TV is the New Reading

Catch ‘The Prisoner’

AMC creates a satisfying reimagination of the original

In “The Prisoner,” an enigmatic all-powerful and capriciously destructive man called No. 2 pursues a lost, confused man called No. 6 through a Village he cannot escape, searching for answers about a life he can’t seem to get back to.

That’s true of both the original 17-episode British production from the 1960s, and of the six-episode American Movie Classics miniseries remake. The similarities end right about precisely there, however.

In the 1960s version, No. 6 was a government operative who resigned suddenly, and the Village in which he was imprisoned was entirely obsessed with discovering what he was up to. No. 6 quickly realized what was going on and treated every aspect of the Village that imprisoned him with contempt, foiling all his captors’ plans, turning their paranoid surveillance tactics on their ear and generally treating the whole situation as a game.

The reboot follows Jim Caviezel as a corporate manager from his defiant resignation down the rabbit hole into a situation that meshes with a very different alternate reality. He finds himself assigned a number -- No. 6 -- and the questions he faces extend to the nature of the Village itself.

Is it all in his mind? And if it’s not, is it all in someone else’s mind? How can people find themselves in other people’s dreams? Is escape possible, and if so ... escape to where?

None of these questions is answered to anyone’s satisfaction until the final reel. In the meantime, the miniseries explores beyond the cat-and-mouse game of No. 6 and the dark intrigues of Ian McKellen as No. 2. Other stories explored are of No. 2’s comatose wife, and No. 2’s closeted son, No. 11-12. There’s also a friendly cab driver, No. 147, who loses his own child down one of the mysterious holes that is opening up all around the Village.

For his part, No. 6 is certain he’s been drawn into this world by the beautiful and mysterious No. 313, a doctor at the clinic who knows more than she’s letting on. He’s torn between a life with her and with the beautiful No. 415, and his indecision threatens the life of the Village itself.

There’s a lot of truly wonderful visuals that weave between the “real” world and the Village, and without giving everything away, there’s enough here to build a truly satisfying series should they pursue it.

There’s been a lot of negative reviews out there, most of which I tend to disagree with -- although there most certainly is some “weird for the sake of weird” to be found in this version as well.

But if you did like the original, there are certainly worse ways you could spend six hours.