The Prisoner (2009 miniseries)

The Prisoner is a 2009 remake/re-imagining of the 1960's 17-episode miniseries of the same name.

Arrival [1.1]

Six: Where is this place?

313: You're in the Village. Where else would you be?

313: I wish you wouldn't fight it.

Six: Fight what?

313: Please. Let me help you.

Six: I don't want your help, lady. I want to get the hell out of here.

313: Look, here's what's going to happen: I'm going to fetch you a cold drink, and then someone's going to take you home. You're a free man.

Six: I'd like to speak to the American consulate, please.

Two: Look. See how the sun makes it all glow? Kind of day that makes you glad to be alive.

Six: Why are you keeping me here?

Two: I see no locked doors.

Six: They were after me.

Two: Oh, sounds terribly ominous.

Six: Why am I here? It has nothing to do with me, any of this. I've seen you before.

Two: Really?

Six: I want to get back to New York.

Two: That's not possible. There is no New York. There is only the Village.

Two: What is it you're suggesting? A hole in the sky? Aliens landing secretly in the night? Mysterious roads that lead beyond, beyond, beyond? A magic gateway, perhaps. Some portal leading into Never Never Land!

37927: [pointing to areas on the map] You are here. That's the Palais Two — Wow being the appropriate word. Right there's the Clinic—

Six: Where's the road out of here?

37927: Oh, you crack me up, Six!

Six: You've not seen me before.

37927: No, sir. You I would remember.

Six: I will find a way to escape! Hear me?! I am not a number! I'm a free man!

Harmony [1.2]

Two: Perhaps therapy might work, yes? What do you say, Six? Give the talking cure a try.

Six: Oh, you would like that, wouldn't you. Meddling with my mind.

Two: What are you afraid of, Six? A glimpse into your psyche, discovering you were the problem after all?

Six: I'm not afraid.

Two: Good. The sessions are booked. A man with nothing to hide is a man with nothing to find.

Sixteen: (on a bus tour around the Village) Coming up on your left is the Village Museum of Modern Art, containing the famous painting of Crying 38-30, by 794. And then, coming up is one the highlights of the tour: the Clinic.

(long pause)

Sixteen: Every day is a sunny day in the Village.

70: You were right, of course. He is resistant to the possibility of revealing the Six inside.

Two: And why is that?

70: He feels... alone.

Two: Oh, yes.

70: He dreams of escape. He feels rootless.

Two: And yet his roots are right here, under our feet. What ails the man?

70: He described... (straining to say the words)... a fishing trip.

Two: Fishing? We like Six's fishing stories. Don't we, 70?

70: Some kind of fantasy.

Two: Perhaps you'd do better trying to find the Two inside? Well, why not, since I'm here. I'd like to poke around. See what makes Two tick. (sits at the table across from 70)

70: The inside Two?

Two: I'm curious. (makes whirling motion with his fingers) I want to know what's going on inside me. Let's start. My wife. I'm the reason she's the way she is.

70: Perhaps we should stay with the matter of Six.

Two: I know I can trust you. I love my son. (fiddles with something in his hands) But I have thoughts... if he knew me, he'd truly know his father. He might not like me.

(pause)

Two: Do you like me, 70?

70: You are two.

Shadow 70: We all love you.

Two: But... (holds out a grenade)... do you like me?

70: (nervously) I don't really know you. What I do know is that you are a wonderful man.

(Two throws the grenade (with the pin still in) at 70)

Two: Do you think I believe in all this psychology babble? "My mother sat me sideways on the potty when I was toddler so now I want to sleep with her?" Oh, grow up, man! Have you had sex with your mother, 70?

70: (nervously) No. Never!

Two: Well, don't!

(Two starts to leave)

70: Two... if I might ask... if you don't believe in the value of the talking cure--

Two: It's not necessary for me to believe. It is necessary for Six to believe.

70: Something happened... in you. A memory. Your fishing trip, perhaps?

Shadow 70: Your brother?

Six: Do you think it would help me to tell you?

70: I know it would.

Six: (fast) 765 is in love with 23-30. 23-56 is pregnant to 46-5. Now, 913 had an affair with 23-30, so 765 is jealous of 23-30--

Shadow 70: He's running rings around us!

Six: (comes face-to-face with 70) I see your fear, 70. I've been watching you. You're a prisoner, here, just like me. But you don't want to know. Well, I refuse to become you.

Two: Oh, 11-12. None of us can choose our family.

