The Prisoner – Living In Harmony

December 29, 1967 Season 1 Episode 14

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

And away we go! We trade the village scenery for the Old West. This one does away with the regular intro, and we start off with Number 6 riding a horse in the town of Harmony after a fight. This was Patrick McGoohan’s favorite episode to make. This episode is one of the strangest episodes of The Prisoner, and that is saying something. When it starts, you are wondering what is going on. Is this the right show? Then everything starts falling into place after a few minutes. It’s now an episode that I love.

Number Six suddenly finds himself in what looks like the American Old West. This town, Harmony which is run by the Judge, with the Kid, a young gunslinger, as his murderous assistant. Number 6 is a former sheriff who has resigned his position, much like he resigned from his old life before arriving in the Village. The townspeople do not trust him. The new authorities want him gone. No matter where he turns, he is pressured to explain why he resigned. Just like in the Village, nobody accepts his right to make his own choices.

As the story moves on, Number Six faces harassment and constant attempts to break his spirit. The Western setting is different, but the methods are familiar. The town is really another form of prison. The people around him are playing assigned roles. The authorities try to push him into violence or force him to submit. Number Six refuses to give them what they want. He continues to resist even when the odds are against him.

Near the end, the illusion begins to crack. The western town is revealed to be another experiment designed to control and study him. They try to make him more disposed to killing. The familiar faces of the Village return. Number Six learns that changing the scenery changes nothing. Whether he is in a modern Village or a frontier town, the battle remains the same. It is a fight for freedom, individuality, and the right to remain his own man. Be Seeing You!

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

9 thoughts on “The Prisoner – Living In Harmony”

  1. Pingback: The Prisoner – Living In Harmony – MobsterTiger

  2. In our discussion of the previous episode, Max pointed out that his blurb is mostly just discussing the facts of the episode, what went on. He continues that here, and does an excellent job.

    Max points out a major question this episode has at its origins. Why? Why transport The Prisoner to the old West? This is the most blatant the show gets in terms of questioning its audience, and the question is well placed. It makes the universality of individual freedom a given, it forces us to take a position even though the program gives no quarter regarding the matter.

    The second thing that caught my eye is the Kid. We will see him again, in a much different type of role, as he shows up in the final episode. But look at what he is doing in this episode!!! His performance owes much to ballet, which is intriguing and never explained. The standard for the whole show (intriguing without explanation, that is).

    One last point. By using a different scenario yet using the same ideologies, the show makes a clear argument that the “Village” the Prisoner finds himself in is everywhere.

    Brilliant television, even some almost 60 years later.

    And I gotta, once again, compliment Max for having the guts to throw this out at us. Thank you

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    1. Thanks Arthur… that confused me when The Kid returned but it shows…he wasn’t killed… But…it confused the hell out of me at the beginning…I didn’t know what was going on.
      I’ve finished all the reviews…so we are ready. The last episode I just finished yesterday. This one has grown on me so much…I love it now. It does show that the Village will stop at nothing but killing him.

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  3. Yes, it’s odd with the way out Wild West setting changing up our expectations but the theme remains the same. Definitely getting out there, even for this series. It makes for a strange 60s mash-up of Danger Man and the High- very high- Chaparral.

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