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You wake up in the desert, no idea how you arrived there, your memories faint and hazy. You wander to a settlement, a quaint town amidst an infinity of sand dunes. As you cautiously explore, you learn the inhabitants call this place the Village and have no knowledge of a world beyond the surrounding their idyllic but isolated (and inescapable) hamlet. Their names are numbers, and some of them seem to know you. You are Number Six.
Though this premise sounds like the latest attempt by TV networks to replicate the mystique of "Lost," AMC's six-hour mini "The Prisoner" (premiering Nov. 15) is a new take on a 1967 British show of the same name. The series ran for a mere 17 episodes but has earned a cult following and remains the most mind-bending, spine-chilling, OMGWTF-inducing show ever broadcast. Four-toed statues, temporal shifts and smoke monsters in the jungle are a cakewalk compared to the psychological tortures and hallucinogenic head trips original Number Six Patrick McGoohan endured in "The Prisoner."
The buzz: The remake, starring Jim Caviezel as Number Six and Ian McCellan as his adversary Number Two, strays from the 1967 version but replicates the tone and Kafka-esque anxiety of its inspiration. Many of the mysteries are unchanged: Who was Six before and why is he now in the Village? Is his past real or imagined? What does Number Two want from Six? Who is Number One?
The big question, however: Do viewers have the patience to sit through several hours of not having a single reliable clue about what's going on? They may—four decades of psychological suspense influenced by the original series have helped prepare us for the journey.
The verdict: "The Prisoner" maintains a mostly successful balance between drawing us into a dreamlike world where reality is uncertain and feeding us enough plot crumbs to keep us engaged. Unfortunately, the first hour is the least eventful and may have less patient viewers seeking more immediate gratification. Each subsequent hour features a new attempt by Number Two to break Six, though his motives remain unclear. There are dreams and schemes, but the answers don't begin to unfold until the fifth hour.
For better or worse, those answers are ultimately revealed. While the finale of the original series plays like a farce Benny Hill and Ian Fleming hatched during an acid trip, the new "Prisoner" strives to reward its audience with a concrete explanation. Though such conclusions often seem pulled out of thin air, "The Prisoner" takes what easily could have been an M. Night Shyamalan-style "gotcha" ending and imbues it with enough emotional heft that it doesn't feel like trickery.
That doesn't mean it's entirely satisfying. After crediting us with the smarts to follow the first five and a half hours, "The Prisoner" provides an explanation so explicit that it's condescending. For a story that relies on tricks of the mind, it leaves nothing to the imagination.
This collaboration between AMC and U.K. network ITV is an ambitious, well-produced departure from the influential original series. Convincing performances by the leads and excellent (though mostly British and unknown in the U.S.) supporting cast keep the lengthy head-scratcher moving.
Ultimately, "The Prisoner" is about the journey, not the destination. A slow start and a heavy-handed conclusion don't do justice to the four hours in between.
Did you know? Though it's a loose interpretation of the original series, the new "Prisoner" kept one of its predecessor's most popular oddities: Rover, a giant white balloon that consumes anyone who tries to escape the Village. Trippy.
"The Prisoner" premieres Sunday, November 15, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on AMC.
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