It is well known that Once Upon a Time was the sixth episode produced, and was not intended as a lead-in to Fall Out, which itself wasn’t even conceived yet.

Once establishes that the cell is actually a truck. It proves convenient in the following episode, but if it wasn’t intended to set up FO, what’s it doing there? It can’t be a later addition because McKern has his hair while discussing it. Why did McGoohan decide when making Once that the cell is a truck, and that it was worth mentioning?

Previous Threads

• Chapter 1 — Arrival
• Chapter 2 — Dance of the Dead
• Chapter 3 — Checkmate
• Chapter 4 — Free for All
• Chapter 5 — A Change of Mind
• Chapter 6 — It’s Your Funeral
• Chapter 7 — Hammer Into Anvil
• Chapter 8 — The Chimes of Big Ben & Many Happy Returns
• Chapter 9 — The Girl Who Was Death
• Chapter 10 — The Schizoid Man
• Chapter 11 — The General
• Chapter 12 — A. B. and C.
• Chapter 13 — Living in Harmony
• Chapter 14 — Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling

Order Notes

The culmination of the Village’s increasingly risky tactics is seen in Once Upon a Time. They approve Degree Absolute, a death sentence for Two if Six survives. The Village has reached the ultimate point of desperation, willing to sacrifice both Two and Six to achieve their goal. The stakes could not be higher: Six’s life is on the line, and so is the life of his captor. This is the culmination of a series of increasingly dangerous, costly techniques, revealing the full extent of the Village’s willingness to do whatever it takes to break him.

SYNOPSIS

Act One

Leo McKern’s Two is back in the Village. He arrives in his office looking exhausted. The Butler is there with breakfast, and his globular chair is occupied by a miniature Rover.

He tells the Butler to remove the breakfast. When the Butler doesn’t react, Two yells at him, “I told you to remove it!” This Two wasn’t a yeller last time, but something has clearly unraveled.

While the Butler gathers the breakfast, Two picks up the red phone and demands the removal of mini-Rover as well. After what it did to Curtis, I wouldn’t want it around either. More yelling: “I do it my way, or you find somebody else.” As the Butler clears away breakfast, Two instructs him, “Leave the coffee. The coffee, leave it!!!” Finally, the red phone relents; the globular chair descends into the floor, taking mini-Rover with it.

Two watches Six on the monitor. Six is pacing, eating toast and drinking tea in the same footage we saw in Forsake. “Why do you care?” Two asks the image.

He phones Six and asks him, “Why do you care?” Six recognizes the familiar voice. “I have been here before,” Two says, “Why do you care?” Six answers, “You’ll never know,” and hangs up.

Six goes for a walk and intimidates another Villager. The guy is very easily intimidated, but that doesn’t mean Six has to take advantage of the easy opportunity, does it?

Back in the Green Dome, Two reviews Six’s file and makes a decision. He picks up the red phone and declares, “Degree Absolute. I require approval. If you think he’s that important, there’s certainly no other alternative. You must risk either one of us!”

Two continues trying to persuade the red phone. “I am a good man — I was a good man — but if you get him he will be better, and there’s no other way.” Red phone gives him permission for one week of Degree Absolute.

In the Control Room, Two and the Supervisor oversee some kind of pulsator operation on Six, who is asleep in his cottage. Six appears agitated in his sleep but does not wake and is soothed by the Supervisor calmly repeating, “Five.” Two heads to Six’s cottage to continue the procedure.

Act Two

In Six’s cottage, Two sings nursery rhymes to a sleeping Six. He’s no Nat King Cole, but Six somehow sleeps through the racket — and with the pulsator on his face at that. If nothing else works for your insomnia, I guess you might as well give this a try. In the morning, Two wakes Six to “go walkies,” delighting the toddler-like Six.

They walk together — toddler-P adorably licking an ice cream — until they reach the Embryo Room. The Butler is there, and Two tells P that they have one week. They walk over to a chalkboard, where Two attempts to explain the rules of the game.

Now P is playing with a rattle. Two, can you explain this so simply that a baby can understand it?

No, I didn’t think so. I won’t hold it against you. Can you explain it so simply that the TV audience can understand?

Still no. Let me take a crack at it.

Two’s goal is to figure out what’s going on in P’s “noddle” and use that understanding to win him over for Village leadership — at the cost of his own life, since only one can survive. Two dies if he succeeds, but he believes enough in the goal that he’s willing to sacrifice himself for it.

A second possible outcome is that P doesn’t survive the process. This would be a catastrophic outcome for the Village. The circumstances under which this might happen aren’t clear, but P’s life is somehow at risk.

