you know a show is good/unhinged, when fans argue about the order the episodes should be viewed in, and how that changes the narrative

Hell yeah I'll watch an hour and fifty-one minute video on a show I've never seen

I’m going to watch this twice on 2x speed so I can laugh and learn double the usual amount in the same time frame

I'm surprised you didn't mention the anecdote about the remake they did in 2009 where they approached Patrick McGoohan to play the old man who dies in the opening moments of the first episode to which he apparently replied that he would only join the show on the condition that he be allowed to play Number 2.

i appreciate how oddly relatable the premise of being introduced to the series by your father at a young age and then being somewhat traumatized by it is to many people, including myself lol

Interesting choice for Leo to make a long, comedic, detailed video essay about a niche topic, instead of his usual "bald man goes wild and sexy" content

holy shit, my father made me watch this show when I was like eight and I thought it was a dream until just now

About the bicycle as a symbol: In the early 20th century there was a fascist Italian art movement that loved violence and speed called Futurism. The bicycle was feature in some of their work since the wheel was one of its most important symbols "We want to sing the man at the wheel, the ideal axis of which crosses the earth, itself hurled along its orbit." which matches nicely with the alternate end titles. Some other highlights from the manifesto are: "We want to glorify war - the only cure for the world - militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of the anarchists, the beautiful ideas which kill, and contempt for woman." and "We want to demolish museums and libraries, fight morality, feminism and all opportunist and utilitarian cowardice."

I watched this show on Amazon Prime not knowing anything about it other than it starred (like you mentioned) that guy from Columbo who directed the weirdedst episode. This was a great vid! You are geniuenly one of my favorite essayists/creators/artists on youtube. You work in these completely vulnerable, beautifully worded moments shrouded in humor that punch me right in the gut. It's sucha joy to go on these journeys with you. You're a unique voice and I appreciate you pushing the envelope even if someone is telling you no. This show definitely influnced my love of Leo Vader. As an aside it took me way to long to realize you were dressed like The Prisoner this whole video.

thanks forever + ever for invitin me to have a segment on this weird-ass wonderful show. the next leo vid is gonna be a normal amount of minutes probably.

"Books! I read two books for this, and I know this might seem impossible to you, but me? I could knock out a couple of books in, really, no longer than half a year if it's my job." Thank you for this gift, Leo, I truly appreciate it.

leo recognizing the queens 💓

He's leveled up. Our boy is a real KZfaqr now, because I can click on one video to fall asleep to rather than a playlist.

Thick Leo vid we won

we're so happy to see you again man :)

Now that this platform has been flooded with cheap, mindless "video essays" which are actually plot recaps and pretty much nothing else, you have achieved something increasingly rare: your work has got me truly interested in another work. Thank you for making this!

Thank you so much Leo! The Prisoner is one of my favorite TV shows of all time and I can never seem to convince anyone else to watch it. I understand why other people my age aren't into it, but I can't even get my boomer dad to watch the show, and he was alive for the original run!

I'm excited for the surrealist era of Leo Vader. So glad I watched this right away. The title was so understated compared to all the points and connections you made. I'm shocked this series isn't more well known! Or maybe it is, but either way I'm surprised to not have heard of it! Also- so many jokes from Austin Powers are based in this show, and I'm only now realizing.

I really think, personally, the Prisoner says why he retired in the final episode to the committee when they're interrupting him, and it breaks him. He goes quiet immediately and his face falls so hard, and the rest of the episode he's lost it, from seeing number one to the shoot out. I think it finally broke him, and his reward for compliance is getting to go 'home', but of course London is just the village, society is the village. The Prisoner lost. I love the last episode so much because it feels heartbreaking to me, that shift in McGoohen's face after he yells something we can't hear as everyone shouts is the shift of someone going from breaking to broken. Especially because the President calls for silence like immediately afterwards.

well, that's one thing i can cross off my bucket list. finally someone gave this series the love and respect it deserves. what an insane piece of media. the first ever fan backlash for a tv ending? cheers for this, tremendous work.

_You are you own boss and your boss is being toxic_ is not the inspiring universal take I expected from Leo Vader analyzing The Prisoner. Brilliant.