Six: (on a gurney, in a straight jacket) He swam in the ocean! He tasted the salt water in his mouth. Felt the power of the waves. There is a way out of this place, no matter how loud you shout that there isn't!

Two: You're the one who is shouting, Six. The louder a man shouts, the more profoundly he's wrong.

Six: I'm not wrong. I'm telling you the truth. My brother is dead.

Two: Can you hear the things he says about his brother... it hurts. Yes, only family can hurt us.

Six: No. I didn't mean that. I didn't mean my brother.

Two: Oh, Six.

Six: I'm not a number. I am not a number. I am... I am...

Two: Yes, Six?

Six: My name is... Dammit. My name is... I am Six.

Two: (nods to the two doctors, who pull the gurney towards the end of the hallway; looks to 11-12) He's Six.

Six: I am Six!

Two: (leaving) That's right.

Six: I am Six! I am Six, you bastard! SIX!

Anvil [1.3]

Two: Ah, thank you for coming, Six. 9-0-9 here is an undercover, one of our best. I thought you might've noticed that. I want you to work with 909, Six.

Six: You think I'd work for you?

Two: Oh, no, no, no, not for me. For them, for the people you would be watching. You pronounced so loudly your opposition to me, your disbelief of everything we stand for, they might trust you. We already have our suspects. And I know you want to make contact with Dreamers. I offer you the apparatus and expertise of our highly trained and well-financed undercover operations to do just that.

Six: Why would you give me all that if it wasn't a trap?

Two: Oh, my dear Six. It is a trap. You have such a high opinion of yourself, I wondered if you would be clever enough to turn this opportunity to your advantage. But still...

Six: Everything you say is a trap. All right. Let's do it.

909: Everything is suspicious if you look at it properly. Everyone has secrets. No one is without guilt. We just have to work out what it is they're guilty of.

Six: Who is Number One?

1955: Ah, the oldest question in Village history. Go on, 1100. You tell him.

1100: There is no Number One. There never has been, and there never will be. The concept of the Number Two is an act of humility. The title reminds us all that we are public servants. Even Number Two. No one is Number One.

Two: (looking into a roach cam hole) It must be an undercover... someone with a roach cam. There's so many undercovers it could be anyone. Could be you.

909: Six. He's different. He's not like the other suspects. He has...

Two: Yes, say it.

909: Conviction.

Two: No harm has come to Six. He must survive. But he can suffer. Because work as an undercover must make him feel compromised. Has Six ever met up with my son?

909: 11-12? Why would he be meeting with Six.

Two: Youth is susceptible to wild ideas. Young blood craves rebellion as much as it craves sex.

909: 11-12's spying on you? No.

Two: No. No, of course not. Still, let's keep an eye on him. For his own protection.

Two: I have a new mission for you.

Six: Shouldn't we wait for 909 to get here?

Two: He wasn't invited.

Six: 909's my new mission?

Two: 909 has made himself suspect. I have every faith in him as a conscientious undercover.

Six: I know he's been spying on me.

Two: Well, of course he has. But you've known that before, surely. It'd be a sorry state of affairs if he weren't.

Six: Why has he become a suspect?

Two: Something's changed. 909 is different. Don't tell me you haven't seen the fear in his eyes.

Six: Fear's not guilt.

Two: Yes it is. Fear is always guilt in disguise. I thought you were a man who understood human behavior. 909's fear must be investigated. Analyzed thoroughly.

Six: What is it I'd be looking for?

Two: Well, you'll know when you find it. Perhaps he's a Dreamer.

Six: Why should I do it?

Two: Because you need to keep up, Six. Give yourself a chance. He's watching you. Now you watch him. Do it, Six, because you want to. Because you must.

Darling [1.4]

Six: 313. I didn't think you were coming.

313: Six. Okay, um... There are two kinds of viruses used in gene symmetry therapy. What it gave you, Six. It won't last.

Six: 313. I want you to be my friend.

(Two and 4-15 arrive in a Cadillac. Six watches 4-15 admiringly.)

Six: Celebrate with me.

(313 kisses Six. The guests all react with surprise.)

4-15: What? What is it? What's happening?

Man: Did he just kiss her? Is that what happened here?

(4-15 runs off into the desert. Six runs after her)

Two: (to 313) You really are rather smitten, aren't you 313? What you will never know, of course, is whether your feelings are genuine, or... (walks away)

(Six finds 4-15 in the mountains. After an encounter with Rover, she collapses.)

4-15: What if we said - what if we promised each other we would always come back to this? We'd never let it go.

Six: Lucy. Lucy?

