“You really are the limit, Number Six!” – Number Two, pretty much summing up the protagonist of this really surreal adventure.
Airdate: October 6th, 1987
Written By: Vincent Tilsley
Plot: New to the village is a woman, simply with the name of Nadia. The new Number Eight, Nadia is just as hellbent on escaping the village as Six has been. However, her torture is much more direct when compared to Six’s. Staggered by this, Six offers to horse trade – in exchange for protecting Nadia, Six will participate in an upcoming crafts show. However, that is just a cover for the two escapee-wannabes to formulate their escape from The Village.
Review:
Much has been made of the idiosyncratic order that The Prisoner operates on. If one was to watch the episode in the order that the episodes were sent out by ITV, many fans would argue that the viewer would end up more confused than ever before. Which, considering what I’ve seen in the past four episodes, is quite an impressive feat.
Yes, you could argue that this show is more episodic than the television that we here in the 2010s are used to. But the point still stands, there existed this conflict between network and production. Possibly, this tied to reports suggesting that the network having to relent on a limited number of episodes – 17 instead of their recommended 26 or 36, which would’ve made the show an easier sell to CBS (given the length of our TV seasons here in the States.)
Anyway, this episode is the second one to be produced. What would’ve made this episode stand out as a second one? What sent it back to fifth? And, most importantly, is it any good?
Thus far, The Prisoner has focused on the theme of betrayal. Virtually every episode has had Number Six back-stabbed in one way or another, be it from antagonists who seemed to be friendly with him, or quasi-allies being forced to manipulate him. Do you expect this to change here?
Well, I don’t.
That said, we start to see a firm schism within the upper echelons of the government – do they want to break Six down dramatically, or slowly? The new Number Two has laid his recommendation down – “I don’t want him in fragments!” And this, my friends, is the moment when this episode’s take on Number Two makes his mark – Leo McKern, in contrast to the other Number Twos, is quite a bit more tempered, looking like a man closer to the end of his wit than the one they’re trying to imprison. There are a lot of second-in-command characters in this show, but McKern stands out for how his emotional temperament contrasts with Six’s relative stoicism in the face of adversity. So memorable he was, apparently, he had more appearances compared to any other Number Two.
Even further, Six even questions whether or not Two, like everybody else, is himself a prisoner in The Village. Contrast with the prior Twos, McKern’s character is seemingly more forthright with his own personal philosophy – that the political sphere is made up of two sides fighting for similar goals. Incidentally, this episode aired while Britain was in the midst of the “postwar consensus”, where Keynesian economic theory ruled the major parties. This would, ironically, be superseded by the Thatcherite consensus in the 80s. Either way, it could reflect the antagonist’s desire to contradict what they see as an equal evil – that the Village represents this desire to break from an increasingly dammed society. Of course, hypocrisy reigns supreme, as the powers that be in The Village control all political parties, and even emotions.
Emotional manipulation is pretty much the modus operandi of the Village, and this episode puts it front and center. This time, though, the tables are turned – the new Number Eight – Nadia – actually thinks our protagonist, Number Six, is a spy instead of vice-versa as has been the case in our prior episodes. Of course, on his end, Six introduces Nadia to the village with much the same obscurantist sayings as others in the Village, likely intended as a taste for what is to come. All it does is get her off his back, at least at first.
Maybe that was his intent. Six has been burned before. His initial skepticism with regards to Nadia might very well be testing the waters – is she merely a prisoner, or a warden?
Either way, it does work on Nadia – when interrogated over her own attempt at escape, she remains silent, a stark contrast to the more vocal defiance of Number Six. Even further, she plans to escape by swimming, which ends about as well as you would expect. The pressure winds up overwhelming during a post-escape interrogation, though, as she collapses right by the door after an intense period of psychological torture, more than Six has gotten. However, one could argue that Six is also getting a thrashing, just spread over as part of a long game.
This display of torture forces Six to at least pretend to trade – he would participate more in village life if the constant torture of Nadia ends. Now, this scene does favor “Chimes” being earlier in the intended run, as Six has dabbled in village life in the episodes I reviewed prior. However, those were mere dabbling in the various areas of village life – sports, politics, parties, and so on – all as a means to an end. This is somewhat more full-throttle. Either way, it represents what appears to be a more altruistic side of Six. While certainly the protagonist and an intriguing one beforehand, he did have a somewhat more selfish motive to his prior actions. His deal here does seem to demonstrate a genuine concern for a specific person, rather than the needs of others or how he can escape from the Village. That’s not to say that he’s abandoned his attempt to be Chessmaster, but it appears to have been more of a secondary motive this time around.
That said, the subversive element is still there – his conversations with Nadia, while framed in a somewhat romantic aura to the surveillance eye, is actually about the subversion of their government and the governments they participated in. I would suspect that this was a riff on the idea of romantic tension found in television dramas between two members of the opposite sex, in fact. Both internally subversive and meta-subversive, if true. Even so, his prior action did indicate at least some concern for her well-being. And McGoohan’s acting does indicate a romantic aura unseen in episodes prior.
Oh, and his village craft project – his participation therein as part of a deal to stop Nadia’s torture – is a thinly-veiled attempt at abandonment, as well. And by “thinly veiled”, he barely gives a flip about trying to disguise it, especially when the vast majority of the other entries are just portraits of Number Two. (Surely not an ego stroke for a mere second in command, the mere face of government here.) I mean, he’s basically defying the village openly… again. This time, there’s little attempt to hide his attempts at sabotage in prior episodes, so… yeah. Either way, it’s abstract enough to go above the heads of the citizens. His answers aren’t, in fact – much like the answers given by the government to Six’s questions earlier in the series.
