What a terrible show. Ian and I suffered through the first hour, watched maybe 15 or 20 minutes of the second hour and gave up. Jim Caviezel is no Patrick McGoohan, and Ian McKellan just seems weird and crazy rather than crazy and sinister.
Visually the little desert town was far less interesting then Portmeirion. It looked tired and run down, and the old style cars made me think they were in Cuba. Which I suppose could have been a metaphor or something, but if they were trying to make a point I missed it.
I found the dialogue to be turgid and plodding. Maybe it’s just the veil and fog of years, but I remember the dialogue in the original Prisoner to be rapier-like.
In the old Prisoner you knew that Number Six had some information that they desperately wanted, and so there was tension. Would they fool him? Would they find a way to break him.
In this current incarnation I have no idea what Number Six did prior to ending up in the Village. He could have been a banker or an accountant for all the clues you’re given in that first hour plus. Since I don’t know he was a spy, and since I don’t know he has information they want, there is zero tension. And the scenes of him driving the tour bus were just moronic.
Mad Men is a fascinating series (even though I can’t watch it because it’s a flashback to my childhood, and being constantly told, “But girl’s can’t do that.” but I digress). Point is that AMC has had a big miss with this mini-series.
