Arrival (The Prisoner)

"Arrival"
The Prisoner episode
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 1
Directed by Don Chaffey
Written by George Markstein and David Tomblin
Production code 1
Original air date 29 September 1967
Guest actors

Number Two - Guy Doleman
The New Number Two - George Baker
The Woman - Virginia Maskell
Cobb - Paul Eddington[1]

"Arrival" is the title of the first episode of the British science fiction-allegorical series, The Prisoner. It originally aired in the UK on ITV on 29 September 1967 and was first broadcast in the United States on CBS on 1 June 1968.

The episode introduced audiences to the character of Number Six, portrayed by Patrick McGoohan and introduced most of the concepts that would dominate the series throughout its run.

Plot summary

The introduction (which, with some edits, is used subsequently as the show's opening) shows an angry, unnamed man, driving his Lotus Seven in London. He parks his car, storms down a corridor, and bursts into an office, accosting another man (though no dialogue is heard, only claps of thunder). The first man throws an envelope on the desk and leaves, returning to his home; meanwhile, his photo identification is marked with "X"s and the word "RESIGNED". At the man's home, he quickly packs a small bag, apparently leaving on a trip, from his study, unaware that an undertaker from a hearse that has followed him from the city has injected a gas through his door's keyhole. The man collapses onto a couch.

The village

When the man awakes, he finds himself in a room that looks similar to his study, but then finds he has been abducted and brought to "The Village", after meeting the people that live there, and that there are no apparent ways to leave it—it is surrounded by mountains on all sides save for where it meets the sea. He returns to where he awoke to find that the mockup of his study adjoins more contemporary living quarters. His phone rings, and he learns that "Number Two" wishes to meet him in the Green Dome.

The green dome

Inside the Green Dome, Number Two informs the man that The Village does not use names and that he will henceforth be known as "Number Six". Number Two further explains that he only seeks to understand Number Six's motives for resigning, and what "side" he is on, as the information accumulated in the course of Number Six's career was deemed too valuable and/or dangerous to allow him to simply "walk away". Two strongly suggests that Number Six's cooperation with this process is preferable to other methods that he has at his disposal. Number Two then takes Number Six on a tour of The Village, noting that other former agents all come through it to be "debriefed". Number Two points out the security system employed by The Village to prevent escape: a mysterious floating sphere known as Rover that attacks those that try to flee. When Number Six attempts to escape later that evening, he is caught by Rover and rendered unconscious.

In hospital

Number Six awakes in the hospital and finds himself in a bed beside a former colleague, Cobb, who is also incarcerated in The Village. Before Number Six can get any answers from Cobb, he is taken away for medical examination. When Number Six returns, Cobb is no longer in his bed, and an orderly discovers that Cobb has apparently thrown himself out the window in an act of suicide. Number Six leaves the hospital and seeks out Number Two, discovering that a new person has taken his position. The new Number Two explains that his position may be changed from time to time for unexplained reasons.

Escape attempt

Later, Number Six notices a woman covertly observing Cobb's funeral from a distance. Number Six follows the woman and confronts her. The woman (Number Nine) claims to have been Cobb's lover and tells Number Six that she and Cobb were working on an escape plan, the details of which can be used to help Number Six to escape. Though Number Six remains suspicious of Number Nine's motives after seeing her visit Number Two, she gives him an electropass that will keep Rover at bay and allow him to use The Village's helicopter; however, she chooses not to accompany him. That night, Number Six attempts his escape with the electropass (a device resembling a wristwatch), and though he is able to start away on the helicopter, one of The Village's technicians gains remote control of it and returns it to The Village.

Recapture

As Number Two observes Number Six's return to the Village from the Green Dome, we discover that he is conversing with none other than Cobb, whose death had been faked, revealing that he had been working with or for Number Two all along. Two promises to "take good care" of Number Nine as Cobb departs to his new masters, advising Number Two as he leaves that Number Six will be "a tough nut to crack".

Additional guest cast

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

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