The absolute flex of taking a drink during the "be seeing you" montage.

im the 84% that leo could take or leave but im here to stay baby so happy to see a new video

Not only is Leo Vader back but he’s made a feature-length video about one of my special interest shows and favourite actors? Am I dreaming? Yooo he even gave a Danger Man shoutout? Crazy

Robotto Paluta, an animated kids’ show for NHK, used to give me nightmares as a child because of a guy named Robokuro. Eventually, my mom had to explain that Robokuro was just an alarm clock with arms and legs stitched on. When Leo mentioned Little Leo’s fear of the kidnapper from episode one, that childhood memory hit me like a truck. Crazy. Anyway, great video 😁😁

1:08:21 “they don’t like the word ‘season’ because it reminds them of seasoning and they don’t like that” GOTTEM

I have watched and absorbed this entire video in 13 minutes. I can say with confidence, it's worth a watch.

Oh my god yes. He’s been cooking this whole time!

Oh shit Leo finally realised long form videos are what the kids are into nowadays

I got 15 minutes in and I'm enjoying the video but I don't think I can finish it because now you've got me wanting to go actually watch The Prisoner instead.

My history teacher back in high school and I got on quite well due to our love of classic media and, after seeing more than one review compare Evangelion and Lain to The Prisoner, I asked about it. This then lead him to lend me the complete series on VHS which he later gifted me as a graduation present. He passed away several years ago and those tapes got lost in various shuffles of my life, but I'll never forget that gift and those conversations. Be seeing you Mr. L.

Finally! A Leo Vader video i can show my father!

I am so ecstatic that there is a new Leo Vader video out

Oh my god me and my boyfriend have been binging your videos for like two weeks AN HOUR LONG VIDEO IS LIKE GIFT!!!! WE WERE GONNA WATCH A MOVIE TONIGHT!!!! ok but like seriously thank u for continuing to make content, I love your stuff and the character (space house guy) you play. You have consistently been creative in fun ways and it's been a blast revisiting your content and keeping up with new uploads. you're one of my favorite KZfaqrs, thank you

"I am not a number; I AM A FREE MAN!" I never knew Iron Maiden sampled that line from their song "The Prisoner"

I love coming back to watch this retrospective, I believe it was THE retrospective that influenced the famous video from Jenny Nicholson's about the failure of the Star Wars hotel. Essentially sparking the whole genre of long forum essays on youtube. Amazing stuff.

One of my favourite shows covered by one of my favourite youtubers. sick.

"sometimes I want to be the person who made the thing more than I want to actually make the thing" is such a real quote

What a terrific walk through. I checked The Prisoner out from my local library like 20 years ago and it's stuck with me ever since. I suggest anyone having trouble finding it check with their library. I think about it whenever I hear Secret Agent Man on the radio and whenever I get assigned an ID number. I am not a number - I'm, like, at least 12 different numbers depending on what I need to do, and if I forget any of them I'm kind of screwed.

My housemates and I call the rover "Orb", and we chant "ORB! ORB! ORB! ORB! ORB!" every time it shows up on screen.

It took me 24 minutes to realize he's wearing the jacket.

"And he says the money will be in your company's account by Monday morning. Which it was." 20:02 imagine having that kind of influence for projects you want to push forward. Insane I've never heard of this guy or any of his work. It's as if it was a long time ago and in Britain.

Holy shit, Leo, I did not expect for the conclusion of this 2 hour video about a 60s TV series I'd never heard of to hit on the exact creative struggles I've been going through lately. I'm a visual artist who's very scared of the fact that I want to pursue a creative path, because I've grown afraid that to be an artist, I will be "forced" to work long hours and always be in a crunch mode. But your message is a real boost to my confidence that I can create my own healthy, balanced creative life. That I can be my own good boss! This kind of message is really so rare, and you're truly a one of a kind KZfaqr, and one of my favorites! I've missed your videos.

I first encountered The Prisoner in the 90s on the early internet. And I read full plot descriptions of every episode, because that was the only way you had to experience old TV before dvds. I thought it sounded so incredibly cool. Eventually, once dvds were a thing, I attempted to watch it but I always got lost midway through the series and couldn't force my way through. Still to this day, despite KNOWING about the ending, I've never seen it. So thanks for making me feel a little more informed about this show I should love, but in practice am not wild about when actually watching.

One of the weirdest things about this show is the village it’s filmed in, portmeirion in north Wales. I was staying near there and spotted it from the other side of the river and from that moment to finding and visiting it till leaving portmeirion I felt like I was in a dream and this was my first introduction to the prisoner. It’s like a Mediterranean dreamscape cult-theme park. Everything was so out of place from the obvious architecture and no one living there to the more subtle way everyone working in the shops/cafes smiled like they had a gun to their head.

