Television Review: Many Happy Returns (The Prisoner, S1X07, 1967)

Many Happy Returns (S01E07)

Airdate: November 10th 1967

Written by: Anthony Skene
Directed by: Joseph Serf

Running Time: 50 minutes

The creators of The Prisoner have long been subjected to legitimate criticism – for narrative inconsistencies, opaque symbolism, or the sheer psychological abrasiveness of its core premise. Yet one accusation that could never stick is a lack of creative audacity. Fettered by the seemingly monotonous setting of the Village, the production team, spearheaded by the indomitable Patrick McGoohan, consistently defied expectations, striving to render each episode a distinct cinematic experiment. This commitment to formal innovation frequently saw them brazenly rupture the show’s ostensible boundaries, venturing far beyond the confines of that oppressive coastal enclave. Many Happy Returns stands as one of the series’ most audacious and structurally peculiar instalments, a bold gamble that simultaneously fulfils and perverts the audience’s deepest longing: escape.

The narrative commences with Number Six awakening to a profoundly unsettling void. Water and electricity are inexplicably severed; telephones lie dead. Venturing cautiously outside his apartment, he confronts a staggering reality – the Village is utterly deserted. Not merely empty, but stripped of all signs of recent habitation, as if its entire population had vanished overnight. Undeterred by the apparent apocalyptic nature of this abandonment, Six seizes the opportunity. With characteristic pragmatism, he gathers supplies, constructs a rudimentary raft, and sets sail across the seemingly impassable sea – the land route having been previously established as blocked by insurmountable mountains. His maritime odyssey, spanning several arduous days, proves perilous; he is discovered, robbed, and ultimately forced to leap into the churning waters after a desperate, failed attempt to commandeer the vessel of two German-speaking gunrunners. Exhausted, he washes ashore on what appears, with heart-stopping hope, to be English soil. Initial encounters with a band of travelling Romanys offer little clarity, but this hope crystallises when he spots a quintessential English bobby. After hiding in a lorry, Six arrives in London, a bustling metropolis that feels simultaneously familiar and alien. He visits his former home, now occupied by the enigmatic Mrs. Butterworth (Georgina Cookson), who, inexplicably sympathetic, provides him with sustenance, civilian attire, and listens as he reveals his impending birthday.

Six’s journey continues to the office of his former superior (series co-creator George Markstein), who dispatches him to two figures identified as Colonel (Donald Thorpe) and Thorpe (Patrick Cargill), purportedly old colleagues from British Intelligence. To them, Six recounts the bizarre saga of the Village. Their initial scepticism gradually yields to intrigue, and utilising his data alongside their own force of deduction, they pinpoint the location as an area west of the Mediterranean. Eager for concrete proof, Six agrees to accompany a reconnaissance mission in a Gloster Meteor, Britain’s pioneering jet fighter. Yet, as the aircraft soars towards the coordinates, betrayal strikes; the pilot, revealed as a traitor, triggers the ejection seat, hurling Six back towards the earth. He lands, inevitably, within the Village perimeter, stumbles to his old apartment, and is greeted by the chilling revelation: Mrs. Butterworth, his apparent saviour in London, now stands before him as the new Number Two.

Written by Anthony Skene (who also wrote A. B. and C.) and directed by McGoohan under his favoured pseudonym "Joseph Serf," Many Happy Returns holds a unique place in the series’ fraught production history. Aired out of sequence, it was the final episode completed before George Markstein’s acrimonious departure, stemming from profound creative differences with McGoohan. Markstein championed a more conventional spy narrative, grounded in Cold War realism, whereas McGoohan relentlessly pushed The Prisoner towards psychological surrealism and allegory. Remarkably, these behind-the-scenes tensions leave little trace on screen. Instead, the episode presents a fascinating hybrid: it delivers precisely what both factions might have desired – a genuine escape – only to savagely retract it, exposing the futility of conventional spy-thriller resolutions within The Prisoner’s unique framework.

The brilliance of the first half lies in McGoohan’s near-silent mastery. For over twenty minutes, Number Six is utterly alone. McGoohan conveys profound isolation, determination, and vulnerability through physicality alone – the meticulous preparation of the raft, the desperate struggle at sea, the raw relief of reaching land. The absence of dialogue, followed by encounters conducted in German and Romany, creates an extraordinary sense of dislocation and vulnerability. It’s a masterclass in visual storytelling, where the environment itself becomes the antagonist and the only confidante. While some action sequences, particularly the confrontation with the gunrunners, strain credulity, they are executed with such raw conviction that their narrative function – conveying Six’s relentless will – transcends strict realism.

The subsequent London sequence, however, introduces the episode’s most significant tension. Suddenly, The Prisoner adopts the trappings of the very genre Markstein advocated: the returned agent debriefing, the sceptical but ultimately helpful bureaucracy, the high-tech reconnaissance mission. It feels, for a moment, like a conventional resolution is within grasp. Mrs. Butterworth’s unexpected kindness and the ease with which Six deals with his old life are deeply comforting, yet also deeply suspicious to the seasoned viewer. The audience, conditioned by the series’ relentless subversion, instinctively knows this normalcy is unsustainable; the Village’s grip cannot be broken so cleanly.

This is where the episode’s central flaw emerges, transforming it from pure triumph into a fascinating, albeit frustrating, puzzle. Why would the Village orchestrate such an elaborate, resource-intensive charade? The explanation offered – that it was a "birthday present," a cruel psychological experiment granting Six his deepest wish only to snatch it away – feels simultaneously ingenious and profoundly unsatisfying. The logistical absurdity is immense: the construction of an entire fake London street set (implied by Six’s specific encounters), the casting of actors for Mrs. Butterworth and the officials, the deployment of a genuine Meteor jet for a mere deception. Even accepting the Village’s near-magical resources, the sheer scale and pointlessness of the ruse, beyond mere psychological torture, strains credulity to breaking point. It creates significant narrative fissures that the episode pointedly refuses to address, leaving the audience adrift in ambiguity – was it a genuine, inexplicable abandonment followed by recapture? Or solely an elaborate Village fabrication? McGoohan offers no solace, prioritising thematic resonance over plot coherence.

Nevertheless, Many Happy Returns remains a vital, compelling entry. Its direction is taut and inventive, particularly in the silent opening act. The inclusion of the Gloster Meteor, a tangible relic of Britain’s aviation pioneering, lends a gritty historical texture rarely seen in television fantasy, serving as a potent symbol of technological progress co-opted for deception. Ultimately, the episode’s enduring power lies precisely in its unresolved contradictions and its willingness to take monumental risks. It dares to grant the escape, only to reveal the cage is infinitely more complex and inescapable than mere geography. In this, Many Happy Returns transcends its plot holes, standing as a bold, unsettling, and unforgettable exploration of the impossibility of true escape from the systems – political, psychological, or societal – that seek to define and confine us. It is not a perfect episode, but its very imperfections are woven into its genius, a fitting reflection of the series’ own restless, uncompromising spirit.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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