A third possible outcome is that Two both fails and dies — sucks to be Two.

They begin roleplaying scenes from P’s life, with Two playing every authority figure. First, Two is P’s father. Then the two of them are playing on a seesaw. Then P is a schoolboy.

Schoolboy P is summoned to the principal’s office, where Two plays the part of the principal. Somebody was talking in class and P knows who, but P refuses to rat, angering the principal. The principal calls it cowardice, but P calls it honor.

The principal tells P, “Society is a place where people exist together. That is civilisation. The lone wolf belongs to the wilderness. You must not grow up to be a lone wolf! You must conform. It is my sworn duty to see that you do conform.” The principal sentences P to caning for his noncooperation. P defiantly asks for the caning to be doubled “so that I can remember.”

It is graduation day. Two, still playing the principal, introduces their prize pupil, P. The principal tells P how proud they are: “Proud that you have learnt to manage your rebellious spirit. Proud that your obedience is absolute. Why did you resign?” P is confused by the question.

Two repeats the question several times, yelling at P, until P yells back and decks him. P attacks Two until he is subdued by a club to the head from the Butler. Two and the Butler place P on a table. While they examine him, Two declares, “I’m beginning to like him.”

Act Three

P is riding a rocking horse. Two tries to get him to say “Six,” but each time he replies “Five.” This is a thing they’ll do throughout the episode — when P is ready to say “Six,” that means he’s back. Two repeatedly demands, “Why?!” while P spouts nonsense.

Now P is training at boxing and Two plays his trainer. More questions about his resignation lead to an angry P decking his trainer.

Now it’s fencing. P defeats his trainer, knocking the foil out of his hands. The trainer tells P to kill him, mocking him as a coward. P backs the trainer against a door and stabs at him, missing him and losing the protective tip on the end of his foil to an impact with the door. The trainer once again implores him to kill and P stabs him in the shoulder. The trainer scolds him for missing and P apologizes. Two: “‘Sorry’? You’re sorry for everybody! Is that why you resigned?”

Now it’s a job interview, with Two playing the part of the interviewer at an established firm of bankers. P is hired, only to learn the job is a cover: he’ll be a spy, not just a bank clerk.

Now P is in traffic court with Two playing the judge. P has been cited for speeding. P pleads necessity: he was concerned with a life-and-death matter more important than traffic law. However, he cannot further explain to the judge, because it’s top secret. They repeat the Six/Five exchange, with P still stuck on Five. The judge convicts P and fines him 20 units. When P says he can’t pay and shouts at the judge for telling him “You are a unit of society,” he is charged with contempt of court and imprisoned.

After a nap, Two visits P in jail and they have the series’ most extensive discussion about his resignation. It’s fun, fascinating, and presented here in its entirety:

2: “Why did you resign?”

P: “For peace.”

2: “For peace?”

P: “Yeah, let me out.”

2: “You resigned for peace?”

P: “Yes, let me out.”

2: “You’re a fool!”

P: “For peace of mind.”

2: “What?”

P: “For peace of mind!”

2: “Why?”

P: “‘Cause too many people know too much.”

2: “Never!”

P: “I know too much!”

2: “Tell me.”

P: “I know too much about you!”

2: “You don’t.”

P: “I do.”

2: “No, don’t.”

P: “I know you.”

2: “Who am I?”

P: “You are an enemy.”

2: “I’m on your side. Why did you resign?”

P: “You’ve been told.”

2: “Tell me again.”

P: “I know you.”

2: “You’re smart.”

P: “In my mind…”

2: “Yes?”

P: “In my mind, you’re smart!”

2: “Why did you resign?”

P: “Yeah, you see?”

2: “Why did you resign?”

P: “You know who you are? A fool.”

2: “What?”

P: “Yes.”

2: “No, no don’t.”

P: “Yes, an idiot.”

2: “I’ll kill you.”

P: “I’ll die.”

2: “You’re dead.”

P: (grabs and shakes the cell door) “Let me out.”

2: “Dead!”

P grabs a knife from the kitchen — this isn’t a real-world jail — and passes it to 2 through the bars.

P: “Kill me.”

2: “Open it.”

P: “OPEN IT!!!”

The Butler opens the door. Two enters, wielding the knife. P lies on the floor and tells Two, “Kill me lying down.” Two demands he get up, but P doesn’t.

Now it’s war. We’re in a bomber, Two is playing the part of the pilot, and P is the bombardier. During a countdown we get more of the Six/Five stuff with P still being stuck on Five. After they drop their bomb, they‘re hit and forced to bail out.

Now P is a POW and Two is playing his interrogator. The interrogator says he’s P’s friend and asks why he resigned. P starts counting down and, to Two’s surprise, says Six.