4-15: Where am I?

Six: We're in the desert, Lucy.

4-15: What did you call me?

Six: We've met before. I know the feeling. This might not make any sense. You're called Lucy. We met in a place called New York. We had one night together.

4-15: I am 4-15.

Six: Who are you?

4-15: I am 4-15.

Six: Who are you?

4-15: I am Lucy. (crying) I'm Lucy. I'm Lucy.

Six: Why did you do that, the blindness?

4-15: Because they knew if I looked at you, you would know. They sent me here... I came here to love you.

(4-15 kisses Six. He pushes her back.)

Six: No! I'm cured of you! You tell me why you're here!

4-15: Two brought me here to love you. Two brought me here to break your heart. I'm glad you're cured of me.

(Six finds 147 standing over a sinkhole)

Six: 147.

147: I'm going to find my little girl, Six.

Six: There's nothing down there. Nothing. If what you want is oblivion, then jump. Do it! If it's too much for you to bear, then go. But don't lie to yourself. Don't lie to your wife. You're not going to find your daughter. She's gone. Tell me you know that and you still want to jump. I can't accept that, my friend. I'll watch you go. You love your wife. Let's save her.

(Six pulls 147 away from the hole. As he does, 4-15 appears and, after sharing a look with him, throws herself into the sinkhole.)

Schizoid [1/5]

(Six is fighting a duplicate of himself - 2x6)

Six: Who are you?

2x6: You know who I am. You saw what Two did to 4-15 and you're just going to take that? What's the plan? Huh? Just stand there and shout at his door? Do you think words are going to change anything? I am who you were intended to be. I am vengeance. There is only one way. Kill Two. (punches Six, leaving a scar)

Two: Impersonating Two is an act of treason. In the event of a Two impersonator arising, you must seek him out and apprehend him. This man will look like Two, but you will know he is not Two because he is not Two. He may appear in the Village in a disheveled state, which has elements of resemblance to Two. He may claim to be Two, but he is not, and he must be treated as who he is, which someone who is not Two. He is a danger to the Village.

Two: Do you have cigarettes?

37927: No. But would you like a map of the Village?

Two: (beat) You sure you don't have cigarettes? Would you look?

37927: We haven't had cigarettes here in eight years and five months.

Two: If you don't look, how can you be really sure that you're right?

(37927 takes a pack of cigarettes from under the desk and lights one for Two and himself)

Two: Guilty pleasures.

37927: I didn't supply you with these cigarettes.

Two: No.

37927: I don't have them. I don't even know what they are. I'd forgotten they even existed. You came in here to buy a map.

Two: I used to smoke in order to think.

37927: You did? And are you thinking now?

Two: I am. Sometimes...

37927: Yes?

Two: I think...

37927: Yes, go on.

Two: If I could choose a place I wanted to spend the rest of my life... a warm place, with no memory.

37927: Just be careful what you say around here. People will report you as soon as look at you. Don't be different.

Two: I wonder if we smoke to feed the guilt.

37927: Speaking only for myself, I smoke for that fine, oaky flavor, with just a hint of lavender.

Two: These things kill you, you know. The main health risks in tobacco relate to diseases of the cardiovascular system, in particular, myocardial infarction. Diseases of the respiratory tract, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. And asthma, and emphysema, and cancer - in particular lung cancer, and cancers of the larynx and tongue.

37927: (beat) So I've heard.

Two: Smoking is a kind of... suicide.

37927: That's a bit philosophical... for a Thursday.

Two: Are you Six?

2x6: If I was 2x6, you'd know it by now.

Two: Ah. Yes. What have I done? Sit with me. The world is not a pretty thing... when you look at it too close. We fell in love with atrocity. We make pornography and call it "news." A daily fix of horror. We think the coming disaster is going to be ecological is us, that the problem is political, but no, no. The great war is psychological. (points to his temple) It's in here. (makes gunshot sound) We've made ourselves into fat and fading and wheezing animals, educated in apathy, amused by cruelty. So, this. We make a new world. Something human. And yet, there is a whispering in my ear that tells me I was wrong, they were right and the savages, savages, savages had it right all along! I wanted you to come. I wanted you to wipe out my guilt. You were right. You are the way. Become hatred. Become vengeance. Yes, I respect that. Kill me. I see the logic in that. And I'm not afraid, at all, because we know, you and I, how it is to be human. We must submit to the beast in man. I tell you this because I know who you are. (turns around, notices the "Six" he is with lacks a scar) You are not Six. Can you still kill me, if you understand the purpose?

