The Prisoner: Number Two

There is a new Number Two in nearly every episode of The Prisoner, and sometimes more than one. Only four of the actors that played Number Two were also featured in the opening dialogue with Six (*); the remainder of the openers either didn't include dialogue, or Number Two's dialogue was done by Robert Rietty.

1.1 Arrival (George Baker / Guy Doleman)
1.2 Free For All (Rachel Herbert / Eric Portman)
1.3 Dance of the Dead (Mary Norris*)
1.4 Checkmate (Peter Wyngarde*)
1.5 Chimes of Big Ben (Leo McKern*)
1.6 A, B, and C (Colin Gordon*)
1.7 The General (Colin Gordon*)
1.8 The Schizoid Man (Anton Rodgers)
1.9 Many Happy Returns (Georgina Cookson)
1.10 It's Your Funeral (Derren Nesbitt / Andre Van Gyseghem)
1.11 A Change of Mind (John Sharpe)
1.12 Hammer Into Anvil (Patrick Cargill)
1.13 Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling (Clifford Evans)
1.14 Living In Harmony (David Bauer)
1.15 The Girl Who Was Death (Kenneth Griffith)
1.16 Once Upon a Time (Leo McKern*)
1.17 Fall Out (Leo McKern*)

• The Prisoner home
  

Community: Communication Studies

“Love is not only blind, but also dizzy and a little belligerent.”

Oh, this was such a terrible episode. Community is such a silly show that clearly lacks nuance or artistry, and obviously ruined the best holiday in the entire world. That was sarcasm. Can’t you tell? I used inflection, which is totally not overrated.

Roswell: Sexual Healing

“If they actually do it, she’ll probably explode.”

Underneath all of the sexual angst, "Sexual Healing" is another interesting exploration of teenage identity through this whole alien metaphor. Liz and Max want to pursue their feelings for one another, but each feels like they’re abusing or being abused by the other. A lot of the scenes with our guys going at it feel a little less exploitive here, instead feeling like a satisfying expression of this episode’s theme.

Nikita: Rough Trade

"You think you're gonna break me?"

I was pleasantly surprised by this one. What started out as a potentially eye-rolling hour about slave labor and the fashion industry, soon evolved into a complicated hour about trauma and forgiveness.

About Us: Juliette

Here is the next installment of our About Us Interview series. Juliette just joined the site to review Star Trek: Voyager and, someday soon, lots of other tasty goodies, including The West Wing.

Breaking Bad: Hazard Pay

Walt: "$137,000. Less than with Fring."
Mike: "Listen, Walter. Just because you shot Jesse James don't make you Jesse James."

Mike is on board, but he just drew a line in the sand. He has not forgiven or forgotten that Walt blew Gus up and landed Mike's guys in prison. Mike feels strongly that Mike's guys deserve hazard pay, and they're gonna get it. The end.

Threshold: Vigilante

“I don’t know if I can go back to Earth girls.”

After the previous episode’s threat of a massive foodborne outbreak, “Vigilante” keeps the story on the small scale by focusing on a man partially alienized and the effect of his actions on the team. While this is a solid episode, it’s a pity that Threshold didn’t keep the momentum going: a gradual escalation in scale leading towards the season (and series) finale would have made these last few episode live up to the promise of the series.

True Blood: Somebody That I Used to Know

Eric: "What are you doing?"
Bill: "Evolving."

Am I finally seeing an actual theme for this season? Is it really just supes versus humans? Unfortunately, the vampires and werewolves are all committing crimes that make killing them seem like a pretty good idea. Okay, for that matter, some of the humans are, too.

Threshold: Outbreak

“We’re looking at the tip of the iceberg.”

The previous episode, “The Crossing,” emphasized the personal tragedy of an alien infection but ended with a great cliffhanger: the food supply has been infected with the alien virus. What’s the chance of both Adams and Lucas eating infected food? Well, that depends on just how much food is infected. And that’s a big, big problem.

Nikita: Kill Jill

"Michael, you have no idea how much pain I can take."

The thing I've enjoyed most about Nikita over the course of its two seasons (and don't worry, no spoilers for future eppies here) is the fact that the writers never insult our intelligence as viewers. They ask the obvious questions and they tackle head-on any inconsistencies or plot points that other shows would shrug under the rug.

Doux News: July 29, 2012

This week: Cool stuff -- New shows -- This week in casts -- This week in cats -- New on Doux

Community: Romantic Expressionism

“So clearly, we’re all a bunch of funny people.”

We all want something we can’t have. I want a koala, but let’s be honest—that’s not gonna happen under today’s tyrannical exotic pet laws. Pierce wants to be funny, but that’s about as likely as my koala fantasy. Annie wants Troy, but she also just wants romantic attention. Troy wants to get laid. Jeff and Britta want to do good and spite Mr. Micro-Nipples. Even a koala couldn’t improve those opportunities for double-crosses and silly mistakes.

