CONTAINS SPOILERS! Just so, a pile of cow manure will smell just as bad if called a Rose. I had high expectations about this show, with Ian McCellan playing '2', but as other posters have observed, this more like 'Lost' than 'The Prisoner'. Even taken on its own merits (?) if one knew nothing of the original series, you would still be left with "Huh?" filling your brain when it's over. Unlike the original, this one strives to answer all the questions, all neatly wrapped up during a 30 minute flashback limo ride between Jim Cavezial and Ian McCellan, ending in a church where 6 meets 313 in the real world. Too bad it doesn't work. They actually come right out and say it's all a dream, and all the people in the Village have been brought into the dreamer's delusion. Having said that, there is no explanation or rationalization as to how this magic is accomplished. Are the Villagers all being held in some hospital, wired up to a mainframe to allow them to share thoughts (Matrix) or is the 'Dreamer' (2s wife and later 313) a kind of benevolent Freddy Kreuger who can enter into and shape the villager's dreams to fit her concept of the perfect world? If the latter - what happens when they wake up? It is clearly stated that no one can escape the Village, so it is implied that once they enter the shared dream they can't wake up - unless they need you to drive a limo. But if they can't wake up, then who's changing the IVs and diapers? Very unsatisfying. The writers clearly said "This is the answer" but the answer makes no sense. The whole "Six is the One" chant (Matrix?) was done in the original with one very short piece of visualization: Number Six tackles number One and tears off his mask - and looks into his own face... Now THAT'S the kind of ambiguity that actually tells a story. From the beginning in the opening credits, the answer was in the voice overs between Six and Two: Six: "Who are you?" Two: "The new Number Two." Six: "Who is Number One?" Two: "You are Number Six." Two answers the question, but Six just doesn't hear it. He asks who number one is and the answer is: "You are."
What made the original Prisoner so enjoyable and thought provoking was that there were no concrete answers, because there were so many.
Overall - they blew it.
What made the original Prisoner so enjoyable and thought provoking was that there were no concrete answers, because there were so many.
Overall - they blew it.