THEPRIS6NER

    The echo’s of the original series cannot be denied, and are first reflected within the title of the episodes within the series. ‘Arrival’ speaks for itself. ‘Harmony,’ that will be Six “living in harmony” with his brother and newly found family! ‘Anvil,’ is that ‘Hammer Into Anvil,’ is that Two must the hammer, and Six the anvil? Six must not be harmed, he must survive, yet he can suffer! Next will be ‘Darling,’ possibly as in ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling,’ meaning that it’s possibly got something to do with Two and his long sedated wife! Then there’s ‘Schizoid,’ and I shouldn’t wonder that Curtis, mentioned twice by Lucy in Anvil, makes an appearance. And finally the series ends in ‘Checkmate’ win, for who I wonder?

    Two is a very clever man, in the way he’s set citizens against citizens who live in fear of others. A mother who missed a regular Yoga class, a school teacher who goes for a swim before he goes home, or any citizen who breaks from the accepted norm becomes suspect! Even the innocent act of putting out a towel to dry is misinterpreted as being a signal to someone, a dreamer perhaps. Surveillance classes are held at school where pupils are taught the fine art of surveillance. I wonder what  society will be like in The Village in a generation or two?

    Of course surveillance in the Village is taken to extremes. Yet we all live in a society where surveillance has become the norm, especially here in the United Kingdom where we are the most watched society in the world. So who is carrying out such surveillance? Why are they watching us? And what is the purpose, to protect, to find the guilty? And what do they do with all those hours upon hours of surveillance footage, wipe it, or put it all into some secure place of storage? And are those who watch us, themselves watched? And if so, who is watching them, as “they” watch us? But in any case, we only have ourselves to blame, because we let it happen. Surveillance cameras are everywhere, all grown up around us like so many weeds!

    Two is a dark and twisted character, I mean what man keeps his wife sedated, then wakes her when he feels like her company, for such a short time! The way Two ate that cherry cake in ‘Arrival’ was bad enough, but then in ‘Anvil,’ he congratulated 1,100 on her work, but then on finding out that 1,100 was an undercover who had been spying on him he didn’t like it. He didn’t even give 1,100 time to finish her ice cream before those men in white overalls came for her, and took 1,100 away in the black Bedford van for treatment! If Two would do that to a little girl, what chance the other citizens of The Village?

    And in making mention of that Black Bedford van, you may or may not have recognised it with its wire mesh windscreen shield. It is an early anti-riot vehicle from the 1960’s, first used in the early days of the troubles in Northern Ireland. And having watched ‘Anvil’ for a second time, I spotted other 1950’s and 60’s vehicles, a British “Bubble” car, a Ford Anglia, and another Morris Minor. 909’s recovery truck is a right hand drive Dodge, and other American 1950’s cars could be seen driving past in various scenes in The Village. The Village has a 1950’s/60’s feel and look about it, and what with the cars from the same period, there is a real “retro” feel to the series. Yet Two’s lap-top has a glass screen, which is very futuristic.

    Death still appears to be a form of escape from The Village, either through being murdered, as in the case of 909, or through suicide in the case of 1955 the school teacher who sliced open his own throat. 1955 actually put me in mind of another school teacher by the name of John Kieron, a character John Drake played when he went “undercover” in the ‘Danger Man’ episode ‘Don’t Nail Him Yet.’ And 909’s death scene, there was something about it which is much in the same vein as the death of Cathy in ‘Living In Harmony,’ in the way that Six arrives and 909 is still alive to utter some dying words about dreamers. Comparing the two series? No, not really, but the echo’s of the original series are there in THEPRIS6NER and cannot be denied, echo’s which do the original justice.

DAS -BCNU