“If The Village is all that there is, and now there are newcomers, how can they say that is possible?”

They can, and a busload of newcomers arrives in The Village as The Prisoner, Episode 6, “Checkmate,” opens. “Our way of life is becoming the very consciousness of the universe,” No. 2 tells his son. Read on, but be aware that there will be spoilers …

“You choose. This life–or no life.”

The choice has just been put to No. 6, and already he’s starting to get ill. Meanwhile, 313 has seen the Other Place, and No. 2 tells her she must block it out “for Six’s sake.” No. 147 thinks he knows someone who might have a cure.

“People usually like to be early for Mr. Curtis.”

In his New York flashback, a car is waiting for No. 6, and 147 is driving. It turns out Mr. Curtis is No. 2; his wife Helen is a biochemist investigating multiple layers of consciousness.

No. 6–now Michael–learns that he unwittingly helped Curtis and Helen select residents for a Utopia in one of those other layers of consciousness: The Village. They’re all troubled people, in The Village to be “fixed.” Everything’s happening in someone’s mind–but it’s not quite just a dream.

“Six is the one we’ve been waiting for.”

No. 6 learns that everyone, including 313, will be going back to their troubles if The Village is destroyed. His love, 313, makes the choice that leaves No. 6 in The Village as the new No. 2, hoping to reform The Village.

At least that’s what I took from this last episode. There was a lot of mumbo-jumbo in there. But then, the original’s ending didn’t make all that much sense, either. As for the metaphorical elements, these six episodes have taken all the luster off any Utopias anyone could sell you, but free will and its burdens look pretty miserable, too.

It’s been a fascinating ride, but the last few miles were a downer. There may be some way to get an uplifting message after it, but I’d like to think about that some more.

While I was a little disappointed by the ending, the new Prisoner, for the most part, kept up with the original as an action show about ideas. It’s a worthy successor to the 1960s classic.

Better yet, there’s a new catchphrase for skeptics everywhere, when presented with a dubious idea: “Let’s keep pigs.” Go back a couple of episodes for the explanation to that one.

It looks like there could be a sequel, if the ratings permit. There will also be a DVD release next year, advertised last night, in case you want to watch that ending until it makes sense–or your head explodes.

If you can’t get enough, go to AMC’s Web site for a graphic novel, some memory games, and background on the new series. You can also watch the original version of The Prisoner, and I highly recommend it if you’ve never had that experience.

“You’re kind of strange, Six. I like it.”

As The Prisoner, Episode 4, “Darling,” begins, there’s a lot going on in The Village: Strange holes are appearing, No. 2 is putting pressure on 313, and No. 6 has been invited to a matchmaking service.

No. 6 is matched with 415, a blind woman. She seems familiar to him. In fact, she seems an awful lot like the woman he met after he resigned.

No. 2’s son visits 313. He wants to know what’s in the pills his mother takes, and asks, “Is Six crazy?”

No. 147’s daughter disappears into one of those “ambience anomalies.” No. 2 tells No. 6 the child is gone. Villagers are urged to keep pigs as a way of convincing them they can make a difference.

This time, it looks like 6 really is dreaming; he’s in a lab unconscious, as 2 talks with 313 about betrayal. The real and surreal are still to be sorted out, though.

This modern cautionary tale about the manipulations of science has a twisted fairytale ending, a nod to strange stories like “The Girl Who Was Death” in the original.

“Everything you say is a trap.”

No. 6 sees that right off at the beginning of The Prisoner, Episode 3, “Anvil,” but he still accepts No. 2’s offer of undercover work, seeking out other “dreamers.” No. 6 takes a job as a teacher, instructing the next generation in surveillance. For homework, he asks his class to suss out the secrets of “who we’re working for.” Eventually, you’ll see that they’re learning.

“Is everyone here living in fear?”

“Yes.”

No. 6 asks 313 a little more about The Village, and learns that anyone who thinks differently gets “treatment.” His relationship with her could suffer once she realizes he’s joined the undercovers.

“Once you’re a suspect, you’re guilty.”

No. 6 gets a lesson in the undercover philosophy from his handler in surveillance, No. 909. The lesson gets harsher when the suspect realizes he’s being observed and attempts suicide.

“Our boy grew up.”

No. 2’s bedridden wife finally gets up and shares a meal with him. Wraps, of course. From listening to him tell her about their son, it sounds like she’s been out for a while. No. 2 finds out he’s under surveillance as well.

“He must survive, but he can suffer.”

No. 2 talks with 909. They’ve noticed No. 6’s deep conviction, and they’re worried. No. 2 is also worried about the possibility that the newcomer has an influence over his son.

