# The Prisoner on AMC (open spoilers after each airing) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 16, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-on-amc-open-spoilers-after-each-airing/517712 "2009-11-16T00:52:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-on-amc-open-spoilers-after-each-airing/517712/61 "2009-11-18T03:20:14Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Oh my God. The Matrix? The entire thing cribbed from The Matrix? Why do you say that? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-on-amc-open-spoilers-after-each-airing/517712/62 "2009-11-18T03:28:42Z")
**The Matrix:** What we thought was reality is really a dream. **The Prisoner** What we thought was the Village was really a dream. **The Matrix:** Neo, you are the one. **The Prisoner** 6, you are the one. **The Matrix:** Take the blue pill or the red pill. **The Prisoner** Take the red pill. I suppose it also stole from **Through the Looking Glass** (i.e., the Red King’s Dream), though I doubt the writer knew about that one. But the idea that someone dreams reality into existence is old and tired. And the final scene! It was played completely straight. The possibility that 6 had been brainwashed to think that way was ignored. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-on-amc-open-spoilers-after-each-airing/517712/63 "2009-11-18T03:34:15Z")
Why is she happy with her taxi driving husband instead of holding him responsible for the death of her daughter? ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-on-amc-open-spoilers-after-each-airing/517712/64 "2009-11-18T03:39:13Z")
From the moment it started there were only a few possibilities. It’s a shared Halucination/dream It’s all in his head It’s a tech created shared hallucination It’s a magic created shared hallucination It’s a different reality/world/dimension reached by tech It’s a different reality/world/dimension reached by magic It’s Heaven/afterlife It’s a governement/secret society elaborate mind fuck They never bother to explain it. All of which have been done many times over. Every possible configuration of the ‘surreal world’ is going to be one of the main types and like something. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-on-amc-open-spoilers-after-each-airing/517712/65 "2009-11-18T03:48:51Z")
I remember, Captain Kirk had this same problem with the transporter, there was a Good Kirk and a Bad Kirk… ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-on-amc-open-spoilers-after-each-airing/517712/66 "2009-11-18T05:21:19Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **The Matrix:** > I suppose it also stole from **Through the Looking Glass** (i.e., the Red King’s Dream), though I doubt the writer knew about that one. But the idea that someone dreams reality into existence is old and tired. And maybe _Apocalypse Now_ (cult leader sets up his utopia, possibly ‘Mistah Curtis’, and no, not _Heart of Darkness_), _Brave New World_ and _The Neverending Story_. But not to any good effect. It may not have taken anything from those, but it _feels_ derivative and unoriginal so maybe that’s why influences seem to be there. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-on-amc-open-spoilers-after-each-airing/517712/67 "2009-11-18T05:25:06Z")
So 6 is 1 is 2, which I think makes me the Egg Man. I’ll be goo goo ga joob. Yeah, I liked it. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-on-amc-open-spoilers-after-each-airing/517712/68 "2009-11-18T05:37:28Z")
No, “Who is Number One?” “You are (the very slightest pause suggesting a comma) Number Six.” Look for it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-on-amc-open-spoilers-after-each-airing/517712/69 "2009-11-18T15:27:44Z")
Oh, jeez. So tell me if I got this straight: A gazillionaire notices that there are a lot of unhappy people in the world. He learns that, with weird drugs, his wife can dream of a place called the Village where the souls of these people can hang out, allowing them to exist IRL much more happily and better-adjusted. A guy named Michael who works for Summakor, a near-omnipotent Evil Corporation, notices something in common about many of these people. He quits but then finds himself in the Village, which is run as a chilling, low-key police state by the gazillionaire AKA Two. Everyone calls Michael “Six.” Now, Two and his wife, who couldn’t have a child IRL, have a son in the Village who grows into a pouty gay murderer. Whenever Two’s wife wakes up, the illusion of the Village starts to collapse and sinkholes develop. When Two’s son becomes unhappy enough to kill his lover, his mother and then himself, Two thinks, “Fuck it, let someone else be tyrant for a change.” He arranges for other Village people (heh) to call for Six to succeed him. Six decides he’ll do it, and maybe even a little more humanely, but the doctor who’s been pining for him all along (and who, IRL, is a messed-up woman who may have killed her own child) will have to be the one to take the weird drugs. IRL, Michael returns to work as head of Summakor’s surveillance operation. Is that right? On a side note, did anybody notice Two chuckle when he saw the penny-farthing bicycle hung from the ceiling in the bar? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-on-amc-open-spoilers-after-each-airing/517712/70 "2009-11-18T17:46:11Z")
> [@Roadfood](#): > > And folks, it’s not a blancmange, it’s Rover. I didn’t watch long enough, but did the new one really not use that name for it? When my friends first showed me the original series pilot episode, the appearance of the menacing weather balloon made me laugh because it reminded me of [the blancmange](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljCQeqFouVU&feature=related). ---
