I just finished watching The Prisoner, a British TV program (programme?) from 50 years ago. Star and creator Patrick McGoohan created a bizarre episodic psychological thriller that subverts a lot of expectations one has regarding secret agent shows. There is little violence like one encounters on modern television, and the plot revolves more around the surrealism of the setting. In fact, it would be possible to watch just the first few episodes and the last two without missing much, but the entire show deepens the mystery with extra plot twists and mind-bending details.
The protagonist is an unnamed secret agent whose retirement prompts someone to kidnap him and imprison him in an mysterious island resort where everyone has a number rather than a name, and he is subjected to various attempts to force him into explaining why he retired. The show is steeped in 1960s British culture (and counterculture) and has many strange plots. The final episode is where it goes completely off the rails into bizarroland though. And that's after 16 episodes where one of the most dangerous enemies is a large white balloon. Where is the island? Who is Number 6? What does he know? Why do they want to know? Which side are they on? What questions will get answered at all in the series?
The show is on Amazon Prime, and it may be available via Hulu, Netflix, Youtube, or other platforms. I definitely recommend watching this counterculture exploration of individualism, conformity, free will, and fate. There are also a lot of hints that this is a sequel to McGoohan's previous show, Danger Man, but are they continuity clues or just inside jokes? Either way, do yourself a favor and don't spoil it for yourself by reading episode synopses online. Just watch the show and enjoy the British weirdness.
Oh, and this show suffered the same fate as Firefly, another cult classic cancelled too soon by the studio. If only we could have seen what was in store for Series 2...
