A. B. and C.

For me, this is a great episode. The current Number Two is under the gun from, I assume, Number One to get Six to say why he resigned. He could be ruined if he doesn't produce. An attractive female doctor has developed a method whereby brain waves can be projected into video. This means that a dream sequence can be viewed. She also has the ability to introduce elements into the dream so it can be seen how that person will react. The two take Number Six back to a party in France where he has the possibility of making deal with enemy agents. He is drugged and taken to a lab and while unconscious begins to mentally tell the story leading up to his appearance in the Village. The bad guys bring in two spies to tempt him and he passes muster both times. That means that since Number Two is convinced there was betrayal, the third time will be the charm. This is a great episode with a wonderful conclusion.

Number six(Patrick McGoohan) is drugged and taken to village headquarters where the new number two(played by Colin Gordon) is determined to find out why he resigned from service, and thinks that a new experiment that will infiltrate his dreams and fool him into revealing his motive by creating an elaborate scenario giving him three choices in three days of possible agents he may have been selling out to, but the steel-willed "six" is on to this, and turns the tables on them in clever fashion... Entertaining episode really shows what an exceptional man "six" is by defeating this number two's plan, yet still remains a prisoner at the end.

As a concept this episode is more intruiging than it's performance and it's exactly for this reason that the third episode of the series is such a great one according to me. The whole dream manipulation matter asks for so many counterquestions such as, what if our reality really is a dream and nothing of it is real; then what about our sleep here?? Do we dream we are sleeping but do we factually wake up??? And what about death!? Who is God???!! All of this and much more in this great episode of The Prisoner which really resembles The Matrix in more than one way. Bravo!

Unfortunately, execution trumps concept in "A., B. And C." as desperation shoves nuance aside to illustrate a powerful premise, the use of mind-control techniques to induce Number Six to reveal why he resigned from his high-level post and what he intended to do following his resignation, overshadowed by the blatant pressure on Number Two (Colin Gordon) to produce results--or else.

With a sure feel for "tradecraft" (the inner workings of the spy biz), Anthony Skene scripts a brilliant scenario: Newly arrived at the Village, the deceptively serene detention facility for troublesome spies, Number Fourteen (Sheila Allen) has developed a powerful if dangerous drug that enables a person's dreams to be manipulated by introducing information into the person's subconscious in order to elicit his or her motives or intentions, with all of this able to be projected onto a screen for others to view.

Number Two, convinced that Number Six was about to "sell out" and divulge his sensitive secrets to the highest bidder, has identified three likely accomplices--whom he dubs "A., B. And C."--and the location where all four were likely to have rendezvoused: a lavish party hosted by Parisian socialite Madame Engadine (Katherine Kath). "A" (Peter Bowles) is Number Six's former colleague notorious for his well-publicized defection, "B" (Annette Carell) is a mysterious Mata Hari type with an intriguing relationship to Number Six, and "C" is, at this point, even more mysterious.

So, despite Number Fourteen's protest that her procedure isn't quite ready yet, Number Two charges ahead, spurred on by distressing calls from his superiors demanding results, determined to plumb Number Six's subconscious for its secrets on his resignation and potential sellout.

Being a clever fellow, Number Six, despite being drugged unconscious prior to being delivered to the secret laboratory for his dreamy interrogation, is already piecing together what is going on and formulating how to thwart it. The prominent injection mark on his wrist might be a clue, which brings us to Pat Jackson, a director whose vocabulary lacks the word subtlety.

The most egregious symbol of Jackson's heavy-handed approach--which defuses the rich intrigue of the various scenarios--is the giant red telephone reserved for Number Two's masters that looms menacingly in the foreground, poised to telegraph plot pressure on him, and no amount of milk will dilute his acid indigestion as the obviousness of Number Two's plight stifles "A., B. And C." to the point of eye-rolling irritation.

To his credit, Jackson captures the sumptuous splendor of Engadine's gala affair, a prime Swinging Sixties blowout, particularly during Number Two's psychedelicized third scenario--dig Albert Elms's groovy incidental music!--that overall is reminiscent of Patrick McGoohan's previous series "Danger Man." And in that third scenario, keep an eye on the guest played by Georgina Cookson, who crops up in the subsequent "Prisoner" episode "Many Happy Returns" and who might make you wonder what exactly she was up to here.

With its suggestions of "The Manchurian Candidate" and, in retrospect, subsequent revelations of the Central Intelligence Agency's MK-ULTRA mind-control program and its experiments with psychedelic drugs and subconscious manipulation, "A., B. And C." illustrates the sophisticated mechanics of the tradecraft used to coerce Number Six into divulging his secrets, but the execution is dumb brute force that undercuts the intelligence of "The Prisoner." Remember: The red phone is for telegraphing plot pressure only.

Episode order continuity conundrum: Colin Gordon is the only actor besides Leo McKern to play Number Two more than once; Gordon also appears in "The General," which many sequencings, including the proposed initial UK broadcast order, place after "A., B. And C." However, not only is Gordon's Number Two in "The General" far more relaxed than he is here, where it is made clear that he faces dire consequences should he fail, but in the episode intro for "The General," he states that he is the "new Number Two" whereas in "A., B. And C." he states, "I am Number Two," implying that he is been in the position for some time.

This is the only episode in the entire series, that No. 2 is addressed by a forename instead of his number. In the lab whist he and No. 14 are doing "C". No. 14 can clearly be heard saying "Phillip we have given him too much,"