In honor of the late, great Patrick McGoohan, we’re spending the next couple of weeks rewatching his landmark SF show The Prisoner. Day 3, Episode 3: Dance of the Dead
When a Carnival comes to the Village, No. 6 decides to go for a night on the town and discovers a dead body on the beach and a miniature radio receiver, which may give him a way of communicating with the outside world in a rather unorthodox manner.
This episode is fairly heavy on symbolism. What themes did you pick up on? How effective do you find the sounds and imagery of the series?
Well, the music is certainly catchy enough. I can’t get the title theme out of my head.
Number Two in this episode seems clearly based on the “witch” character of northern European tradition. An older woman with a threatening degree of power, she wields her walking stick to control The Village’s almost-magical surveillance cameras. Everywhere she goes, she’s accompanied by her black cat. In order to go exploring after dark, Number Six must refuse the sleeping potion that she brews for him. And her Carnival costume is Peter Pan, a supernatural child who can fly.