Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the 1967 science fiction/ existential drama The Prisoner. For Part One, in which I examined the themes and concepts at play in the series click HERE
Episode Title: CHECKMATE … In the ongoing debate about the exact numbering of the 17 episodes of The Prisoner I place this as the 4th in the series.
Peter Wyngarde portrays this episode’s Number Two, the rotating series of executive figures running the futuristic prison city called the Village. Balladeer’s Blog’s readers may remember him from my reviews of his shows Department S and Jason King. X-Men fans will recognize him as the obvious model used by Chris Claremont and John Byrne for Mastermind’s “Jason Wyngarde” persona in The Dark Phoenix Saga.
The episode begins with the Prisoner witnessing yet another sudden unleashing of “Rover” the bioelectrical synthetic creation which the Villagekeepers use to subdue outbreaks of disobedient behavior among the Villagers. As usual everyone freezes in their tracks, knowing Rover will attack anyone perceived as resisting.
For once, one of the residents shows no fear of Rover. An elderly man with a walking stick (George Coulouris from Citizen Kane) continues strolling along, ignoring Rover, who shows unprecedented deference to the man before moving on to subdue whichever Villager has raised the ire of the Villagekeepers.
Our protagonist is intrigued by this and follows the Man With A Walking Stick. The two share a casual conversation in which each man is wary of the other, given that nobody can ever be sure if a fellow Villager is secretly working for the conspirators behind the Village.
Walking Stick Man invites McGoohan’s character to a game of chess he is heading to. The Prisoner goes along and finds that the game is played with human chess pieces in one of the least subtle of the program’s metaphors.
Walking Stick Man is one of the two “players” who sit above the game shouting their moves through bullhorns. The Villagers serving as chess pieces move accordingly. Continue reading
It’s rather pathetic that this even needs to be said, but then the fascist lying trash who hate President Trump are pathetic, too. Below is a video from a Holocaust Survivor reminding Trump-haters what REAL Concentration Camps are. And remember, the so-called “family separations” at our southern border were going on under Obama and George W Bush, too, and the pictures being floated around the internet are virtually all from the pre-Trump years. 
Two comments I will say again: 1. We have long passed the point where, even if I didn’t support President Trump I would be pretending I did just to tick off the pieces of garbage who spew hatred of the man all day long, and 2. The biggest regret of my life is having ever been part of the Democrat Party. 
Balladeer’s Blog’s reviews of my picks for The Top Five Harry Flashman Novels are still getting more than their share of attention. (Click 
Projected Title: FLASHMAN DOWN UNDER 
Once word reached California about Australia’s very own Gold Rush, Harry could have boarded a ship for Down Under either along with some of the Cali Aussies OR trying to slip away from them for his usual reasons – having slept with some of their women, conning them out of money, etc. 
As the hysteria, fascism and intolerance of the Democrats continues to drive away more and more of us former party members, their Brain Trust has decided that the most recent reaction to their derangement – the #Walkaway Movement – is really being caused by RUSSIANS! Yes, really! Apparently there’s NOTHING those rascally Russians can’t do! 
A woman who describes herself as liberal and is married to a man who became a Trump voter: She says, “I was horrified that our friends now say I married a racist, homophobic, misogynist, horrible man. My Facebook page is just cancer, people hating on each other. I won’t be voting for a party that accuses everybody of being racist.” (Facebook Fascists are the most narrow-minded people alive.) 
Here at Balladeer’s Blog I’ve been reviewing ancient Greek comedies for years and a fair amount of people have recently asked me why I didn’t take the traditional view of Aristophanes’ comedy The Birds. That traditional view claims that The Birds was written at least partially as a commentary on the failed military expedition to Sicily. 
For the umpteenth time, we need Third Parties in America! Anyway, on to the headlines and links. 
TUILAKEMBA – This figure was the son of Tuilangi, the god who ruled over the Skyland, and a mortal woman. When Tuilakemba was a little boy he was often ridiculed by the other children for not having a father on hand like they did. One day the young demigod had had enough and threatened to kill his mother unless she told him who his father was. 
