The Prisoner: Many Happy Returns Rewatch
August 4, 2014 11:44 AM - Season 1, Episode 7 - Subscribe
Number Six finds himself in a deserted Village.
The woman living in his flat in London is the same woman who, at the direction of the hostess, gives him her earring to bet on 6 Black in the C dream sequence of A B and C.
posted by carsonb at 1:45 PM on August 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by carsonb at 1:45 PM on August 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
I don't mean to jump on your territory, DevilsAdvocate
Not at all — I don't consider it "my" territory; it belongs to the community as far as I'm concerned. I've been rather busy lately so I'm actually pleased to see someone else make the post.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 2:17 PM on August 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
Not at all — I don't consider it "my" territory; it belongs to the community as far as I'm concerned. I've been rather busy lately so I'm actually pleased to see someone else make the post.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 2:17 PM on August 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
I like that it was a priority for 6, upon finding the Village abandoned and learning that there was no exit by land, to go find a grown-up sweater.
posted by thesmallmachine at 2:20 PM on August 4, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by thesmallmachine at 2:20 PM on August 4, 2014 [3 favorites]
-The first part of the Village's birthday gift to 6 is the return of his adulthood and autonomy. They offer him so much freedom, in fact, that he can't bear it all. 6 thinks of everything, which is a hell of a lot of thinking. And of course he is very competent. He can use every resource in the Village to build his boat, sail it alone for weeks without proper sleep; he can beat up gunrunners, cannily preserve his film, avoid the police. He spends all of his strength doing that, and he winds up at Mrs. Butterworth's doorstep -- the Village's doorstep.
-Because the gift is more than that. The gift is the Village itself. The Village is your sweetheart, your mother, your kind landlady. The Village loves your weird little car as much as you do. The Village kept your things. You never have to convince the Village of anything; the Village doesn't think you're crazy. It understands what you've been through. When the world outside is skeptical and incomprehensible, the Village will clean you up and feed you sandwiches. The Village is the north at the top of your compass. It doesn't matter if you know where the Village is, because the Village contains the world.
And 6 takes the gift -- without knowing what he's doing, but he takes it nonetheless. How can he refuse 2 that cake? He already accepted the offer back in London. She told him she'd make one. He said he'd hold her to it.
This 2's plan is the best of the lot, because it proves to 6 that he can't be totally autonomous and independent, and that he doesn't want to. He probably won't eat the damn cake, but he'll always know he wanted it.
posted by thesmallmachine at 3:10 PM on August 4, 2014 [7 favorites]
-Because the gift is more than that. The gift is the Village itself. The Village is your sweetheart, your mother, your kind landlady. The Village loves your weird little car as much as you do. The Village kept your things. You never have to convince the Village of anything; the Village doesn't think you're crazy. It understands what you've been through. When the world outside is skeptical and incomprehensible, the Village will clean you up and feed you sandwiches. The Village is the north at the top of your compass. It doesn't matter if you know where the Village is, because the Village contains the world.
And 6 takes the gift -- without knowing what he's doing, but he takes it nonetheless. How can he refuse 2 that cake? He already accepted the offer back in London. She told him she'd make one. He said he'd hold her to it.
This 2's plan is the best of the lot, because it proves to 6 that he can't be totally autonomous and independent, and that he doesn't want to. He probably won't eat the damn cake, but he'll always know he wanted it.
posted by thesmallmachine at 3:10 PM on August 4, 2014 [7 favorites]
I've been rather busy lately so I'm actually pleased to see someone else make the post.
Oh, good! Happy to help, then, and will continue.
posted by thesmallmachine at 3:12 PM on August 4, 2014
Oh, good! Happy to help, then, and will continue.
posted by thesmallmachine at 3:12 PM on August 4, 2014
The end of this episode is hilarious.
I've not been participating in the Prisoner threads so far, but yeah, I've loved the show for years now. This episode says a lot for the Village's power (how did they pack up all their residents, prisoners and warders, for the day?), but it also says a lot for Six's willpower. It is an awesome episode for that.
posted by JHarris at 4:18 PM on August 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
I've not been participating in the Prisoner threads so far, but yeah, I've loved the show for years now. This episode says a lot for the Village's power (how did they pack up all their residents, prisoners and warders, for the day?), but it also says a lot for Six's willpower. It is an awesome episode for that.
posted by JHarris at 4:18 PM on August 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
Right? Where did they go? I'd like to think it was the company picnic from Night Vale, with the electrified volleyball nets.
(While I'm at this kind of thing, "Many Happy Returns" is the anti-Portal: the cake is the truth.)
posted by thesmallmachine at 4:40 PM on August 4, 2014
(While I'm at this kind of thing, "Many Happy Returns" is the anti-Portal: the cake is the truth.)
posted by thesmallmachine at 4:40 PM on August 4, 2014
The woman living in his flat in London is the same woman who, at the direction of the hostess, gives him her earring to bet on 6 Black in the C dream sequence of A B and C.
Same actress. Is it the same character?
She's great in this. She appears almost to be seducing Six, but it's only in retrospect that you start to realize that she's a bit too trusting of his story, a bit too helpful. And then the twist at the end revealing her as Two demonstrates that she was playing a role all along: and playing it well enough to convince both us and Six.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 4:50 PM on August 4, 2014 [4 favorites]
Same actress. Is it the same character?
