gas explosion destroys the diner, fatally injuring 554. Before she dies, she tells Six that 93 always said "follow the towers."
"I am not a number. I am a free man."
Six blames Two for destroying the diner and vows that he will be able to escape. As the first hour draws to a close, we see Six running toward the towers 93 spoke of, but just when he tops the hill that is believed to lead to his escape, a huge white balloon attacks Six, keeping him trapped for now.
Let's pause to discuss the things we know about Six based on his flashbacks. The night before he was transported to The Village, he met a woman named Lucy (Hayley Atwell). Although she pretended to need to make a phone call, Michael (that's what the credits list as his other name) observed that she didn't dial a number and assumed she was just hitting on him. The two take the party back to his place, and as the drinks flow, Michael reveals that he resigned from his job earlier that day.
Michael was an analyst for Summakor, a company that watches people on closed-circuit TVs and reports the data they find. That's how he knew Lucy didn't dial a number. But his job has also made him suspicious of people, and when Lucy refers to another part of Symbicor that Michael didn't previously mention, he freaks out and demands she tells what she knows about him. She says he thinks he resigned, but his company is still in complete control of him. Ruh roh.
"It's only when you have family that you learn the meaning of love."
After the explosion, one of The Village nurses, 313 (Ruth Wilson), tells Six that she is scared because every once in a while, things like the explosion happen. She says things will settle down, but begs Six not to make things worse. Two has his own plans for Six: He introduces him to his brother, 16 (Jeffrey R. Smith). When Six refuses to accept that he has family in The Village, Two sends him to the shrink to experience a little bit of "the talking cure." The shrink turns out to be a two-person team known as 70 ("I can engage, and I can reflect," they say), and even though they do get Six to retell a story about fishing with his real brother, he's still not buying that 16 is family or that The Village is really all there is. (Two is not pleased that they couldn't make a believer out of Six.)
16 takes Six out to "the ruins" where he shares stories from their childhood when they played there. Six is still skeptical, but when he returns to the ruins with 313, he digs up a box that he buried there when he was a boy. She tells him 16 must really be his brother, and although he admits feeling some connection, he is hesitant. Six finally breaks down and tells 16 he is sorry for not believing he has a family. But just then, 16 tells Six he is not his brother. He later says he isn't sure which way is up anymore, but he does feel like they're brothers even if he doesn't believe it.
Two has his own family problems. His wife is pretty much comatose and has to be force-fed medication by Two every day. (Does anyone think maybe it's the medication that's keeping her that way. Two's bigger problem is that his son, 11-12 , is increasingly more curious about Six's speeches about another world. For now, Two seems to keep his curiosity at bay, but I doubt that continues.
"The louder a man shouts... the more profoundly he is wrong."
Turns out Six and 16 are a duo on one Village's sightseeing bus tours. Although Six swears he can't drive a bus, it seems old hat to him when he gives it a try. So the duo falls into their old routine, but one day they come upon a huge anchor in the middle of the desert. Six says the anchor proves there must be a boat, and therefore there must be water nearby. He views the ocean as proof that there is another life out there, and also a chance to escape.
One of the bus tour patrons confesses that she only takes the tours because one day she heard the ocean. This reenergizes Six, and since 16 admitted to Six that he would like to escape if another world exists, they all go off in search of the water. They find it, and 16 runs into the surf, bringing back flashbacks to the story Six told 70 about his brother. Suddenly, the huge balloon reappears and sucks 16 under the water, drowning and killing him, presumably just like Six/Michael's brother died on their fishing trip.
So, Six loses 554 and 16 just as they helped him get closer to the truth. Plus, he has a falling out with 313 when she steals his drawings. Though she tells him she's sorry for hurting their friendship, she promises that she wants to keep him close. But just like with the diner explosion, Six accuses Two of pulling all the strings. Eventually, Six ends up in a straitjacket, and even though he continues to protest, the episode ends with his words: "I am six."
So what did you think to the first chapters of the three-night event? Is 313 really an ally, or will she burn him in the end? What do you think 11-12 will do with this new viewpoint that Six has presented? What's really going on with Two and his wife? Who's No. 1? Anybody else afraid of white balloons now? Share all your thoughts below.