2x6: Yes.

Six: Don't give him what he wants.

Two: Oh, dear Six, you're too late.

(2x6 puts a knife to Two's neck)

Six: If you do this, we are lost! He will take the thing that keeps him from owning us - our conscience.

2x6: Words change nothing! You hear me? Words change nothing!

Six: I know that. I accept that. I have to accept you. Don't make us become the thing we fear. If we are one, then we can defeat Two.

2x6: One?

Six: Come back.

(2x6 disappears. Six leaves)

(Michael and a Janitor enter an office showing people from the Village on monitors)

Michael: These people. They're my subjects.

Janitor: (notices 37927 on a monitor) Hey, that's me. Is that me? When did this happen?

Michael: (standing in front of a large monitor) How did this happen? I started this. I found these people and I put them into my reports. I did this.

(Lucy/4-15 appears on the monitor)

Lucy: (on video) I'm sorry. I have to go. Nobody resigns from Summakor. Nobody. They're sending tickets for your execution, Michael, but they're calling it a promotion.

Janitor: Someone's trying to get inside. (leaves)

Lucy: (on video) There is a place. Another place. It's where they sent them. It's where they sent me. And you. Whatever you do, stay away of Summakor.

(The curtains of a nearby window open, revealing the Village on the other side. Michael, looking through it, notices Six - himself.)

Michael: (pounding on the window) Hey! Look up here!

(Six looks toward the towers, but sees only a flashing light and leaves the area)

Checkmate [1.6]

Curtis: Helen is a biochemist. She studies the mind. The depths of the mind. We all commonly accept the existence of the unconscious. Helen surmised that, if there are two layers of consciousness, then why not more? And if there are more, where are they, and what are they? What if we could go there? And what if we could take with us all these broken people and let them fix themselves? Nothing too clever. Just the simple virtues of life. Dignity and labor, sibling pride... family. Sufficient to rekindle their lost purpose here on Terra firma.

Michael: Your driver. He was one of these people.

Curtis: Well, yes. And hundreds more like him. Michael, you found them. Your work in Summakor.

Michael: Spying on people.

Curtis: No. Protecting them. Repairing them. We all need that. Helen was the first person ever in the Village. All those remarkable dreams. Every thought, every impulse within the Village resides here, in her mind. No children of our own. Her great heartbreak. Then we thought we... wondered if it were possible, if we went there, we could have a family.

(In the Village, 11-12 suffocates M2 with a pillow, causing Helen visible distress)

Curtis: What goes on in that head? Of course, this was not the plan. (To Helen) Soon. Not long now. (whispers) He's here.

Two: Rest assured, you will not go quietly. Horse-drawn carriage, the Village choir serenading you to your final resting place. No excuse for dry eyes. I'll see to that. Oh, it hurts, doesn't it? That once the lid closes on that fine glass coffin, the dance ends. There'll be no escape, Six. Not for you.

Two: To lose a child. There's nothing else like that.

147: Sir, if I'm aloud to say. I'm sorry about 11-12.

Two: Yes, you are allowed because you know how it feels. Can I ask you... is what you feel... evil? I want it to stop. I want it all to stop. The madness of this world to stop.

147: Most days, I don't know why I live. I don't know why I breathe. I go on. I drive, I wait for that... black pit feeling in my guts to go away but it don't. No, it grows. That's what.

Two: What if... what we feel, what happened to us is for a purpose? My son's death... I can only bear it if it gives me clarity. I had a dream last night.

147: A dream?

Two: I dreamed clarity. All of it. Suppose your child's death gave you a place in Village history. Gave you, 1-4-7, the moral courage to act when the moment comes. To think of it as unthinkable, to do what cannot be done. You like Six, don't you? Trust him? Is he someone who can give us better Village, moral Village? Freedom within the prison? And when the moment comes, you will stand beside Six and you will call out, "Six... is the One."

147: The One?

Two: The One.

Curtis: I see. I'm wasting my breath.

Michael: Nobody signed up for this. None of these people asked to be fixed.

Curtis: You mean, we should seek their permission?

Michael: [scoffs] I'm human. I have a thousand flaws. I break down, I get up, I don't get up. I get lost. I make the same mistakes over and over. I have scars and wounds. Sometimes, when I can't... bear them anymore, I... I drink. You can't fix me. You can't fix any of us, you can't make us perfect!

Two: I know Six better than Six knows Six. He's in love with his own humanity. He adores the sweet smell of his own bright, shining conscious. Noble Six. He only wants to do the right thing. And that is what will give him to me.