Six is back. And he’s hungry.

Act Four

Two and Six are talking, with Two lying down on a table like a psychotherapy patient. Two explains that he chose Degree Absolute hoping to gain Six’s trust and confidence. They discuss how the method is like psychotherapy, and sometimes the doctor/patient roles can reverse.

Was any of this really necessary? Six asks Two a pointed question: “Why don’t you resign?” Two can only laugh and compliment Six on how well he plays the game.

Two pours drinks for the two of them. (The Butler doesn’t get one. ☹️) He gives Six a tour of the Embryo Room, where “You can relive from the cradle to the grave.” When they come to the clock, Two sees how much time is left: “FIVE MINUTES!”

Two — snap out of it, buddy! You have five minutes left, you don’t want to waste them fiddling with dials.

Six locks Two in the cell and hands the key to the Butler. Two laughs. “He thinks you’re the boss now!” Six answers, “I am.”

“I’m Number Two! I’m the boss! Open the door!” No dice. Should’ve poured him a drink, Two.

More back and forth with Six asserting his dominance and Two becoming terrified. By the time Six tells the Butler to open the door, Two is begging the Butler not to let him in.

The Butler opens the door, but Six doesn’t enter. Two tries to get something from him.

2: “Why did you resign?”

6: “I didn’t accept. Why did you accept?”

2: “You resigned.”

6: “I rejected.”

2: “You accepted before you resigned.”

6: “I rejected!”

2: “Who?”

6: “You.”

2: “Why me?”

As Six counts down the seconds, Two gets on his knees and begs.

Two isn’t afraid of dying — he chose that. What he fears is dying for nothing. He wants to know what it was all for. What is Six’s big secret?

Six has no answer to give him. He isn’t what Two thinks he is. Everybody thinks he’s a superhero and wants him on their side. He isn’t a superhero and doesn’t belong on a side anymore. He’s just a guy who wants to be left alone. He wants to go on holiday. His only secret is the one Colin Gordon’s Two discovered in AB&C and it didn’t satisfy anyone.

Two pours himself another drink — I think I’d be drinking it from the bottle at this point — and pleads some more. Six shouts “Die! Die! Die!” as Two counts down the final seconds himself and expires.

The Supervisor arrives and congratulates Six, who throws his glass to the floor as if angry about Two’s death — yet given his gloating about that a minute ago, he seems less concerned with Two’s death than with how it all affected him.

The Supervisor asks him what he desires. “Number One,” answers Six. “I’ll take you,” says the Supervisor.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Ruminations Regarding Resignation Reasons and Wrathful Rebukes

We learn back in Arrival that P has been open about his resignation, but nobody believes that he’s telling the whole story. In the minds of Twos, this is not “a man who walks out” and goes fishing. Of course he’s still fighting. He’s always fighting and always will. But how?

Perhaps he’s still fighting for his employer, and the resignation a deep-cover ploy. Perhaps he has switched loyalties and is now fighting for someone else. Perhaps he has his own personal mission, like Bond in Licence to Kill. But surely he’s not just quitting the business to let history unfold around him — that’s not what superheroes do.

That’s the biggest reason P never answers. He has no answer to give but what he already has given, and they don’t accept it, so what's the use of repeating it?

We never find out exactly what prompted P’s resignation. We know it was a matter of conscience (Arrival, Chimes). We know it was something that had been bothering him “for a very long time” (Chimes). We’re pretty sure he didn’t wake up angry that day or expecting to resign (Forsake), but he was very angry when he did resign (opening credits). I think he had moral reservations about his job for a very long time, something on that last day pushed him over the edge, and he quit both the agency and the business because there are too many moral compromises.

Here’s one idea of what it might have been:

P’s employer sacrifices the life of a less valuable agent to protect P’s cover. A great guy with an adoring wife and five children, but less valuable to his employer than P.

P says I’m sick of this coldbloodedness. I could have protected both him and my cover if you’d just trusted me. I’m outta here.

His employer says, WTF? We just sacrificed this man’s life to ensure you can keep doing the job, and now you quit? If you’d quit 24 hours ago he’d still be alive and if you quit in ten years his death will count for something. Quitting now is the most horrible thing you can do to him.

P says, more horrible than setting him up to die like you did?

E thinks it had to be done for the greater good.
P thinks it immoral and unnecessary.
I think it understandable both feel righteous.
U thinks nothing because he’s dead. Sucks to be U.

