Diary of a Prisoner Virgin – Lost borrows its brainwashing

(Episode 10 – “It’s Your Funeral” & Episode 11 – “A Change of Mind”)

I’ve already made mention of two elements of The Prisoner that I believe Lost borrowed from: the Rovers (smoke monster) and the hidden doors (stations). In “A Change of Mind,” there’s yet another borrowed element: brainwashing people by throwing them in front of a screen for hours on end.

Above are images from both the Prisoner episode I mentioned and Lost‘s “Not in Portland” episode, featuring Karl while at the Others’ camp in season three. Both times the people are sitting in an isolated room, clearly being brainwashed or getting “aversion therapy,” conditioning them to think however the administrator wants. Though this may be a complete coincidence, I noticed that even the font used in the video shown to Karl looks remarkably similar to lettering used all over The Prisoner. Here’s an image from what Karl saw …

I have to admit that, with these past two episodes, things have slowed down a bit with regards to Number Six’s quest to escape The Village and what this crazy place is. It occurred to me after “Many Happy Returns” that, should Six ever escape The Village again, would he ever truly be free of his captors? A lot would have to change in order for him to feel truly safe. For one thing, we don’t know anything about the people who Six was very close to in his pre-Village life, so who can he/we truly trust?

Let’s say Six escapes again — and I know he will. What conditions would satisfy him once he was out? Obviously it would be the dismantling of The Village and everyone in command there, including the illusive Number One. But still, to me, I wouldn’t discount anything the Guardians and those running The Village could do to get Six back on their operating table. It’s this sense of neverendingness that perhaps paved the way for this show to ultimately not get a renewal and, then, produce what I’ve heard is one hell of a head-scratching series finale.

Getting back to the episodes at hand, I liked the Number Two seen in “It’s your Funeral” the best so far. He was smart, crafty, smug and was ballsy enough to sport a smoking jacket a-la Hugh Hefner. A little detail he gave away that I at least hadn’t noticed before: Number One is a man. Well, Two calls him “sir” on the phone, which quite possibly was done by other Number Twos in the past. Also, I guess “sir” could technically refer to a woman, if you want to get militaristic about it. However, again, since we don’t know anything of Six’s past, any reveal of Number One’s identity would unlikely be shocking … unless it is Number Six.

In both of these episodes we see Six in various regimens of exercise and fitness. Apparently he’s some sort of expert gymnast; who knew? I’m wondering if Six has a plan brewing, and keeping fit is only part of the equation.

Past posts: Episode 1, Episodes 2 & 3, Episodes 4 & 5, Episodes 6 & 7, Episodes 8 & 9

Clacked by Keith McDuffee
on Jul 07, 2009 @ 11:00 EST5EDT