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Episode Studies by Clayton Barr

enik1138
at popapostle-dot-com
The Prisoner: Checkmate The Prisoner
"Checkmate"
TV Episode
Written by Bill Gallagher
Directed by Nick Hurran
Original U.S. air date: November 17, 2009

 

Who is the one?

 

Read the summary of this episode at IMDB

 

Characters appearing or mentioned in this episode

 

6/Michael

2/Curtis

144 (mentioned only)

313/Sarah

11-12

909 (mentioned only, deceased)

59-03 (mentioned only, deceased)

147

M2/Helen 

 

Didja Know?

 

This episode gets its title from the episode of the original series also titled "Checkmate".

 

Didja Notice?

 

At 2:55 on the DVD, the taxi of 144 is seen outside the hospital.

 

At 3:25 on the DVD, 313 receives 6's blood work results from a machine that appears to be some kind of worker's timeclock turned upside-down! Notice that the buttons are labeled IN/OUT and MORNING, AFTERNOON, OVERTIME.

bloodwork machine

 

The grave marker of 59-03 is seen at 9:33 on the DVD.

 

The car driven by the "real world" counterpart of 147 is a Mercedes Benz S-Class model.

 

At 14:28 on the DVD, the translucent computer screen has text on it in reverse. Flipped horizontally, the text is about a subject named Shakima Greggs. This is the name of a character in the 2002-2008 HBO TV series The Wire.

Shakima Greggs

 

At 14:38 on the DVD, some magazines seen at a newsstand on the street in New York are Bazaar, Elle, and something with "Books" in the title.

 

At 17:24 on the DVD, we see the diploma of the real world M2, Helen Evelyn Blake, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for Doctor of Philosophy. "Blake" is the actual last name of the actress who plays M2, Rachael Blake.

 

The hymn that 2 begins to sing to 6 in the hospital corridor is a variation of "Leave It There", a Christian hymn written in 1916 by Methodist minister Charles A. Tindley. The hymn is later sung at 11-12's funeral.

 

Curtis' car has license plate QZE-2538. At 29:18 on the DVD, the Chevy SUV driving right next to it has AWQ-2538...both plates have 2538 in them! Besides that, the AWQ-2538 plate is the same plate that is seen on Michael's Subaru in "Arrival"!

 

In the audio commentary for this episode by Trevor Hopkins (Producer) and Yan Miles (Editor), they point out that 2's gestures with his hands on the table during his meeting with 313 are some kind programmed symbols that manipulate her into doing what he's asking her to do (sacrifice her conscious awareness in order to arouse 6's sympathy and make him accept a new post as leader of the Village).

 

As Michael takes his seat at Summakor, the big screen showing images of the people who have been "sent" to the Village also shows an image of 6 and 313 sitting on a sand dune looking out at the Village desert, just as seems to be happening in "real time" to them in the Village. Is Summakor always able to see what is happening in that subconscious realm?

the big screen

 

The song that plays as 6 and 313 sit on a dune in the desert is "I Know There's An Answer" by the Beach Boys (1966).

 

After 6 says, "I think it must be possible to do this the right way. Make a good Village. I think I could do it. I think we have to try. Whatever the cost," notice that a tear escapes from each of 313's eyes. Even in her almost vegetative state, she realizes that the man she loved as 6 has changed and is as trapped in the Village as everyone else, the new Number 2...or the first 1.

 

Memorable Dialog

 

isn't it just the wildest thing?.wav

our way of life is becoming the very consciousness of the universe.wav

assimilate or die.wav

they keep us here to control our minds up there.wav

what if we could go there?.wav

there'll be no escape, 6.wav

6 is the one.wav

the perfect means of assimilation.wav

we want 6.wav

poor little 6.wav

whatever the cost.wav 

 

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