And it’s done. Finally, mercifully, it’s over. I’ve refrained from really judging this to see if they had some grand concept that would make it all pay off in the end. Did it work? Was it worth it? Find out in the observations below.

This episode is named after “The Schizoid Man,” probably my favorite episode of the original show, in which Six is abducted, renamed, his appearance modified and his habbits altered, then told he’s another person, brought in to impersonate Six. Meanwhile, an actual other person has been brought in and is acting as six. This is supposed to make Six (Who’s being told he’s another person) question his own identity, and thereby “Go fuzzy ‘round the edges” and crack.

Widely regarded as the worst episode of the original series, “Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling” tells the tale of Six being used by the village out in to the world to solve a problem for them. How do they know he’ll come back? Because they’ve done the old brain-switch-a-roo on him: His body is held hostage back in the Village while he’s running around in someone else’s skin. (Don’t ask.) In the process he meets up with his fiance, and we find out a few things about the spy’s heart.

This episode started out much, much better than the previous two, with a tone that could almost - but not quite - be called ‘jaunty’, and for a while there, maybe twenty minutes, I thought “Say, this has some promise!” but then it all fell apart into a ponderous and portentous muddle, and kind of a disturbing one at that.

PLAY BY PLAY

One of the intriguing things about the new Prisoner series is that, judging by the titles, they seem to actually be remaking specific episodes of the original series. “Arrival” was obviously the pilot or first episode, this one, named “Living In Harmony” is named after the Virtual Reality Western episode, then we’ve got “Hammer in to Anvil”, “Do Not Forsake Me oh My Darling,” “The Schizoid Man,” and “Checkmate.” It’ll be curious to know if these really *are* remakes, or just homage to similar concepts, using the same titles.

“The Prisoner” is, in my mind, the best science fiction show ever made, possibly the best one ever made.