A. B. and C.

Infobox Television episode
Title = A. B. and C.
Series = The Prisoner
Season = 1
Episode = 3
Guests = Number Two - Colin Gordon
Number Fourteen - Sheila Allen
A - Peter Bowles
B - Annette Carell
Madame Engadine - Katherine Kath
Writer = Anthony Skene
Director = Pat Jackson
Production =
Airdate = 15 October 1967
Episode list =


Prev = The Chimes of Big Ben
Next = Free For All

"A. B. and C." is the title of the third episode of the British science fiction-allegorical series, "The Prisoner". It originally aired in the UK on ITV on 15 October 1967 and was first broadcast in the United States on CBS in the summer of 1968.

The episode starred Patrick McGoohan in the character of Number Six and featured as Number Two Colin Gordon, the only actor other than Leo McKern who would play Number Two in more than one episode.

Plot summary

The episode opens with Number Two pacing in his office, interrupted by the harsh, high bleeping of the red phone on his desk. He reluctantly takes the call, which is evidently from Number One, about Two's lack of progress in getting information from Number Six. Two makes a second call, insisting to an unseen party that "the experiment must come forward" despite its untested status.

That night, as lightning crashes, an unconscious Number Six is wheeled into a laboratory where Two and a female doctor (Number Fourteen) commence "the experiment." Six is lifted onto a padded bench, and electronic sensors are pressed to his temples, converting his brain waves into pictures on the lab's video screen. As they watch what Six is thinking (an endless repeat of Six storming into his boss' office and delivering his resignation, with footage taken from the show's opening) Fourteen comments "He's not conventional", to which Two replies "I sometimes think he's not human".

Fourteen's "experiment" comprises three intravenous doses of a presumably hallucinogenic/psychotropic drug. Seeing only three prepared syringes, Two asks why there aren't more, and is warned that even three doses are dangerous enough, four unquestionably fatal. While she is preparing the injection, Six opens his eyes and sees Fourteen, who sees herself on the video screen through Six's eyes, and gently closes his eyelids. The experiment is detailed -- there are only three individuals to whom Six might have intended to "sell out" (referred to as A., B., and C.), and the drugs and brain-wave equipment are meant to simulate a series of hypothetical conversations revealing what would have happened had each of the three approached him with an offer to sell his secrets.

The first dream-encounter (with "A") takes place at a Parisian party hosted by "the celebrated Madame Engadine." Six's dream-self is dapper, dashing and flirtatious; he is approached by A. (a dark-haired and moustached man recognized by Fourteen to be a known defector), but seems less than pleased to see him. A. hints at wanting to purchase Six's secrets, but Six rebuffs these advances, maintaining as he did with Engadine that he is going on holiday. A's henchmen kidnap Six and forcibly escort him to a foreign country; a fistfight ensues, and Six emerges victorious as the dream ends. Two rules out "A" as the possible employer and wants to move on immediately to B., but Fourteen insists a twenty-four hour rest period is needed.

The next morning, Six wakes, aching from the effects of the drug, sees Fourteen buying flowers from a nearby vendor, and connects a memory of her face with the needle mark on his wrist. He follows and confronts her at a cafe, but Fourteen denies any involvement, offering "Don't worry, we all have to make mistakes... sometimes we have to."

Six goes to see Two at the Green Dome, deliberately showing off his needle mark and making a reference to Fourteen as a doctor. When Six leaves, Two receives a call from the red phone used by his superiors, and promises them results within two days. That night, Six returns to his cottage, says good night to the maid who is just leaving, and drinks a cup of tea that the maid left. Within seconds, Six has collapsed on the floor, the drugged tea falling along with him.

Dosed with the second syringe of the drug, Six is back at Engadine's party, where he sits idly at a table for a few uncertain moments (causing Two to question the drug's efficacy) before receiving an anonymous meeting request from B., a brunette woman wearing a dress of pink and purple. Six and B. seem to be on very friendly terms, but he warns her that A. is about, and would probably kill her given the chance, a possibility she treats very casually. Though B. asks Six a number of questions about his upcoming holiday, he deflects them as they begin to dance. Fourteen warns Two that although Six's dream-self appears relaxed, he is vigorously fighting the drug and will soon burn it out of his system.