Nikita: 2.0

"I can only promise you one thing: it's going to get worse before it gets better."

A show's second outing is almost always a challenging prospect. Thankfully, Nikita overcomes an average standalone plot by meticulously exploring the unique bond and layered relationship forged between two very complex women.

Star Trek Voyager: Parallax

“The readings are confused, the data is contradictory – none of it makes any sense.”

Oh, Voyager. After such a great beginning, for your second episode, you give us ‘Parallax’; an episode that more or less encapsulates most of the major problems that would plague the show as a whole.

Once Upon a Time: That Still Small Voice

“I’m not the man I want to be.”

Despite the fact that the show is settling into a less mind-slapping amazing groove than we saw at first, it seems as though it’s finally solidified its storytelling methods, and gotten a hang of exactly what it has set out to achieve. Another lovely fairy tale was tackled quite well, using clever re-imaginings and beautiful homages.

Merlin: The Nightmare Begins

“I know now who I really am. And that it isn't something to be scared of. Maybe one day people come to see magic as a force for good.”

This is probably the series' darkest episode to date. But in order for it to work, Merlin had to be a complete idiot.

Roswell: Independence Day

“I don’t belong there, I don’t belong here, I don’t belong anywhere.”

Here we’ve got an episode that follows suit to "The Toy House" and tackles the intricacies of the aliens living situations, and this time it’s just as, if not more, powerful than its predecessor. "Independence Day" sees the first major deconstruction of Michael’s character. So far we’ve seen glimpses of a more sensitive and lovable young man, but this is the first time his walls have been almost completely smashed, revealing a devastated and scared boy, desperate to find where he belongs.

Threshold: The Crossing

“Blow by blow of my final days as a human?”

As in “Revelations,” Threshold does better than it should in this episode. Adams’s slow pull away from his humanity could feel like a tacky cameo death: new character introduced only to die and make everyone consider the stakes. But it works, because “The Crossing” is the moment in which the impact of the alien invasion hits home for Molly, Cavennaugh, and the rest of the team.

Nikita: Pilot

"I thought I heard my name."

Very few shows fire out the gate with the assertiveness that Nikita exudes with its pilot episode. There's just an excellent sense of confidence to the show as it throws you right into the middle of the action without much set-up. And by action, I mean two utterly compelling arcs (Nikita and Alex's) that seem quite different but parallel each other magnificently.

Community: Interpretive Dance

“Student/teacher relationships do happen.”

Two people with high hotness rankings in one small room? Sneakiness makes an already sexy situation hotter, doesn’t it? About 38% hotter, in fact. What are the odds they’d be discovered? Maybe Professor Slim Calves can tell us. In fact, odds are that any secret will eventually be outed by the group.

Doctor Who: Robot

“You may be a doctor but I am THE Doctor, the genuine article you might say.”

And then there was Tom.

Doctor Who: Planet of the Spiders

“A tear, Sarah Jane? While there’s life there’s...”

There are very few good regeneration stories. 'Planet of the Spiders' is not one of them. In many ways it is very reminiscent of David Tennant's last hurrah, 'The End of Time'. Both stories aim to be an epic farewell to their respective Doctors and a grand celebration of their era. That was the intention. The results are something quite different.

Batman

“I have given a name to my pain, and it is Batman.”

Remember how everyone cheered when Batman Begins was first announced? A Batman movie from the director of Memento, with Patrick Bateman as the Dark Knight? Brilliant, where can I get my ticket? And yet I can't help but wonder what it was like for audiences in 1989 when Batman came out. Imagine it, a new Batman movie from the director of Beetlejuice starring, well, Beetlejuice as the Caped Crusader? That just sounds crazy and never should've worked. And yet it did, although maybe not perfectly.

Warehouse 13: A New Hope

... in which the team races against the clock to save the Warehouse.

When last we left our intrepid heroes, they had defeated Big Bad Walter Sykes, but the price of victory was exceedingly high, including the loss of Jinks, H.G. Wells, Mrs. Frederic, and the Warehouse. Myka, Pete, and Artie were left standing with only their lives and a mysterious pocket watch, which was clearly the key to reversing the destruction wrought by Sykes.

Alphas: Wake Up Call

Rosen: “People fear what they do not understand or what they cannot control.”
Scipio: “I’m not human, I’m an Alpha.”

What happens when you put everything on the line, expose a government cover-up and beam it out over the internet? The answer, it appears, is absolutely nothing. Rosen really did try to take over the chess board (see episode 1.2) but it is important to remember that governments don’t give up so easy. You can easily be put on the shelf and discredited as a lunatic by your own government. A government run by fear and responding with an intense need to control. Sound familiar? But this approach doesn’t really work for anything, and Rosen just has to wait until things become unmanageable. A well-executed prison break from Binghamton breaks everything open again. I was strangely disappointed by the ease with which the breaking apart of the team was resolved.