Two: Your time's almost at an end. If that is what you choose.

Six: Let me out of here.

Two: I see no locked doors. The Village is in all of us, Six. I know you. You want the Village in you.

Six: No. I'm a free man.

Two: More than anyone here. You love the Village.

Six: No. I have to escape. Every breath, every thought I have is to get away.

Two: Then why do you conjure up this to keep you here?

(Rover appears)

Six: No. It's not true. I couldn't.

Two: Look, Six. Look up! Look! Look at your fear. See what you create with it.

Six: I won't believe in you. I will not believe. Let me go!

Two: I have no power over you. I never did have. You know that, Six. If you truly want to go, you must find the open door, rather than the beast that keeps you here. So which is it to be, Six? The door, or the beast? Which does Six choose to see?

Six: Let me out of here!

(Six runs out)

(Michael and Curtis enter a church)

Sara: (repeatedly pounding a bundled up towel with a spoon) Don't look at me! Shut up! Shut up!

Michael: What is this?

Curtis: Everything has a price. The price of free will, Michael.

Michael: What's she doing?

Sara: I said, don't look at me! Don't look at me!

Michael: What's she doing?

Curtis: One never quite knows with Sara. Must be a dozen tales like hers in every parish. It is the experience of trauma. As a child, her terror was unspeakable.

Sara: Put it on your head. No!

Curtis: She's quite out of reach. Nobody can help her.

Sara: Shut up! Shut up! I'm sorry!

Curtis: We tried so hard to save her and for a time, she prospered, but lately, she's begun to resist the Village. And this is what she's condemned to. This prison.

Michael: There must be something you can do.

Curtis: Not now. Not anymore. Sara!

Sara: (stands) I said, don't look at me!

Curtis: Unless... One word from you... Help me. (Michael approaches Sara) Help me fix these people, Michael. You are the one. One word.

Michael: Sara. (holds out his hand) 3-1-3.

(Sara reaches out to Michael and collapses in his arms)

Two: 11-12 chose... he chose to kill himself because he thought he was a prisoner here. And so he was. Six here has told you the truth a thousand times. You are all prisoners!

(a sinkhole begins to form)

147: How do we stop them? How do we shut the holes? You have to help!

Two: How do we close the holes? I wish I knew. But I... I can do nothing and soon, we will all face the same abyss. (about M2/Helen) I can hear her. That's how life begins, crying out. I can see her. Blindly groping through the dark. If only there were some way back, but all we can do, my friends, breathe in... breathe out, more... Village. Breathe in - with me - breathe out! Come on! More... Village! Breathe in --

Boy: (throws a rock at Two) I hate you!

Two: (recovers quickly) Breathe out! More... Village!

147: There must be something you can do.

Two: (points to Six) Ask him! Six is the one!

147: Six. (looks to Six) Six is the One. We want Six. Six is the One. We want Six.

Two: (speaking with the rest of the Villagers) Six is the One.

(Six and 313 descend the stands)

147: Six is the one we've been waiting for. Six will save us all! Six will save all of us!

Six: (reaches Two) What are you doing?

Two: In your left coat pocket. (Six takes several colored pills from his jacket) There's only one way to close the holes. We must find a dreamer. (looks to 313) Pity Six. Poor little Six.

Six: (313 tries to take one of the pills) No.

313: Please. Let me. I want to. I know what I'm doing. (pause) For you. All of this. Until you find a better way.

Two: Go on.

(313 takes a yellow pill and puts it in her mouth. Six kisses her briefly.)

313: Too late.

(She collapses in Six's arms)

Two: Two little pills. A yellow one for you... and another for me. (holds up a grenade) Time to wake up, now. Six, I give you the Village.

(Two bites down on the grenade and pulls the pin. His head violently explodes)

[Flashback]

Six: It's called New York!

Two: Manufactured.

Six: Who are you? How do I get in? If I open my mind... Something's wrong here. I keep trying to prove I'm right. 93 found something.

147: It's the Village.

Six: Do you think it would help me to tell you? He got away. Meddling with my mind. Ordinary people.

93: Be seeing you.

Six: Nothing's real. Do you think I'm insane? Where is this place? I am not a number. I'm a free man! I want to get back to New York. I need you to help me... in some other life.

Six: There are people here. Good people. What they've lost. Funny, isn't it? Took me all this time to see how beautiful it is. What if... no. It has to be possible to do this the right way. Yeah, make a good Village. I think I could do it. I think we have to try. Whatever the cost.