She's great in this. She appears almost to be seducing Six, but it's only in retrospect that you start to realize that she's a bit too trusting of his story, a bit too helpful. And then the twist at the end revealing her as Two demonstrates that she was playing a role all along: and playing it well enough to convince both us and Six.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 4:50 PM on August 4, 2014 [4 favorites]
It doesn't matter if you know where the Village is, because the Village contains the world.
This is such a good observation: Six now knows unambiguously where the Village is, but that knowledge is of absolutely no use to him.
In a way this is an extension of Chimes of Big Ben: Six can run as far as he likes but he can never actually escape the Village.
Is this another turning point -- from "must escape the Village" to "must destroy the Village"?
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 4:56 PM on August 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
This is such a good observation: Six now knows unambiguously where the Village is, but that knowledge is of absolutely no use to him.
In a way this is an extension of Chimes of Big Ben: Six can run as far as he likes but he can never actually escape the Village.
Is this another turning point -- from "must escape the Village" to "must destroy the Village"?
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 4:56 PM on August 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
It might be. Although we've heard something like that before, in Chimes of Big Ben, when Six tells Leo McKern's Number Two he intends to leave and come back, level the place, and him with it.
posted by JHarris at 5:10 PM on August 4, 2014
posted by JHarris at 5:10 PM on August 4, 2014
A few thoughts on re-watching this. It's amazing the depths of paranoia and caution 6 displays here, particularly compared to earlier episodes.
When the village is apparently abandoned, the first thing six does is sound the bell. He considers taking a car, but first goes to the green dome to try and find number 2, he clearly expects to find number 2, clearly expects it to be a trap.
He's been building his raft in total isolation, it's not clear for how long, but lets assume several days at least, and he hears a breaking cup. He immediately stops, stiffens and slowly looks around. He doesn't bolt for the finished raft. He assumes for a moment that the jig is up.
When he arrives back in England, his actions are those of a fugitive rather than someone who has reached safety. He's skulking, furtive, in the scene where he's following the Romani he encounters by the cliffs he looks positively deranged. He deliberately avoids the police when he sees them, and he only starts to relax once he gets to his old home and his old job.
6 trusts nothing except himself and that which he knows intimately, and expects no trust from anyone. And it's not enough. The Village demonstrates that it can reach into his old life whenever it wants and however it wants and pull him back. From the Village's perspective I'm sure it's a gift as thesmallmachine mentioned above, but after this, there is 6 and there is The Village and there is nothing else that matters.
posted by Grimgrin at 5:22 PM on August 4, 2014 [4 favorites]
When the village is apparently abandoned, the first thing six does is sound the bell. He considers taking a car, but first goes to the green dome to try and find number 2, he clearly expects to find number 2, clearly expects it to be a trap.
He's been building his raft in total isolation, it's not clear for how long, but lets assume several days at least, and he hears a breaking cup. He immediately stops, stiffens and slowly looks around. He doesn't bolt for the finished raft. He assumes for a moment that the jig is up.
When he arrives back in England, his actions are those of a fugitive rather than someone who has reached safety. He's skulking, furtive, in the scene where he's following the Romani he encounters by the cliffs he looks positively deranged. He deliberately avoids the police when he sees them, and he only starts to relax once he gets to his old home and his old job.
6 trusts nothing except himself and that which he knows intimately, and expects no trust from anyone. And it's not enough. The Village demonstrates that it can reach into his old life whenever it wants and however it wants and pull him back. From the Village's perspective I'm sure it's a gift as thesmallmachine mentioned above, but after this, there is 6 and there is The Village and there is nothing else that matters.
posted by Grimgrin at 5:22 PM on August 4, 2014 [4 favorites]
(this post should be marked as a Rewatch, no? might need a mod to change it.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:47 AM on August 5, 2014
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:47 AM on August 5, 2014
Shoot, that's right. Sorry, everybody. Mods contacted for change.
posted by thesmallmachine at 4:33 PM on August 5, 2014
posted by thesmallmachine at 4:33 PM on August 5, 2014
Note that the three-note chime which occurs diegetically in many episodes, preceeding a Village announcement, appears here a few times as part of the soundtrack; symbolic of the fact that Number Six hasn't truly left the Village.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 4:36 PM on August 11, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 4:36 PM on August 11, 2014 [4 favorites]
Interestingly, this demonstrates the pattern of the female 2s being much more effective and indeed scary than the male 2s, with their mind control and fancy gadgets. The "female is more dangerous of the species." The black cat is there too.
The pair he goes to are not the same people as in "Chimes of Big Ben." Their comments, especially the focus on "democratic" recalls the line from "Dance of the Dead": "We're democratic, in some ways."
posted by the man of twists and turns at 6:40 PM on August 12, 2014
The pair he goes to are not the same people as in "Chimes of Big Ben." Their comments, especially the focus on "democratic" recalls the line from "Dance of the Dead": "We're democratic, in some ways."
posted by the man of twists and turns at 6:40 PM on August 12, 2014
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This episode was directed by Patrick McGoohan under the pseudonym Joseph Serf, and written by Anthony Skene, whose excellent record also includes "A, B, and C" and "Dance of the Dead."
posted by thesmallmachine at 11:57 AM on August 4, 2014 [1 favorite]