Growing increasingly desperate, Two seizes on a speculation by Fourteen that vocal intervention might be possible, disregarding Fourteen's fears that Six might recognize the external influence. Speaking Fourteen's words instead of her own, B. becomes suddenly apprehensive, begging Six for his help (specifically, information to trade) in staving off A. and his companions. Six becomes suspicious, especially when B. echoes Fourteen's maxim "We all make mistakes -- sometimes we have to," and denounces her deception. Armed thugs enter the arbor, threatening B. and causing her to plead for Six's help, but he refuses her, countering with personal questions involving B.'s husband and child. Two and Fourteen are unable to answer these questions with the limited information in B.'s dossier, and Six exits the hallucination, disregarding the gunmen and her pleas.

Waking the next morning, Six finds the cup of tea that drugged him on his nightstand, exactly where it would have been if he had not dropped it in his collapse. Examining his wrist, he finds a second needle mark.

Later that day, Six shadows Fourteen, following her through the forest to her secret laboratory. Gaining entrance through a ventilation shaft (and narrowly missing being seen by Fourteen as she leaves), Six finds the brain-wave equipment, dossiers containing information on A., B. and C., and a syringe containing the third and final hallucinogenic dosage. Six squeezes about two-thirds of the drug out into a cloth, and dilutes the syringe's remaining contents with water.

Two, in pajamas and dressing gown, ascends to his room in the Green Dome, complaining to The Butler that he couldn't sleep. Seeing Six walking about The Village on the surveillance screens, he snarls about Six's constant energy, yelling "doesn't he ever get tired?" Six turns to the surveillance camera and tosses the Village salute as he says "Be seeing you"; Two snaps back "No! "I'll" be seeing "you!"

That night, Six finds another cup of tea left on his nightstand; he stirs it as he walks slowly over, and pours it out into the sink. Smiling with satisfaction, he pours himself a glass of tap water instead and sips it. He makes it no more than halfway to his bed, however, before he wobbles and falls to the floor.

Six's third drug-induced hallucination is somewhat more jumbled than the others; Fourteen attributes this to the cumulative strain of his previous two ordeals, and makes to stop the experiment, but is overruled by the increasingly-desperate Two. Six pinwheels wildly about the ballroom in a drunk/euphoric state, mistaking a partygoer for B., and works several Village-reminiscent elements (most notably the number six) into his visions. Agent C (described but never specifically named in the dossier) is revealed to be none other than Madame Engadine herself, and Six seemingly hovers on the verge of "selling out" to her faction (led by a mysterious fourth mastermind, shadowy and masked, whom Fourteen dubs 'D'). Due perhaps to the weakened third dose, or Six's growing mastery over his tormentors' dream-world, the experiment collapses; Six unmasks 'D' as Two himself, returns from the party to a dream-replica Village, and confronts dream-copies of his tormentors, maintaining that he was aware of the experiment all along and had never intended to defect or sell out to anyone.

The episode closes on a despondent Two as the red phone starts ringing...

Additional guest cast

* Blonde Lady: Georgina Cookson
* Flower girl: Lucille Soong
* Maid at party: Bettine Le Beau
* Thug: Terry Yorke
* Thug: Peter Brayham
* Henchman: Bill Cummings

Chronology

It is never definitely indicated whether the Number Two in this episode is the same Number Two played by Colin Gordon in "The General". At the beginning of "A. B. and C.", when Number Six asks "Who are you?" Number Two replies "I am Number Two." At the beginning of "The General", when Number Six asks "Who are you?" Number Two (played by Colin Gordon) replies "The new" Number Two." Throughout the episode he appears more desperate than typical Number Twos, possibly indicating that he has been given a rare second chance to break Number Six and faces dire consequences if he fails again.

In actual broadcast order, "A. B. and C." was the third episode while "The General" was broadcast sixth in order. If the Number Two of each of the two shows "is" the same character, it would illustrate some of the production problems faced by the show; the Number Two of "A. B. and C." is clearly close to the end of his tenure, and this would indicate that this episode must follow "The General" in chronology.

Trivia

* Despite the common threat of showers and the ubiquity of umbrellas, this is the only episode where we see rain in the village. Notably, it rains at night, when none of the prisoners would see it.
* When the episode was screened by Channel 4 in 1983 a badly-abridged print was used, omitting all of Number Fourteen's manipulation of B. This was a rare lapse in Channel 4's usual commitment to screen material in unabridged form.

Notes

* The episode's plot is discussed by two characters during a heroin-fueled joyride through the streets of Paris in the 1994 film "Killing Zoe".