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.
7 Reviews
A real nightmare
Mr-Fusion9 October 2017
Warning: Spoilers
This is a lot like 'The Schizoid Man' in that the bad guys seem far more sinister than usual. This time, they're active spectators in Number 6's dreams, manipulating them just enough to find out why 6 resigned. Or at least they hope to.
All of the tension in 'A, B and C' resides on their end (with 6 again out cold on the exam table). There's a real focus on the bureaucracy of the organization; specifically, Number 2's complete lack of job security. As good as this is, there's nothing better than that final shot of Number 2 staring at that ringing phone.
9/10
All of the tension in 'A, B and C' resides on their end (with 6 again out cold on the exam table). There's a real focus on the bureaucracy of the organization; specifically, Number 2's complete lack of job security. As good as this is, there's nothing better than that final shot of Number 2 staring at that ringing phone.
9/10
Three Choices
Samuel-Shovel20 June 2019
Warning: Spoilers
In "A. B. and C." Number Six is drugged over the course of three nights and implanted with dreams by a doctor and the new Number Two in the hopes that he will reveal his reason for resigning. Number Two believes one of three spys is behind Six's resignation and that Six sold out to this person.
All three dreams take place at a swanky Parisian party. Dream A involves a rival spy who has defected from Number Six's organization. In the dream he tries to turn Number Six who refused. He kidnaps Six by force by Six escapes, ending Dream A. He wakes up in his bed to find a strange mark on his wrist from the syringe but no memory of it.
Dream B is about a female spy who tries to seduce Number Six into revealing why he's leaving. The doctor ends up channeling the spy by feeding dialogue to the dream implant. Something about his old spy friend feels off to Number Six and he leaves, ending Dream B. Number Six awakens with two marks now on his arm. Suspicious, he follows the doctors one day who leads him to her secret lab. He sneaks in and sabotages her equipment and lowers the dosage they inject into him each night.
Dream C is a mystery spy, the identity of which has never been known, save by Number Six. It is ostensibly revealed to be the party's host but she reveals she's working for another. She leads Number Six to him and the identity is revealed to be Number Two. The doctor realizes that they've been being played this whole time. The new Number Two has failed and will soon be out of the picture...
This has been my favorite episode so far. I love the structuring of the different dreams and sequences. My favorite is the final dream sequences in which the drug has a new effect on him and we get a bunch of Dutch angles and trippy psychedelia.
I feel like the show gets stronger and stronger the more you watch it and get a feel for the world building their creating here. As you get comfortable as a viewer in the space we're playing in, it's easier to settle in and understand what to look for. There will always be unexplained elements, the confusion is purposeful. Once you understand this, it's a much more enjoyable experience.
All three dreams take place at a swanky Parisian party. Dream A involves a rival spy who has defected from Number Six's organization. In the dream he tries to turn Number Six who refused. He kidnaps Six by force by Six escapes, ending Dream A. He wakes up in his bed to find a strange mark on his wrist from the syringe but no memory of it.
Dream B is about a female spy who tries to seduce Number Six into revealing why he's leaving. The doctor ends up channeling the spy by feeding dialogue to the dream implant. Something about his old spy friend feels off to Number Six and he leaves, ending Dream B. Number Six awakens with two marks now on his arm. Suspicious, he follows the doctors one day who leads him to her secret lab. He sneaks in and sabotages her equipment and lowers the dosage they inject into him each night.
Dream C is a mystery spy, the identity of which has never been known, save by Number Six. It is ostensibly revealed to be the party's host but she reveals she's working for another. She leads Number Six to him and the identity is revealed to be Number Two. The doctor realizes that they've been being played this whole time. The new Number Two has failed and will soon be out of the picture...
This has been my favorite episode so far. I love the structuring of the different dreams and sequences. My favorite is the final dream sequences in which the drug has a new effect on him and we get a bunch of Dutch angles and trippy psychedelia.
I feel like the show gets stronger and stronger the more you watch it and get a feel for the world building their creating here. As you get comfortable as a viewer in the space we're playing in, it's easier to settle in and understand what to look for. There will always be unexplained elements, the confusion is purposeful. Once you understand this, it's a much more enjoyable experience.
Not So Easy as A,B,C
Hitchcoc17 February 2015
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.
Precursor of The Matrix
mrdonleone19 January 2020
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!
The Red Phone Is for Telegraphing Plot Pressure Only
darryl-tahirali2 April 2022
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.
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.
Goof
andyevans-6210015 July 2022
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,"
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