The final episode of The Prisoner was so confusing and controversial that creator / star Patrick McGoohan reportedly had to go into hiding until the furor passed - and in the intervening years, the series has lost none of its power. Having just watched it for the first time, I felt compelled to find him and admonish him for taking me on such a bizarre, compelling, and ultimately frustrating journey. Of course, were he still alive, McGoohan would kick my ass.
For the uninitiated, The Prisoner is the story of a British spy who abruptly retires for reasons unknown. Almost immediately after handing in his resignation, he is kidnapped and taken to a mysterious island where ex-spies are held prisoner in a community known as “The Village.” He is assigned a number instead of a name - Number Six - and is placed under constant surveillance. Every week, a new administrator - Number Two - is assigned to The Village, and attempts to break Number Six with drugs, psychological warfare, torture, you name it. Unsure if he has been kidnapped by his own side or an enemy, Number Six staunchly refuses to answer any questions, but repeatedly asks one - who is Number One?
Due to his popularity on British television in the spy series Danger Man (in fact, some Prisoner fans theorize that Number Six is actually the same character from Danger Man, John Drake) McGoohan was given complete creative freedom on The Prisoner, and he certainly made use of it. The stories are elliptical, the dialogue is cryptic, the performances are theatrical, the camera is restless, the editing is frantic, and it blends just about every genre you can think of. One minute it’s a spy thriller, the next it’s a satire, then it’s science fiction - and in one episode, it even becomes a Western! It’s an allegory about power and free will, it’s a commentary on society, religion, education, nuclear war and just about anything else you can think of. It’s as if Patrick McGoohan realized he would never get an opportunity like this again, and poured everything he wanted to say and do into this one project.
As a result, you’ve got a wildly uneven show that sometimes strikes creative gold, and sometimes falls flat on its face. Out of the seventeen episodes of The Prisoner, half of them are downright terrific. The other half - in particular the final two episodes - are so determined to break with convention they end up completely alienating the audience. An apt comparison is Twin Peaks, a show that began with one foot in reality and one foot in David Lynch’s bizarre imagination, but eventually became completely surreal. Did I understand what McGoohan was trying to say in the final episode? Yes. Was it emotionally satisfying? No. Film - especially television - has to do both.
That being said, you won’t find anything like The Prisoner on the air today. In fact, I can’t think of another show quite like it. McGoohan genuinely tried to elevate the quality of television, and deserves tremendous credit for throwing out the rulebook - but to use a tired analogy, sometimes he also threw out the baby with the bathwater.
I’m immediately suspicious of anyone who’s trying to be deliberately opaque. It’s certainly possible to tell a thought-provoking story within traditional narrative conventions. In fact, I’d argue that forcing yourself to adhere to that rule set is a greater challenge than just throwing things up on the screen willy nilly.
And I tend not to use the term “willy nilly” lightly, my friend.
Kubrick was shooting 2001 on the same soundstages while The Prisoner was shooting - there must have been something in the water.