So, even though I do say so myself, my hypothesis on what would happen as far as Six and 313 was concerned in Checkmate turned out to be correct. And Ian McKellen was right when he said that all the clues are there to be followed right from the start of the first opening scene of Arrival. Mind you it wasn't too difficult to figure it out, and we did get the answers we were looking for in the final episode of Checkmate, or should that have been Dance of the Dead? I mean there was certainly more about death in the final episode than there was about chess, even though it was to say a "Checkmate win" for Two.
So, Six was dying, he had a fever, of the brain? Two's son 11-12, who subsequently went and hung himself in the "Go-Inside" club. there was a Village funeral for Two's son, but not for Two's wife. Well that was hardly surprising, as 11-12 was born in The Village, and Two's wife simply returned to her other life, her other existence, in the "other place," being New York. That is why 11-12 had a Village funeral, because he was born in The Village, and had no other existence to return to! Two, in having got Six to accept, got the people to accept and want Six as the new Two "We want Six, Six is the one. We want Six, Six is the one. We want Six, Six is the one. We want Six, Six is the one. We want Six, Six is the one." Well who could refuse with such a catchy chant as that? Almost as good, perhaps better than "Six for Two, Six for Two, Six for Two, Six for Two." and so it was that Two once again produced that hand grenade which he had always foreseen that he would use against himself one day, blew himself to bits. A Village death, which is no death at all. Two having returned to his other life in the "other place," to walk off into the sunset so to speak with his wife Helen on his arm. If only Six could have chosen death in The Village. If only he could have realised what perhaps 93 had come to realise, that in The Village death is an escape!
Others who escaped The Village through death were 93, the former No.6, who died back in that cave somewhere in the desert. 455, the waitress who died in the explosion of the Solar Cafe. And 909, an undercover, who was murdered by his homosexual lover 11-12.
So we know how The Village came into existence, and why it came into existence, through an experiment which was being carried out by Curtis' wife Helen, having created The Village in one of the subconscious layers of her mind. Which must surely mean that Helen, or as she was at the time, Two's wife, had not in fact given physical birth to her son 11-12. That 11-12 was but a figment of her over active imagination! It's no wonder then Two's reaction to his fictitious son. Two asked his son if his Two dynasty would continue, that 11-12 would have children, his grand children, when all the time Two knew that that was impossible. And besides which, 11-12 was a homosexual. So grand children to carry on Two's dynasty was totally out of the question!
Two was in fact looking to the Future of the Village. Newcomers were arriving all the time In The Village, and new houses were being built hence MORE VILLAGE
After the death, the matricide committed by her son, holes rapidly began to appear in The Village which was then in danger of disappearing into one giant hole of nothingness, oblivion in fact, taking the whole population with it, hence Two's urgency to pass The Village on to a new Two. Or would it? Because all those people who were brought to The Village would, like Two, return to their other lives in the "other place." It would be those people who were born in The Village, born of Two's wife's subconscious mind who would cease to exist, who were so desperate for "Six to be the one" guided by Two of course, and for his own selfish reason "escape!" So Six finally accepted The Village, and with him 313 accepting her fate because of her love for Six, through a handful of pills! And at the end, there they sat together in the desert, the new Two making plans for a better Village, and 313 with a tear in her eye. Perhaps not the end at all, but another beginning.
We did discover the origin of "Rover," that it was created out of the subconscious mind of Six, who refused to face up to his fears. And that has always been the purpose of "Rover" the Village guardian, to be symbolic of ones fears.
The Village is a place where people turn up. People who no longer know too much or too little. But damaged people, people who have become mentally damaged for whatever reason. Who are brought to The Village to be made better, and who are eventually released from The Village, back to their "other lives" in the "other place."
Such are my initial observations of the episode Checkmate. I shall be watching it again this week, because I have more observations to make. Especially about the "old man" 93.
So what did I think of THEPRIS6NER? I liked it. Enjoyed it. At times found it difficult to follow, but always a second screening of such a particularly perplexing episode soon made things clear. At times I was excited by the series, in looking forward to the next episode, to see what would happen next, to watch where the series was being taken. Was I disappointed by THEPRIS6NER? No, it was more or less what I expected. Nor was I disappointed by having thought out what would happen to Six and 313. I was disappointed by the fact that Six finally accepted The Village, that he was so easily and readily making plans for a new Village, a better Village. That Six was not prepared to take the gamble with death when it was offered to him by Two. Had Six taken that gamble............. Patrick McGoohan will be spinning in his grave to think that Six gave in so easliy at the end. But happy in the knowledge that his No.6 finally made good his escape from The Village.
I'll be seeing you................if I can get the wife to swallow this handful of pills!
No comments:
Post a Comment