Talk:Arrival (The Prisoner)

Synopsis

The synopsis for this episode can be edited down a little. I think it needs some detail - more than might be used in later episode articles -- since it's the first episode. But if anyone wants to trim this, please do. I also went completely by memory so corrections are welcome! 23skidoo 03:46, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

German?

I think it would be a mistake to imply any special significance to German as the language Cobb's words of farewell are in. After all, No. 2 just spoke in French and it doesn't mean The Village is run by France. As the cab driver reminds us, "It's international!" and cosmpolitan spies of the 60's variety might well be expected to show off their international flair by sprinkling their conversation with phrases from all over the globe. If Cobb had used more German than just two words, or had used any German besides a farewell idiom known to millions of people who know no other German... -- Antaeus Feldspar 23:44, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

But remember that this show was produced in 1967. When I first saw the show back in 1985, I automatically assumed that it meant that Cobb was now working for the EAST Germans. I've seen this interpretation in other discussions of the show, too. The fact he uses "auf Wiedersehen" INSTEAD of "be seeing you" even though he does the BCNU salute has to be significant. The fact No. 2 uses French could mean a number of things -- we never do know his nationality so he could easily be French, and you are correct that the episode does establish the international nature of the Village (though this aspect was downplayed in later episodes). But it is established that Cobb is clearly a colleague of No. 6 and therefore, British, so for him to suddenly use AW calls attention to itself. 23skidoo 00:13, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

And the fact that No. 2 says "au revoir" instead of "Be seeing you" is significant, too. But the significance is that just as "Au revoir" derives from "voir", the French verb "to see", "Auf Wiedersehen" derives from "sehen", the German verb "to see" -- they are saying "Be seeing you", just in other languages. One of the major themes of the series is that "it doesn't matter which side runs the Village" because "both sides are becoming identical". I have a hard time believing that the viewer was supposed to see that sequence and instead of saying "oh, I get it; the various sides that might look so different from each other are each expressing this farewell-with-hints-of-surveillance; I guess it doesn't matter who Cobb's 'new masters' are" was supposed to say "Oh, Cobb spoke in German; that must mean he's now working for the East Germans." In any other spy show from 1967, yes. In a show that worked so hard to drive home the idea that the differences between the sides are superficial, it seems to be missing the point -- literally overlooking the content for the form. -- Antaeus Feldspar 00:54, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

You gotta admit it says a lot about this show that nearly 40 years later people like us are still debating it! ;-) Try that with Charlie's Angels. Just wait till we get to the article on Fall Out! 23skidoo 03:15, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Number 2's replacement

Regarding "No. 2 can be and is replaced from time to time, for reasons not explained." I can't quote chapter and verse, but I thought No.2 was replaced because he/she failed to crack No.6. Shantavira 11:39, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

(I know that the above is nearly two years old, but big deal.) The closest one can come to finding a specific statement to that effect is in A. B. and C., with Colin Gordon's #2 clearly working on a last-chance basis. Some of them (in The General, It's Your Funeral and Hammer Into Anvil) weren't even trying to "crack" our hero. Ted Watson 19:40, 16 June 2007 (UTC)