The Prisoner continues to improve with the third episode, Anvil. Apparently, Six (Jim Caviezel) has quit the bus driving position he held in the previous installment; he’s given a new job in surveillance. His mentor is 909 (Vincent Regan), Two’s long serving lieutenant. As the Village’s video observation techniques are unveiled, writer Bill Gallagher has lots of opportunities to reference 1984, Philip K. Dick-style paranoia and the ‘nanny state’ fears of our society. “Let’s keep an eye on him,” Two says of his son 11-12 (Jamie Campbell-Bower), “for his own sake.” Part of Six’s job is to teach surveillance at a school. The kids get spy toys as birthday presents and report on any anomalies in the behavior of their parents. Six decides to use these little Hitler youth wannabes to investigate his captors. If you’re expecting Six to be in jeopardy, get into fights or try to defeat Two, you’ll be disappointed. We’re presented with a fairly passive prisoner who is starting to question whether he ever had a life outside the Village. Nevertheless, this is the episode where Six really starts to fight back within the system instead of just trying to run away. Meanwhile, Two steps up his manipulation of Six and everyone else around him. McKellen and Caviezel obviously enjoy their scenes together, but ultimately they can’t save a story that’s too big for its running time. The ending is rushed, confused and lacks any excitement. We’d understand it if the programme makers planned to syndicate the series and show the episodes out of sequence, but this is a self contained six-parter and there’s a subplot that wouldn’t take kindly to being screened in a different order. So why take an unorthodox concept like this one and shoehorn it into a traditional US TV format? Only the Number Twos of ITV and AMC know the answer. Read our review of episode 2 here.
