Perhaps no other series so confounded its loyal viewers as <I>The Prisoner</I>. Why did Patrick McGoohan's British agent resign? Where was the Village? And who, re ... more

Perhaps no other series so confounded its loyal viewers as <I>The Prisoner</I>. Why did Patrick McGoohan's British agent resign? Where was the Village? And who, really, was Number 1? <I>The Prisoner</I> ends with its key riddles unanswered. It goes without saying that no <I>Prisoner</I> collection is complete without these final three episodes. A curiosity, "The Girl Who Was Death," isn't cricket for the series. It is a surreal fairy tale that plays like a long-lost episode of McGoohan's previous TV series, <I>Danger Man</I>, with Number 6 avoiding a series of assassination attempts before saving London "from the mad scientist." But "Once Upon a Time" and "Fallout," both written and directed by McGoohan, get back to business, as Number 6 suffers "Degree Absolute"--his most intense, last-man-standing, psychological probe yet--at the hands of Number 2 (Leo McKern, reprising his role from the episode "The Chimes of Big Ben") and at last prepares to meet the elusive Number 1. Those who just want to sample this cult fave series are advised to stick with the intriguing first episodes included in <I>Set One</I>. <I>--Donald Liebenson</I> less