Threshold: Progeny

“To think in the 50s we were afraid of little green men.”

Three seemingly-unrelated women, all infected—and one of them has billions of dollars at her disposal. On the one hand, we should be happy that infectees only pop once a week. On the other hand, aliens with funding for R&D can’t be a great idea. Especially not when infectee-pregnancy is on the line.

Breaking Bad: Madrigal

Mike: "You are a time bomb tick tick ticking, and I have no intention of being around for the boom."

It's a Mike-centric episode! How lovely. Not that all that killing was lovely, but Mike the Fixer is a great character, and he deserved a great episode. And he got one.

Community: Investigative Journalism

“A new semester. A new Jeff.”

New Jeff. New buddy. New...newspaper. Good news and bad news: Señor Chang can’t be killed, and characters can never really be rebooted, no matter what Abed says. The running joke in “Investigative Journalism” is the expected ratings-inspired reboot: many shows tweak something when they return from the winter hiatus, but Community is, like Hawkeye, better than that. In a way that they’re kinda winking at it, as Jack Black cleverly, meta-ly (not metallically, but in a meta- fashion) explained to us.

Star Trek Voyager: Caretaker

“It’s a fine crew. And I’ve gotta get them home.”

‘Caretaker’ was originally shown as a single double-length episode, so I’m reviewing both parts together here.

Falling Skies: Molon Labe

Anne: "I've had enough creepy crawlies to last a lifetime."

"Molon Labe" is an ancient Greek phrase roughly translated to mean "Come and take them". It was supposedly said by King Leonidas I in defiance of the Persian army's demand that the Spartans surrender their weapons at the Battle of Thermopylae (which is the historical event that the graphic novel/movie 300 is loosely based on). Which makes it a very fitting term for the episode that featured a hopeless battle against a far superior force. Except in this case the 2nd Mass won.

About Us: Mark Greig

Here is the next installment of our About Us Interview series. Mark Greig reviews Community, Merlin, and retro Doctor Who; he has reviewed The Fades and The Killing, as well, but he doesn’t like to talk about that last bit.

True Blood: In the Beginning

Bill: "You can't play the grieving widow and the leader of a coup at the same time."

Lots to enjoy in this one. Lots that made me unhappy, too.

Alphas: Catch and Release

Skylar: “Run, idiots.”

What a treat to see Summer Glau on the show and as usual, playing a kick-ass young woman.

Of course, Alphas are like everyone else in many respects. They want a good job, a happy family, a job that is fulfilling and challenging. Working for the NSA if you are an Alpha is probably not the best choice, but I bet they pay well. And where else would you get the kinds of materials you need to build whatever you want? The downside is, it is very difficult to quit. Skylar has decided to leave the employ of the NSA and they aren’t too happy about it. They are even using the machine she created, “Bob”, to track her. They don’t want her to quit, they want to lock her up in a room and coerce her into making things. As Sullivan says, they will compensate her very well. Does the government have the right to take away someone’s liberty just because they need them? Not much of a free country if you ask me. The Alpha team seems to agree with me.

Alphas: Bill and Gary's Excellent Adventure

Gary: “Everyone’s calling me Agent Bell.”

This episode was a lot of fun in many ways. The focus was on character development rather than moving the plot along. There was no new superpower because the enemies were “normal” humans after a quick buck. (Something many “normal” and Alpha humans seem to be about.)

Doux News: July 22, 2012

This week: A little bit more about Comic-Con -- The Emmys and Mister Spock -- Summer shows -- New shows -- This week in casts -- This week in cats, and other items presented without (much) comment -- Comment of the week

Alphas: Never Let Me Go

Sheriff Handell: “I should have listened. I should have stopped it.”

You know that special bond between a newborn baby and its mother? It’s fueled by oxytocin, which is the same chemical that makes you feel head over heels when you are first in love. What would happen if there was someone who could mainline that drug for people? We found out this week. Anyone they touched would immediately fall in love and feel wonderful, at least for a little while. Once they lose that contact they go into withdrawal, and it is pretty horrible.

Alphas: Rosetta

Red Flag: “True neurodiversity cannot be limited by their small minds.”

This show does not screw around. We are only at episode four and I am attached to the Alpha team and they have a “terrorist” antagonist headed by an Alpha that can speak any language and run a movement while looking helpless. Anna played into Rosen’s ableist assumptions about people who look different than what we call the “norm”. And unfortunately, the “normal” humans are also playing out our xenophobia and trying any way we can to wipe the Alphas out of existence. Creating a drug to suppress the birth of Alphas is genetic cleansing, and as usual we end up creating what we fear: that is, Alphas who are at war with “normal” humans. It appears that they have little other choice.

