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The Prisoner 12. A Change of Mind

We want information.
After two Villagers pick a fight with Six, which he wins, he is accused of anti-social behaviour. He is summoned before the Committee and is asked to confess his crimes, which he refuses to do. Subject to further investigation, Six is warned by Two that defiance of the Committee could be very dangerous. 86 has been appointed to guide Six through the process of public contrition, but he shows complete disinterest. He attends the Social Group where he ridicules those seeking help. Following this, the Committee classifies Six as “unmutual” and he is shunned by the Village populace. He rejects the approaches of the Appeals Sub-Committee and is taken away for Social Conditioning; essentially to be lobotomised. Six awakes placid, with a scar on his forehead, but he quickly realises that his state of mind is merely a result of being drugged. He dodges Two’s questioning on why he resigned, and through a switcheroo drugs 86. Six appears befor…

Ace of Wands Season Three (1972)
If Ace of Wands was half as good as its theme song it would be an enduring classic whose legend is alive and well today, rather than a half-forgotten ember in the annals of children’s television history. Only the final season of the series exists (transmitted the year I was born), so perhaps I’m doing it an injustice and the previous two were dynamite. After all, loveable cockney rogue Tony Selby appeared in those as a regular. Trevor Preston’s idea was to make a kids’ show that wasn’t obviously playing to kids (hence the leads are all grown-ups, to one degree or other), but you wouldn’t know it from the undemanding plots and patronising dialogue. Of the six season three stories, there is but one that rises above the mediocre. So it might not be the best show to seek out for nostalgic or plain curiosity value.

Tarot (Michael McKenzie) is a stage magician and escapologist come investigator and specialist in the supernatural. A sort of psychic Sherlock Holm…

Game of Thrones Season Three
(SPOILERS) Coming late to the party for a series (or rather, season) that has become media-saturated means it’s fairly difficult to remain spoiler-free. Whether it’s Breaking Bador True Detective, the luxury of gorging oneself on a box set can become a minefield, especially if, as HBO does, they wait a whole bloody year before releasing the thing, So I’d heard about words “Red Wedding” in advance and that it was game changing, and the Starks had been mentioned, but that was about as much as I knew. I still haven’t got beyond the mid-point in the second book, and from what I’ve heard the novels become increasingly partial to loving descriptions of food and less enthusiastic about dramatic twists and turns. So I wasn’t really spoiled too much. Indeed, the fact that a Stark wedding occurs in the season made for an effective red herring. I thought maybe Sansa was going to get splattered. Or splatted. I doubt I will be able to keep myself pure until Season Four a…