Me when I’m coming home after my wedding day in a taxi and the driver hits me with a “Be seeing you” as we take a wrong turn and go to the airport:

Love that the mind swapping controls Zeltsman is holding are in fact an EKG simulator...something I know because it says EKG simulator on it. 😂

Huh, after watching this entire thing and realising the setting looked oddly familiar I saw the "Port Meirion" in the description and realised that I'd visited there with my mum when I was a child and the realisation has unlocked a huge amount of memories I forgot I had. What a wonderful gift. Thanks, Leo.

i've been re-watching this video since yesterday, i watched it... then watched it again. idk what what leo put in this vid but it's so addicting

This is such a well worded, thoughtful, and articulate critique of a wildly dense show. and you also made me laugh out loud throughout. This is something you're really really good at.

Saw what the video was about, watch the whole series for the first time, watched the video, was not disappointed. Thank you Leo.

omg my dad has been watching this lately and everytime i ask him "so whats happening in this episode" he says he has no clue

I never thought I'd see my favorite show get the Longman treatment, but it's completely deserved.

a 2 hour leo vader video? right before bed? perfect

whoever's decision it was to put the portal sounds every time the screen behind Leo changed is a genius, and i applaud them

BARELY PUSHED IT OVER THAT 10 MINUTE MARK..HUH? I know why you put that long "be seeing you" compilation in here. You're not hiding it from no one.

I absolutely love content like this about stuff I’ve never heard of or cared about before. Teach me everything.

I loved this show when I was younger (still do), and one of my wife's best friends is a huge fan as well. When I showed her the first ep, she was like "oooohhh" Thats why Friend says "Be Seeing You" so much

Mr. Vader you missed some incredibly niche and probably unintentional reference to a cowboy movie! 1:05:00 High Noon is a western featuring "Do not forsake me o my darlin'" in its theme song (and the song's title). High Noon focuses on a retired sheriff who has disowned violence and retired after marrying a Quaker, but when a band of criminals he imprisoned returns to kill him and ransack the town he has to go back on his promise. The entirety of the town is a web of twisted allegiances, where everyone seems out to get the sheriff, and no one ends up helping him. Not even his wife, who abandons him until the last 5 minutes of the film. All this even though the sheriff rid the town of crime in the first place. It heavily deals with themes of non-violence and complicit actors in violence, as well as the ineffectiveness of violence , only making both the protagonist and antagonist him grow more resentful. Even a retired older sheriff, the main character predecessor, exists solely to disown violence and the criminal justice system. I think the two pieces have a lot in common, and whether intentional or not it is an incredibly fascination decision to name episode 13 after the movie. Even more fascinating, episode 14 is cowboy themed!

I saw the title of this video and my immediate thought was, "Man, this guy is so weird. He literally doesn't care about making videos with a broad appeal that will bring in tons of views. He just makes videos on what he finds interesting, no matter how obscure it is. And I fucking love that. I wish more creators followed their own passions and interests instead of trying to cater to what's "popular" with an algorithm. Love it. And I'm going to watch this whole thing.

putting in my prediction now about 16 minutes into the video: not only will this be an incredibly well researched and in depth analysis of the show, it will also culminate in a single bit where the reason you went through all the effort of researching and making this video is because you wanted context behind something silly like a gif you saw on twitter or something edit: 40 ish minutes in now the personal connection would lead one to believe that there wont be a silly twist at the end but im still holding hope that my prediction is correct final edit: he mentioned the emoji movie so i'm giving myself a half point

Thanks for the video! The first eight minutes convinced me to watch the show and I want to avoid spoilers, so I'm gonna pause this for two years, but thanks for making the rest too!!!!

One of the few KZfaq videos I can unironically watch with my Dad and we both enjoy it, Thank you!

the puppets are just my absolute favorite it makes me want to do youtube with a puppet friend 🥺

I love the way this is structured. Episode breakdown followed by history lesson. It’s so good.

Omg, my dad showed me and my brother The Prisoner when we were kids too! Honestly still one of my fav shows, so I'm glad this vid popped up in my recommended. I feel like I'm the one always bringing it up to other people (and telling them to watch it if I think they might have any possibility of handling the surrealist aspects), but this was perfect to satisfy the craving for the in-depth discussion of it I've always wanted.