“Anvil” turns out to be a lesson in paranoia in a state of surveillance. The dialogue is clearly Cold War, but the high-tech aspect makes the cautionary tale modern. The tie back to No. 6’s CCTV employer in flashbacks and the murder that No. 2’s son commits to conceal his homosexuality emphasize that angle.

No. 6 finally gets to see what “treatment” is like when he goes in to save 313. It looks like a vision of hell, a cave filled with half-alive people. It’s also got a Rover to prevent escape.

That’s what happened. Or maybe not. If you’ve been watching, you know that there’s more than one way to look at everything. It’s nice to see a show that could stump even the most modern, nonlinear, tech-savvy multitasking viewer. It’s also keeping in the spirit of the original.

“We just want you back the way you were.”

That’s what No. 6’s brother, the one he doesn’t remember, tells him as The Prisoner, Episode 2, “Harmony,” begins. He’s been found after an escape attempt and brought back to his family.

He’s given a job as a tourist bus driver, who drives locals on a tour of the places they see every day. Note that they’re nervous when they pass The Clinic. They’re also a little afraid of No. 2 when he pops up. They could get more nervous when he stops, fascinated by a rusty anchor.

His brother also shows him The Ruins, a deserted train station that almost has him believing it’s real.

No. 2 sends No. 6 to therapists to get at his secrets, but ends up showing a troubled side himself, deeply disconcerting the therapists. It seems that No. 2’s son is questioning reality after hearing what No. 6 has to say. “Never doubt your family,” No. 2 tells his son.

A flashback reveals that No. 6 had just resigned from his job as a CCTV analyst who looks for patterns. “Tell me why you resigned, please,” the woman he met implores him. The flashbacks, montages, and general surreality might leave you thinking it’s all just a dream, but that resignation sounds like a clue to a drama grounded in reality–thriller reality, at least.

And does the fact that 313 stole drawings of the Statue of Liberty and other things from the delusion world mean that she’s starting to see things his way? Is the presence of No. 6 starting to seed doubts in The Village more widely?

When No. 6 and his brother find a beach, they also find the Rovers, the strange bubbles that went after escapees in the original Prisoner.

A couple of thoughts, going afield a little bit:

The writers must have it in for wraps. Making them the only food in The Village can’t be good advertising. Could it be a product placement from The Bread Industry?

Maybe the original Prisoner was before its time. Seeing AMC’s ads for the multimedia add-ons–recaps and bonus features online–made me think of how much of a sensation the original would have been in the Internet world.

“If I open my mind, you’ll take it away from me.”

“We might, but we always give it back.”

A man (Jim Cavaziel) wakes up in a desert–his life back in New York floating through his mind–and sees an old man with an oddly cut suit being chased by dogs. He helps the man to a cave, where the man dies. “Be seeing you,” the old man says.

The man comes on a village of A-frame houses. He asks a taxi driver to take him to a train station; the man doesn’t even know what he’s talking about.

Soon, he wakes up in a hospital, and is sent home to a pad that looks incredibly like the one he remembers in New York. “You’re a free man,” 313 tells him as she releases him from the hospital.

The man is No. 6 (or at least he’s told that by No. 2) and he’s in The Village. No. 6 disagrees, saying he just wants to get to New York.

“That’s impossible. There is no New York. There is only The Village,” No. 2 (Ian McKellan) says. Worse yet, No. 93 (the old man) is important in some way.

By the end of the episode, the waitress is caught in an explosion, showing that the friendly Village isn’t so friendly, and No. 6 learns that two mysterious towers are related to his quest.

“I’m not a number. I’m a free man!” No. 6 screams by episode’s end.

If you recognized the cut of the old man’s suit, this is familiar stuff. If not, you’ve just been introduced to the world of The Prisoner, AMC’s new take on Patrick McGoohan’s 1960s series.

The Village isn’t unfamiliar, even if you haven’t seen the original series. The production design looks enough like the original to satisfy fans, and newcomers will notice that Lost has touches of a similar style; The Village and Village White wine with uniform motifs might remind you of the Dharma compound and Dharma peanut butter.

The updates are a broader scope, with a taxi driver (147), a ubiquitous doctor (313), and a waitress with ties to No. 93 also figuring in the story, and No. 6’s flashbacks to his life in New York. In the original, No. 6’s backstory–”Why did you resign?”–was more of a MacGuffin than a key part of the story. This version seems more focused on that story rather than the intellectual sparring between No. 6 and authority, represented by No. 2 (in several persons in the original).

That said, there’s still some philosophy; a conversation with No. 313, the lady doctor, takes in the scope of the world as seen in the stars in the night sky and the importance of history.

A nice touch is that No. 2 has a family, an ill wife and a son, instead of merely being a foil for No. 6.

