Gandalf and Jesus Christ

The Prisoner episodes 1 - 3
Ian McKellan, Jim Caviezel, Hayley Atwell, Ruth Wilson, Lennie James

1 Arrival
Our hero 'awakes' in the desert, or is he near the ocean, or is he in the mountains. He doesn't know, and neither do we, well not until later. We know he's our hero, because even though he doesn't know where he is or how he got there or for that matter who he is; he sees an elderly gentleman being chased by men with dogs and guns. He rushes to the man's aid getting the two of them safely hidden in a cave only for the old guy to die, but not until uttering the cryptic, "Tell them I got away. Tell 554."
Our dude wonders in the wastes for some uknown amount of time before finding a row of A-frame houses, all identical, setting in front of another row of identical homes.
Our hero, played by Caviezel, we eventually learn is called 6. We meet friendly taxi driver 147 played by James and the doctor 313 played by Wilson. But none of them make the impression that the mysterious and likely diabolical 2, played by McKellan, makes on us or on 6.
6 tries to escape, by going off into the wastes, only to pass out from exhaustion or exposer or something, only to have hallucinations of a meeting with some woman, played by Atwell.
This was an interesting introduction to the story. I know that this is a remake of the classic Patrick McGoohan series of the same name. I have seen parts of episodes of that series and have a basic idea of what transpired. I also know that The Prisoner was the third series in the trilogy to feature 6 - I know one of ther other series was called Secret Agent Man of which part of the theme song is, "...given you a number, taken away your name...Secret Agent Man" (it's better if you imagine me singing it). I think the first series may have been called Man From Uncle. Maybe.
I'm digging the whole mind-fuck vibe. But, I can't help but wonder taht why when 6 tries his escape he didn't take bottles of water with him.

2 Harmony
6 still thinks it's all a sham, until produces 6's brother, 16. 16 earnestly tries to convince 6 that they are brothers, providing pictures of the two of them together as boys. 6 is having dreams and flashbacks where he remembers the boys in the picture, but his brother's name is David not 16 and he knows that something happened to his real brother.
Eventually, 6 confesses to 16 that he no longer knows which is the dream and which is reality, only to have 16 breakdown and confess that he's not really his brother, but works for 2.
6, 16 and a woman they met on a tour bus head into the desert to where she claims to have once heard the sea. Eventually (gosh I'm saying that a lot) they actually do come to the ocean. 16 runs out into the water and 6 finally has the ending of his memory clear to him - his real brother drowned. 6 is yelling at 16 to get out of the water when a giant white bacll comes out of the deep and pushes 16 underwater, holding him there until he drowns, before disappearing back into the surf.
What? I did mention the big white ball in the first episode? Giant white beach ball kind of deal that ran over 6 while in the desert trying to escape.
Nobody will believe 6 that his brother is dead, and he convinces 313 to go with him to where he and the others found the ocean, but when they get there, only sand dunes as far as the eye can see.

Again, I ask what's up with heading out into the desert and not bringing any water? Was the ocean there and now 6 has to believe that his captors can move oceans, or is it the case that he has hallucinated the ocean and 16's drowning? Or when he comes back with 16 is the ocean really there but they're made to think it's not? I suspect I'll find out in later episodes.

3 Anvil
Big brother is a lot of little brothers all spying on each other. 2 makes 6 an offer he can't refuse. 6 accepts it as the mission is to find the underground, the dreamers. All he manages to do is to drive the History to slashing his own throat while 6 and his surveillance partner watch.
Everybody is spying on everybody in this episode and at one point 6 even speculates that everyone in the village is an undercover aent keepin tabs on someone else.
And then 6's partner is knifed to death by 2's son at 2's orders, 313 is taken away to the tunnel where 6 goes to rescue her with the help of one of his students who is definitely spying on him.
And somehow I've left out 2's weird relationship with his comatose wife whom he keeps sedated because not only is she a dreamer, but a lucid one. Oh, and there isn't only the village, there is also the "other place" and 6 may be 2's son.
6 finally learns through his flashbacks that he was an analyst for a company that was viewing CCTV feed.

Okay, now we're getting somewhere. I don't know where. But, that's okay because neither does 6. This episode was definitely setting up for what comes next and was more fast-paced than the first two. Not better or worse, just different pacing with more action.

So far, so good. I don't know how this is going to wrap up, and I do know how the classic series did. That is a good thing. Perhaps 6's flashbacks are things that we would have known had there been remakes of the two previous series as well. I don't imagine the classic series using a lot of flashbacks for some reason. But, maybe it was jam-packed with them, too.

I'm going to go ahead and recommend you watch this series - the first three episodes are a great way to pass an evening and left me with a promise that tomorrow night's viewing will be entertaining as well.