Hey Leo, you may not read this, but I just wanted you to know that this video was absolutely fantastic, and in ny opinion the best thing you've made. The algorithm might hate it, but thank you so much for putting it out into the world.

This video might finally get my kids to watch The Prisoner. This was such an amazing show, but if there's one thing I know about being a dad to teens is that nothing you've ever liked will be cool to them. I'll just turn this on and say "what's this dumb show this kid on the tv is babbling about?" and a week from now they'll be experts

I'm so happy to see Leo back, and with such a well made video as well. Thank you for another wonderful video.

Leo could even make a 2 hour video about the Prisoner (1967) Full Series Retrospective and I’d watch it.

He was “difficult”, but Paddy McGoohan was a genius - an absolute legend. And “The Prisoner” remains to this day UNIQUE and has something to say. Great vid btw - be seeing you👌

"You're working 7 day weeks!? You're your *own boss*! And your boss is being toxic!" Excellent line.

Thank you for talking about the prevalence of alice in wonderland references in any piece of media thats trying to be weird and quirky. By referencing the OG weird and quirky thing

Thank you for this video, Leo! First, just miss watching your stuff. Second, I found out about "The Prisoner" from an old co worker in 2008. I forget how I managed to watch it but I did, most likely the library. I've waited for years for someone to make a video like this. Thankfully it was you. Keep up the awesome projects!

What a wonderful documentary. Holy Cow. The Prisoner was also a regular feature for me growing up and I talked about it incessantly . I think the best review I can give outside of I watched the whole thing is it made me rethink a lot of those episodes after a decade of having not watched it. Like it never occurred to me we're never told he was a spy. I always assumed it

Many years ago, another KZfaqr, The Dom. Started a The Prisoner retrospective but never finished it. Thank you for finally giving me what I always wanted

This was a great video essay over something I've actully never heard of before.

MY BOY IS BACK LETS GOOOO

Seeing this channel’s format evolve has been such a joy, consistently the channel that answers questions I didn’t really need to know the answer to but gives me them anyway and I enjoy this.

Never did I think I would watch a 2-hour long video about a TV show I had never heard of and come out the other end definitely deciding to watch it

thank you for this video, I genuinely had no idea this show existed and now I'm gonna go watch it all

Leo Vader and The Prisoner. I would have never expected these circles I enjoy to form a Venn diagram.

Never seen your channel before, I watched the first 20 minutes or so of your video and then paused it so I could go binge watch The Prisoner before continuing. Wild, amazing series and a well thought out retrospective.

god the ending of Many Happy Returns in probably my favorite in the series. such an amazing gut punch, what a spectacular title drop

Omg, someone remembers this amazing show. Leo remembers? Leo is talking about it for two hours? Let's go!

Holy shit hell yes, this is one of my personal favorite shows. So glad to see it getting some attention! Thanks Leo!!!!

I think its cute how him and the puppets are working well together. Love the chemistry the team up has!!

I used to watch this show with my grandparents! I love that it's getting some attention.

is there another youtuber whose skit grew so massive and magnificent that the video turned into an alternate history retrospective? WAIT THIS WAS A REAL SHOW!?

Holy shit, he wasn't lying about the big normal video essay being next

Art. This analysis deserves a vast amount of attention.

Wait, we talkin about The Prisoner (1967) up in here!

2 hours? How did he know it was almost my birthday :o

Two hours?! This is going to be one of those videos i rewatch while i disassociate

I really loved this video! I don't usually watch long form videos and I knew literally nothing about the subject, but I watched this in one sitting and really enjoyed it. Its clear u were passionate about it and wanted to make it, and it shows because its awesome 👍 I loved what you were saying at the end about what we're willing to sacrifice to be remembered, it feels like people need to either completely give up their individuality for easy marketability, or maintain their individuality and ideals at the cost of snubbing everybody else. I didn't even necessarily disagree with Mcgoohan's adherence to his ideals but it sucks that so many people got screwed over.

My biggest revelation when watching this was that, McGoohan was the inspiration for the facial features of Thomas Lennon, Andy Daly, and Mark Hamil.

Ah Patrick McGoohan: the man Columbo caught like five times

I got in to The Prisoner after I read that the Wolverine origin comic Weapon X took a lot from the series. Logan even drives a Lotus 7 in the first issue right before he's captured

Wake up babe. Our favourite youtuber made a 2-hour video on something we've never heard of before.

It took me about 5 or so sittings to watch this video. Wow and thank you.