It’s off to a promising start.

The series is debuting two episodes a night through Tuesday. Premieres are at 8 p.m. Eastern, with repeats at 10 p.m. and 6 p.m. the following evening.

Eureka 3.18, “What Goes Around, Comes Around,” picks up where the last episode left off–or, rather, the morning after. Tess and Carter are having coffee at his place.

Zoe got her early premed admission to Harvard, but boyfriend Lucas didn’t make it. “All the data in the world can’t take the place of the woman you love,” Lucas tells Henry, who literally had his wife replaced with data a few episodes back. “Sorry.” Tess might also be leaving, since there’s a job offer in Australia. What does Carter want her to do? “Whatever makes you happy.” Actually, it looks like he’d like to make that plunge–he’s planning a trip as the episode ends–but you know he’ll be back in Eureka in time for Season Four. After all, a job change for him could mean the end of the world, literally.

Fargo’s predicting “an extinction-level event,” but it’s only two thousand years away. “Next time, don’t bury the lead,” Carter says. The supercollider at General Dynamics might be a more pressing problem, though. Suddenly the folks in the lab–including Fargo, Carter, and Tess–are “talking like Chip and Dale.” Carter thinks Larry, who said the supercollider could be dangerous, might have tampered with it.

The problems continue: Fargo suddenly, temporarily becomes an electromagnet. Zoe gets trapped underwater beneath flames during a diving exhibition, forcing Carter to dive to the rescue. Carter notices that the strange events resemble Fargo’s computer simulation of an neutron star event. Lucas’ science project, combined with the supercollider, created a new magnetic pole, precisely what he was trying to figure out how to prevent. Fortunately, there’s a happy ending–thanks to Carter’s heroism again–and Lucas’ research could save the world someday.

Not everything’s gloom and doom. Fargo and Juliet found love. “Now I know the world’s ending,” Carter says. With some openings in the cast, will Juliet be a regular next season? Watching them start–and her sidetracking him–on Fargo’s bucket list was hilarious.

I liked the season finale a lot, mostly, I’ll have to admit, because Tess left on her own two feet as Jaime Ray Newman left for Eastwick. With all the dramatic departures on TV nowadays, it’s nice to see characters simply moving on. The departures of Tess and Zoe could also make Eureka less Carter-centric by making room for more oddball GD regulars.

“What Goes Around Comes Around” Episode 3018 — Pictured: (right) Neil Grayston as Douglas Fargo — Syfy Photo: Marcel Williams

Tess is in charge at Global Dynamics as Allison takes maternity leave on Eureka 3.17, “Have an Ice Day.” Meanwhile, Zoe’s awaiting the results of her career assessment test; she already knows she wants to be a doctor, but the test says she’s got an aptitude for robotics engineering.

Carter and Jo see a really big truck rolling down the highway on the way to GD. Turns out it’s a “giant icicle,” as Carter puts it. Tess says it’s an arctic ice core. The truck also brings back Taggart (Matt Frewer, Max Headroom), but his one-time romantic interest Jo is now seeing Zane, who’s arriving back in town with Taggart. She doesn’t seem happy that he’s back. Zane doesn’t seem that happy, either, even if he says, “Don’t worry about it.”

Soon, Carter gets there in time to resuscitate Taggart, who he found frozen in a block of ice. Taggart tells Carter that the ice contains “black maladjusted crystals.” In other words, it’s spreading and Eureka is in big trouble. Again.

“Did you think the job was going to be easy?” Carter asks Tess.

“You go away for a month, and you come back acting like The Thing,” Jo tells Zane when he’s unconcerned by the ice. Something’s wrong; Carter and Jo get there just in time to see him collapse. Zane has ice crystals growing inside him, and he’s got to help Taggart figure things out to save his own life.

Zoe proves just as handy as her father in a pinch, saving the gang at Cafe Diem by using the walk-in freezer as a heat source, relatively speaking. Perhaps she should consider law enforcement?

As usual, the episode was more about relationships than about a glacier hitting town. It wrapped up with a nice, somehow appropriate fadeout with Carter and Tess sitting together in front of a roaring fire.

Tonight’s neat touches: electronic police tape and a surprise for Carter hidden behind George W. Bush’s picture.

Next up: the season finale.

“Have an Ice Day” Episode 3017 — Pictured: Matt Frewer as Taggart — Syfy Photo: Marcel Williams

“We’re about to be vibrated to death–and not in a good way,” Sheriff Jack Carter tells Allison Blake in Eureka 3.16, “You Don’t Know Jack.” Allison doesn’t know too much else at the moment, since she’s suffering from amnesia, along with most of the town.