Of all the things that have been diluted, now art and the appreciation thereof has fallen, all just meant to celebrate this cult of personality. Is this where we would go as part of an autocratic society? (Odds are, yes.)
Even further, he actually is in it to win it – netting a prize large enough to buy somebody else’s artwork of Number Two to use as a sail for the boat. Talk about an open attempt at rebellion – put the face of autocracy on your escape plan to warn others of the damage that they are causing.
Now, here’s where this already interesting episode gets… well, even moreso. For you see, according to Nadia, the Village is located on the coast of Lithuania, miles from the Polish border. This, beyond anything else, puts Number Six beyond the Iron Curtain that stood from 1945 until 1990. No longer are we dealing with mere escape – we’re literally entering a communist state, directly influenced by a nation that was infamous for the cult of personality under Stalin and the autocratic nature of policy from 1917 to 1991 (and even today under the Putin administrations) as an attempt to obtain one’s freedom. Even further, Danzig – the Germanic name for Gdansk – was the scene of one of the first conflicts directly within the Second World War, the Battle of Westerplatte.
The timing of this escape all revolves around the titular Chimes of Big Ben, often cited as the quintessential mark of time in the Western World. In fact, much of the episode revolves around the tightness of time – how Six has a short time frame to participate in the contest, how he has to work every hour to get his sculpture up and running at such a level to take first prize, how Six and Two seem to think of themselves as one hour above the other in terms of strategy… and most importantly, how Two bides his own time in trying to get our protagonist to crack, all via manipulation with a friendly face.
Alright, are you really shocked that Six is still in the Village at the end of it all? Well, guess what? They were all operatives, meant to capture the real reason for Six’s resignation from MI-5.
The ending is reminiscent of the betrayal in “Checkmate”. However, whereas that was meant to show how both sides were trying to sway people to become pawns in each other’s game, this episode is a lot more direct, focusing on how the apparent innocence of somebody can hide a much more sinister and manipulative nature. Even in earlier episodes, the traitors had a past of being rebellious, being broken. Nadia was presented as a mere innocent, in rehab in The Village. Yet, she was apparently high enough in the Village to almost get Six to reveal the truth.
Even further, this episode appears to all but confirm that the Village is working in tandem with the British government (if not a direct subsection thereof), given how Six’s old boss requests to be sent back to London. Of course, I won’t have a secure answer until I get to the last episode (if that doesn’t throw me for a loop), but signs are pointing that way. But if that and Nadia’s claim that the Village is along the Baltic sea is true, what we have is the UK operating territory in enemy land… and that’s just one theory, something that is suspect.
Hey, I did suggest that a theme of this show was “trust no one”.
Indeed, while earlier episodes appeared to show Six dramatically affected (as much as McGoohan will play him) by the twist at the end, he appears to be somewhat more sated. As if he is actually somewhat impressed by the way they played the game this time around, or at least, is so stunned as to be emotionally drained. “Be seeing you” translates to “well, good game.” It’s really a moment of shock from a man who once demonstrated constant resolve.
On that note, I have to once again praise the performances of practically everybody in the episode, especially the core three. McGoohan allows for more emotional depth to Six than in prior episodes, showing him with a somewhat more romantic and emotional, yet still steadfast and somewhat prickly, character palate. Nadia Gray sells Nadia’s more take-charge and forthright character, as well as makes the reveal of her duplicity that much more disheartening. And, most imperatively, Leo McKern manages to make this version of Number Two brilliantly affable while no less threatening. If anything, he’s actually more of a damning character, what with his domineering personality and ability to play the long game fusing with the position’s inherent cruelty (and how he executes it.)
In retrospect, this episode would not fit well as the second episode. It gains a lot of its impact by building on the prior three episodes so that the character actions have a lot more impact then they would’ve as the second episode aired. I really don’t know what ITV and CBS were thinking putting this out second – I would have to suspect some form of sabotage on ITV’s part.
That said, “The Chimes of Big Ben” is one brilliant episode – curiously scripted in the best way, directed appropriately (what with a slightly faster pace more in line with “Arrival”), and the characterization is intriguing. Two episodes ago, I declared that “Dance of the Dead” was my favorite up to that point. Now, I have to say, if that episode hasn’t been replaced at the top, it’s sharing it.
Let’s see who else can challenge it at the top.
…be seeing you…
…be seeing you…
Tidbits:
- Note how Six is playing chess while conversing with the former colonel. Given the events of the last episode I covered, it appears that Six might have a tighter grasp of how the Village works and might be planning some more complex games of his own.
- Worth noting, Big Ben actually isn’t chiming right now. It’s actually undergoing a four-year renovation to keep it functioning for the future. So, yeah, one of the most famous landmarks in the UK… actually isn’t functioning right now. You can probably make a Parliament or a “strong and stable” joke here.
- This episode also features what appeared at first glance to be a rare defeat of Rover, as Nadia’s contact manages to keep him away with a rifle. That said, given what was revealed at the end of the episode…
Wrap-Up:
Favorite Scene: Come on, the art contest was brilliant. A bit funny, intriguing in how it progresses the part, and still unnerving as to what it represents.
Freakiest Scene: Nadia’s post-escape interrogation is really the standout scene of freakiness here. Even the reveal only makes it more disturbing – playing on Six’s patterns of behavior like that keeps the dark underbelly of the Village in mind.
Memorable Quote: “Be seeing you…” – Six, giving the sound of shock.
Score: 9.5. Another brilliant episode from The Prisoner, complete with what might be my favorite Two so far.
The Review Nebula 