The Prisoner (TV Mini Series)

Episode 6: Checkmate (2009)

Ian McKellen: 2, Curtis

Quotes 

• 2 : There are people here, 6. Good people. Newcomers. Look at them. They choose life. But you...

  6 : I'll find a way out before I die.

  2 : Oh, 6. Let me give you the very secret of life. Breathe in... breathe out. More... Village. I say once you die, one breath at a time, 6. One... tick of the clock at a time.

• 2 : To lose a child, there is nothing else like that.

  147 : Sir, if I'm allowed to say, I'm sorry about 11-12.

  2 : Yes, you are allowed, because you know it feels. Can I ask you... is what you feel, you... want it to stop, you want it all to stop? The madness of this world to stop.

  147 : Most days... I don't know why I live. I don't know why I breathe. I go on, I drive, I wait, and I... I wait for this black pit feeling in my guts to go away, but it don't. No, it... it grows, sir. That's what.

  2 : What if... what we feel... what's happened to us, is for a purpose? My son's death... I can only bear it if it gives me clarity. I had a dream last night.

  147 : A dream?

  2 : I dreamed clarity. All of it. Suppose your child's death gives you a place in Village history, gave you, 147, the moral courage to act when the moment comes. To think what is unthinkable, to do what cannot be done. You like 6, don't you? Trust him? Yes, he's someone who can give us better Village, moral Village... freedom within the prison. And when the moment comes, you still stand beside 6. And you will call out that 6 is the one.

  147 : The one?

  2 : The one.

• Curtis : Michael, how are you? Dear, look, it's Michael. From Summakor. My wife, Helen. Helen is a biochemist. She studies the mind. The depths of the mind. We all commonly accept the existence of the unconscious. Helen's surmised that if there are two layers of consciousness, then why not more? And if there are more, where are they and what are they? What if we could go there? And what if we could take with us all these broken people and let them fix themselves. Nothing too clever, just the simple virtues in life. Dignity of labor, civic pride, family. Sufficient to rekindle their lost purpose back here on terra firma.

  Michael : Your driver. He was one of these people.

  Curtis : Well, yes. And hundreds more like him. Michael, you found them. Your work in Summakor.

  Michael : Spying on people.

  Curtis : No. Protecting them. Repairing them. We all need that, son. Helen was the first person ever in the Village. All those remarkable dreams. Every thought, every impulse within the Village resides here in her mind. No children of our own, her great heartbreak. And we thought, we wondered if it were possible, if we went there that we could have a family.

• 2 : Aren't they splendid? Isn't this just the most wonderful thing?

  11-12 : They're buildings. Houses.

  2 : 11-12, you could not be more profoundly wrong. More Village means that our way of life is becoming the very consciousness of the universe. I exaggerate, of course, but only slightly. Oh, indulge me. Take it all in.

  [taking a deep breath] 

  2 : Ahh. This moment will be handed down through generations of our family. There will be generations of our family, won't there, 11-12?

  11-12 : Yes. I suppose.

  2 : [laughing]  Oh, dear. Oh, dear, 11-12. You're so earnest. Take a tip from your old man. Unbutton yourself. Enjoy life. Dance the night away with some darling girl.

• 6 : What is this?

  2 : Is it perhaps your certificate of dying?

  6 : Why now? You could've killed me a thousand times.

  2 : I've tried every way I know to help you to belong, but still you refuse. You choose. This life or no life.

  6 : Assimilate or die?

  2 : That is the great gift of Village death. Clarity of choice.

• 2 : Pity about poor old 6. How does that make you feel, 313? Be honest. If you can't confide in 2, who can you confide in?

  313 : I wish you'd... I want to help him.

  2 : There's something inside 6 that refuses to be unlocked. And perhaps the prospect of death will unlock it. Death unlocks us all. And still he clings to his abstinence. Freedom. Such touching faith. One envies him, almost. But you and I know better. We have measured the cost, wouldn't you say? Or am I wide of the mark?

  313 : No.

  2 : Don't let her rule you. Block her out, do you hear? Block her out.

  313 : I can't. The things you showed me... the other...

  2 : The other place?

  313 : It's in my head now, though. I can't just rub it out.

  2 : Can't or won't? Self-control is all that is required. For 6's sake.

• 2 : You want him to live?

  313 : Yes.

  2 : At any cost?

  313 : I want him to live.

  2 : I can give you that. That is why I wanted you to watch him here, to see him. You must answer a question honestly. My son. Am I the reason?

  313 : Yes.

  2 : Thank you. There's something thrilling about honesty, don't you think? To face yourself. The inside 2. 6 was right, I'll admit it. Death was not enough to crack 6 open, but he was wrong. Village death was not my last throw. I have the perfect means of assimilation for him. I know 6 better than 6 knows 6. He's in love with his own humanity. He adores the sweet smell of his own bright shining conscience. Noble 6. He only wants to do the right thing. And that is what will give him to me. That... and you.

  313 : Me?

  2 : You want 6 to live. Then I can give you your part in his fate. When the moment comes, you will know. And you will choose to give yourself to 6. Is that what you want?

  313 : Yes. It's what I want.

• Michael : Nobody signed up for this. None of these people asked to be fixed.

  Curtis : You mean we should seek their permission?

  Michael : I'm human. I have a thousand flaws. I break down, I get up, I don't get up. I get lost. I make the same mistakes over and over. I have scars and wounds. Sometimes when I can't bear them anymore, I... I drink. You can't fix me. You can't fix any of us. You can't make us perfect. But I'm not like them, am I? You were keeping me quiet because nobody resigns from Summakor. Not on your watch, huh? Am I right?

  Curtis : You just listen to yourself. Your integrity, your vision. We threw at you everything we had. Love, loathing... death itself, and still you resist. Well, now I see. You are not the problem, Michael. You're a challenge, but an asset. An opportunity to take us forward.