When Tess came up with a storycatcher, a gizmo that sees memories to create “a living video diary” for a time capsule, town screwup Fargo got a look at everyone’s memories of him–and decided to delete. Naturally, it got a little out of hand, as things tend to in Eureka…

If Allison had her memory in working order, she could get a message out of Global Dynamics, where she and Carter are trapped, to get someone to shut off the sonic cleaner that will soon wipe them out. Carter has to remind her of their experiences together to shock her out of it.

If this conjures up images in your mind of a “bottle show” full of flashbacks, your memory of television past and present is in working order. It’s not a bad bottle show, but it’s a bottle show nonetheless. Syfy got some publicity use out of it, at least, reminding viewers of favorite episodes before a “Viewer’s Choice” marathon next Friday.

The bottle show also reminded me of something Eureka could use right now: a major conflict for Carter. Yeah, the town’s almost wiped out every week, but things have been going too well for him since the series came back. He’s in love, and there’s no antagonist du jour.

There is something new here for fans, though: Allison gives birth to a girl, Jenna Stark, and Zoe decides on her future career path. Medicine, I’d guess. It’s also amusing that the doctor who has the sonic thingiebobber that’s causing all that trouble looks like he’d have made a good old-style Doctor.

A throwaway joke–Vincent mentioning his PhD in molecular gastronomy–had me wishing for a crossover episode I doubt we’ll ever see: Vincent’s culinary deconstruction of the humble hamburger with french fries goes awry, threatening to level the West Coast just as he’s about to give Anthony Bourdain a guided tour of Eureka.

There’s a lot going on in Eureka 3.15, “Shower the People.”

Alison’s having a baby shower at Carter’s smart house, which means Zoe has to deal with the “multitasking maniacs” who are doing the planning. Not for long, though, since they start turning up–drowned–after the shower.

Meanwhile, Henry’s taking the unreal Kim to Cafe Diem and getting very concerned as a neural networking specialist begins downloading the organic computer. Henry knows she’s not the real Kim, but, as he puts it, “You do have her laugh, and her mind, and her spirit.” When she begins decaying (she is a clone, after all) and the specialist wants to “dissolve” her to get the data, Henry’s hurting, but the organic computer Kim wants to complete her mission.

Also meanwhile, a remark from Tess lets Alison know the alien expert went out with Carter, which has the ladies wondering about their feelings for Carter. Carter’s wondering about his feelings for the ladies, too, since he’s got sympathetic pregnancy symptoms from being a birthing coach for Alison, and he’s horrified to learn that Tess could be the next drowning victim.

The cause, it turns out, is synthetic water dosed with radiation from the lab where they’re working with Kim. Carter saved Tess from drowning, but she may die anyway, Fargo tells him. Not to worry, since Carter has an idea that just might work. Surprised?

By the end of the episode, it looks like Carter has made up his mind–or the ladies have made up their minds, and his mind for him. Alison traced the sympathetic pains to one of the gizmos from the shower, and told him he needs to see Tess, who really, really wants to practice CPR with Carter. I still suspect Carter and Alison will get together someday, since Carter remembers they were married in an alternate reality, but they needed a delaying tactic to keep that thread going for, maybe, three or four more seasons.

And did I mention that Fargo did his first autopsy?

Whew! That was a neat trick, a puzzle that weaved its way through all the personal dilemmas in Eureka as well. Only question left: What’ll they do next week?

“Is there a person in there? Is that Kim?”

Carter knows it’s not Kim in the literal sense–she died two years ago–but he’s wondering if anything remains of Henry’s late wife in a computer’s extrapolation from her DNA that arrived in the ship that landed at the end of last week’s episode of Eureka. However, in Eureka 3.14, “Ship Happens,” he, Henry, and the rest of the Global Dynamics crew won’t have time to ponder much.

Turns out the ship also carried a computer virus that’s spreading to humans, thanks to all the organic computers in town. As usual, it’s a problem that’s solved readily, thanks to Carter’s quick thinking–and a blender. No, I don’t think I can explain that further in any way that would make sense. Just wait for next week’s rerun or go to Syfy online and watch it.

While the bulk of the episode was devoted to the computer virus, a few quick tender moments were had between Henry and the computer Kim as they worked together to save the day, and between Jo and Zane as the cop lay down next to her ill boyfriend in a hospital bed. They probably should have spent a little more time with these scenes, but the actors made the most of what they were given. There’s also some hand-holding at the end between Carter and Tess as they watch a meteor shower.

Last week’s “zombie” menace carried over to this week as Jo and Carter oversee the return of all the junk that the ship gathered for landing.

I hope the next few episodes will devote more time to Henry and Kim–and whether she is Kim. There were some good moments, but it only hinted at a payoff later.