Community: Comparative Religion

“Ho ho ho! Merry Happy!”

Knock, knock: a Christian, a Muslim, a Jehovah’s Witness, a Jew (say the whole word!), an atheist, an agnostic (lazy man’s atheist!), and a level-five laser lotus in a Buddhist community walk into a study room. Who’s there?

Newsflash: Man of Steel Teaser(s)

Look! Up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's...a fisherman? Huh, can't say I was expecting that. It's been six years since Superman Returns failed to restart the franchise (I liked it, but can see why people had issues with it), so now Warner Bros. is having another go at bring the last son of Krypton back to the big screen with Man of Steel.

The Dark Knight Rises

Selina Kyle: "There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you're all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us."

To start off, this is a ponderously dense and intricately plot-heavy movie, with dozens of mini-arcs and character through-lines. The narrative structure was a little cumbersome and slightly messy, having to cover a lot of ground and tell a lot of story. But the plot itself was exceptionally well crafted, and successfully brought all the disparate pieces from throughout the entire series together in a satisfying way, all the while introducing a number of new characters.

In other words, I loved it.

Alphas: Anger Management

Gary: “Bill, you need to shoot it.”
Bill: “I’m not shooting anything, okay? Look, I’ll call them again.”
Gary: “No, Bill, no more talking, it’s time for action.”
Gary: “Give me the gun, I’ll shoot it.”
Bill: “Gary, I’m not giving you my gun.”
Gary: “Yeah give me...no, you’re right, give me a grenade.”
Bill: “Gary-out.”
Gary: “Bill, give me the grenade.”
Bill: “Gary, good-bye.”
Gary: “You don’t even have a grenade.”

Alphas: Cause and Effect

Dr. Rosen: “I’m calling people like you Alphas.”
Marcus: “Alpha, acceleration, the first variable. I like that.”

In the last episode, we met the team. In this week’s episode, we meet the conspiracy. We found out a little bit about who the Alphas are and their mission: to find other Alphas and, if they are “bad” Alphas, turn them over to the government. The definition of “bad” is an Alpha who is a danger to themselves or others, but the real questions are, who gets to define bad? And then, what do you do about it? In classic sci-fi style, you can’t trust the government to deal with these issues, because the government is made up of “normal” people who are terrified by anything new and different.

Shooting in Aurora

Last night I had a rather unique movie-going experience. Well for me at least, as I imagine several thousand people had the same experience. What was it? Well, I went to a marathon of all three Batman movies back to back to back. It was intense, it was amazing, and it was more than a little overwhelming. It goes along with some of the best movie going experiences of my life, and one I will remember fondly for a long time to come. However, for one audience it was anything but positive.

Merlin: The Once and Future Queen

“You shouldn't need to be told to think of someone other than yourself. You're not a child.”

You'd think I would hate this episode. Arthur and Gwen is a pairing I have never had any love for. I liked both characters individually, but find them together boring. It says it all that Arthur has more sexual tension with Merlin. But I didn't just like this episode, I absolutely loved it.

Community: The Politics of Human Sexuality

“Catch knowledge!”

An STD Fair is easy game, even for a show like Community that manages to make the most obvious jokes delightfully complicated. It shouldn’t be surprising, then, that the three plot lines in this episode have more to do with the characters learning about themselves and admitting hard truths (pun!) than sex.

Newsflash: Emmy Nominations 2012

It's that time of year again, when the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences unveils the nominations for this year's Emmy Awards, and we all slap our heads in frustration at everything they got wrong.

Falling Skies: Homecoming

Weaver: "How much fuel did we burn saving my sorry ass?"

That was an intense episode. So many things happened in such a short amount of time.

Community: Environmental Science

“That guy goes anymore nuts, he’s gonna win a Grammy.”

This is a great episode, despite the Chang. Perhaps even—dare I say it?—because of the Chang. No, that’s taking it too far: what makes this fast-paced episode so much fun is the way Chang’s 20-page essay assignment turns everyone’s anxiety up to eleven.

About Us: Josie Kafka

Here is the next installment in our About Us Interview series.

Josie Kafka reviews Fringe, Game of Thrones, The Vampire Diaries, retro Community (with Mark), and Threshold. In August she'll finish up Twin Peaks, too.

Eureka: Just Another Day

... in which the government moving trucks arrive to shut down Eureka, just as random wormholes start popping up around town.

Breaking Bad: Live Free or Die

Mike: "You know, I can foresee a lot of possible outcomes to this thing, and not a single one of them involves Miller time."

I expected it to be good. I didn't expect it to be so damned funny.