TV Verdict

“You raised me up on lies. Did you do that to hurt me?”

After an angry exchange with his son, No. 2 gives the youth the key to the cabinet that contains his mother’s pills. Soon, the young man will have the opportunity to meet her for the first time–since she’s been sleeping all these years–and learn about the Other Place.

He soon learns the holes that have been popping up have something to do with her long sleep, and that he might not be able to leave, since he was born in The Village. The youth drops the key to the cabinet into a hole, and it could be a dangerous mistake.

“I am who you were intended to be.”

As The Prisoner, Episode 5, “Schizoid,” opens, No. 6 has apparently been multiplied by two. Both of them have visited 313, 147, and the Village Shop, with the second 6 getting nasty. No. 6 quickly learns that his doppelganger intends to kill No. 2, and warns the leader. No. 2’s response: to go into The Village as his own doppelganger.

“I am no more than a numberless wanderer.”

One interesting stop on No. 2’s journey into ordinariness is the Village Shop, where he discombobulates the shopkeeper by requesting long-banned cigarettes, and then delights in a few puffs. In another fun touch, cab driver 147 makes sure the weird Un-2 gets off the street before the observers take note of him.

It soon gets serious, though, since 147 and his family don’t believe No. 2 is No. 2, and neither do the authorities who come to round up the numberless man. It turns out that No. 2 really had a utopian dream, one that he seems to be doubting even as he continues ruling as a totalitarian.

“Everybody knows the access guy.”

In a flashback, No. 6 goes back to Summakor. We finally get a glimpse of what he did, and why the corporation is after him. As this chapter ends, 313 finds a door in the middle of the desert …

If you haven’t been thoroughly confused by the strangeness that is The Prisoner on AMC, “Schizoid” might do it. On the other hand, the ongoing storyline is starting to pay off, both in plot points and in other delights.

Ian McKellan’s turn as the Un-2 wouldn’t be quite as much fun if it had come in, say, the first episode or two. The show wasn’t bad before, but McKellan’s scene-stealing touches in this episode take it to some new heights.