**Author:** ![StoutHearted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@StoutHearted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StoutHearted)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-on-amc-open-spoilers-after-each-airing/517712/71 "2009-11-18T22:15:20Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Oh, jeez. So tell me if I got this straight: > > A gazillionaire notices that there are a lot of unhappy people in the world. He learns that, with weird drugs, his wife can dream of a place called the Village where the souls of these people can hang out, allowing them to exist IRL much more happily and better-adjusted. A guy named Michael who works for Summakor, a near-omnipotent Evil Corporation, notices something in common about many of these people. He quits but then finds himself in the Village, which is run as a chilling, low-key police state by the gazillionaire AKA Two. Everyone calls Michael “Six.” Now, Two and his wife, who couldn’t have a child IRL, have a son in the Village who grows into a pouty gay murderer. Whenever Two’s wife wakes up, the illusion of the Village starts to collapse and sinkholes develop. When Two’s son becomes unhappy enough to kill his lover, his mother and then himself, Two thinks, “Fuck it, let someone else be tyrant for a change.” He arranges for other Village people (heh) to call for Six to succeed him. Six decides he’ll do it, and maybe even a little more humanely, but the doctor who’s been pining for him all along (and who, IRL, is a messed-up woman who may have killed her own child) will have to be the one to take the weird drugs. IRL, Michael returns to work as head of Summakor’s surveillance operation. > > Is that right? > > On a side note, did anybody notice Two chuckle when he saw the penny-farthing bicycle hung from the ceiling in the bar? Yep, that’s it. That’s pretty much it right there. Just add pigs. For security. I noticed his chuckle at the bicycle, but didn’t get the reference. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-on-amc-open-spoilers-after-each-airing/517712/72 "2009-11-18T22:20:32Z")
An antique bicycle was a symbol for something or other in the old series. Wow. I gave up last night in the CST, and left the recorder going. Might be a waste of time to watch it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-on-amc-open-spoilers-after-each-airing/517712/73 "2009-11-18T23:13:31Z")
_Time_ magazine’s review: [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1938714,00.html](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1938714,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-on-amc-open-spoilers-after-each-airing/517712/74 "2009-11-19T00:02:23Z")
At least I didn’t waste five years of my life and burn a bunch of DVDs. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ViewsonicGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ecb155/32.png) [@ViewsonicGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ViewsonicGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-on-amc-open-spoilers-after-each-airing/517712/75 "2009-11-19T01:17:47Z")
> [@StoutHearted](#): > > It took the new series up to 3 episodes for Number 6 to finally begin wondering who Number 1 is? Sheesh! > > I’ve been trying to keep up, but this new series is confusing me, and not in the fun, surreal way that the McGoohan series did. I find my mind wandering while watching it, and I get lost. People love the Village, then all of a sudden they’re installing secret cameras - even kids are getting in the act! The Village is supposedly an autonomous community, but apparently no one questions how certain resources get there, like, say, wood in the middle of a freakin’ desert? I’d last ten minutes at “the Village” before I would start asking myself questions. Questions like, who manufactured everything I see in this room? I’ll bet if you looked close enough at that anchor out in the sand, it had a brand name on it somewhere. Who manufactured the busses? Who manufactured 2’s beautiful Bentley? Who made all the clothes? Unless everything as far as the eye could see was clearly marked “made in the village” and there were 100 factories hidden just outside the village working 24/7, I’d have a hard time buying any of it. By the way, how many people were there in the village, 100? 150? Goodbye suspension of disbelief. At least they could have made it look to be on a grander scale than a pre-fab trailer park, so you could buy into the basic premise. The village they presented looked like something you’d see just across state line, on the way from California to Vegas. I’m guessing about $35 a night. Flash forward to the end. They spent an entire 16 minutes wrapping up the story at the end of the 6th hour. 16 minutes. And people wonder why they didn’t just spread it out over 3 weeks like a regular mini-series. Nobody would have stuck around, and they knew it. The best part of watching this mini-series was meeting the actress who played Jim’s hot, well endowed call girl/girlfriend. How many of you would have dumped her, for a very plain brunette with a bad attitude, certainly not me. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-on-amc-open-spoilers-after-each-airing/517712/76 "2009-11-19T01:30:13Z")
> [@ViewsonicGuy](#): > > Flash forward to the end. They spent an entire 16 minutes wrapping up the story at the end of the 6th hour. 16 minutes. Cool! Now I don’t have to watch the last hour, just the last 16 minutes. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-on-amc-open-spoilers-after-each-airing/517712/77 "2009-11-19T02:11:44Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Cool! > Now I don’t have to watch the last hour, just the last 16 minutes. > Thanks! Is that really what you want, 5881? ---
**Author:** ![ViewsonicGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ecb155/32.png) [@ViewsonicGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ViewsonicGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-on-amc-open-spoilers-after-each-airing/517712/78 "2009-11-19T02:14:12Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Cool! > Now I don’t have to watch the last hour, just the last 16 minutes. > Thanks! Honestly, there are a lot better things to do with 6 hours. Realistically, you could watch the first hour, then skip forward to the last 1/2 hour and not really miss anything related to the plot. I knew by the end of the first 30 minutes that Jim was secretly the man in charge, and that pretty much ruined it for me. Except for the actress who played his girlfriend, wow! ---
**Author:** ![ViewsonicGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ecb155/32.png) [@ViewsonicGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ViewsonicGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-on-amc-open-spoilers-after-each-airing/517712/79 "2009-11-19T02:19:33Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Is that really what you want, 5881? He wants 4-15 like every other red blooded male under the age of 50. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-on-amc-open-spoilers-after-each-airing/517712/80 "2009-11-19T02:38:57Z")
> [@ViewsonicGuy](#): > > He wants 4-15 like every other red blooded male under the age of 50. Very good, 86917. I will report you, of course, but don’t take it personally. Everyone is a suspect. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-on-amc-open-spoilers-after-each-airing/517712.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-on-amc-open-spoilers-after-each-airing/517712.md?page=5)