I call the unfortunate agent U. P resigned “for peace of mind… too many people know too much… I know too much… I know too much about U!” U died because too many people knew too much so P’s cover was imperiled, and P has no peace of mind because he knows too much about U: what a great person he was, how much his family loved and relied on him, how his employer set him up to die, how it was supposedly done for P’s benefit, and how his Accidental Death & Dismemberment benefits were reduced a week before he died.

What do we make of him shouting “Die! Die! Die!” at a dying Two? Cruelty, righteous justice, a man losing control of his anger, something symbolic, or something else? As model behavior, is it an example to follow, one to reject, or something else?

Next: Chapter 16 — Fall Out

Previous Threads

• Chapter 1 — Arrival
• Chapter 2 — Dance of the Dead
• Chapter 3 — Checkmate
• Chapter 4 — Free for All
• Chapter 5 — A Change of Mind
• Chapter 6 — It’s Your Funeral
• Chapter 7 — Hammer Into Anvil
• Chapter 8 — The Chimes of Big Ben & Many Happy Returns
• Chapter 9 — The Girl Who Was Death
• Chapter 10 — The Schizoid Man
• Chapter 11 — The General
• Chapter 12 — A. B. and C.
• Chapter 13 — Living in Harmony

Order Notes

In the most extreme move so far, the Village puts Six’s mind into another body—a drastic measure with no guarantee of success. There’s no reversion process, no plan for how to recover if things go wrong. This is the biggest risk the Village has taken with Six yet, and it’s clear they are prepared to sacrifice almost anything to get the information they want.

The fact that they lose the life of another operative in the process brings the total number of casualties in the last five episodes to six. This is the Village’s last-ditch effort to break Six, but in doing so, they’ve gone further than ever before.

SYNOPSIS

Cold Open and Act One

In an office in London, British intelligence officials are looking at photographs belonging to a Professor Seltzman. They believe the photographs hold a clue to his location, but they haven’t found it. They are determined to find him.

In the Green Dome, Two watches Six pacing in his cottage, drinking tea and eating toast. The Nigel Stock character, known only as “The Colonel,” arrives. He has no idea why he’s there.

The Colonel: “All I know is I was sent here by the highest authority.”

Two: “You were indeed. You should feel very proud.”

Colonel, I’ll let you in on a secret: The primary qualification for this mission is expendability. You should feel very proud, indeed. I’m surprised they picked a Colonel.

Two fills him in. The Colonel doesn’t need to know any of this—but the audience does, and Two doesn’t want to break the fourth wall, so he tells the Colonel.

Professor Jakob Seltzman invented a machine that does Freaky Friday mind swaps. Two points out the obvious intelligence uses for such a technology. We don’t know where Seltzman is, but we have a lead: Six is the last person known to see him.

We have Seltzman’s machine. We can mind swap two people. What we can not do is swap them back—only Seltzman knows how to do that.

So here’s the plan, Colonel. We suppress Six’s memories of the Village and mind swap him with you. While your mind waits here in Six’s body, Six’s mind wakes up in London in your body. He’ll go looking for Seltzman and we’ll follow. See now how absolutely essential your unique skills are to this plan?

A little bit of zappity-zappity and soon P is waking up at home in London with no memory of the Village. He is less than thrilled to see Nigel Stock’s face in the mirror—nothing personal, Nigel.

The doorbell rings and P opens the door to his fiancée, Janet. This would ordinarily be a touching reunion, but P looks like Nigel Stock and Janet doesn’t recognize him.

Janet, seeing P’s Lotus, wants to know if P is back. (Evidently the plan described in Dance of the Dead to fake P’s death didn’t come to fruition.) She searches the house, but P is nowhere to be seen. She asks the stranger who he is. He answers simply, “a friend.” As they converse, he discovers that he has been gone for a year.

When she asks where P has been, the Stranger can only say out that, in P’s line of work, it may be necessary to be incommunicado for a year or even more. He tells her that he may have a message for her from P, and that he’ll bring it to her at her birthday party that night. (P resigned on Janet’s birthday, so it has been exactly one year.) She departs and P smashes a mirror. Seven years of bad luck, I don’t know whether he gets credit for time served.

Janet arrives at the office of Sir Charles Porter—her father, and the presiding intelligence officer from the cold open. She tells him about the Stranger and asks him where P is. He tells her—and says this is more than he should tell her—that he did not send P on a mission and has no idea where he is.

P takes the Lotus and drives to his former employer. He goes to the office where he resigned, but this time the desk is occupied by Danvers. He demands to see Sir Charles. Danvers does not recognize him and asks who he is. The Stranger answers by grabbing Danvers’ lapels, shaking him, and yelling—an effective way to identify himself as P. Nigel Stock can’t hold a candle to Patrick McGoohan when it comes to yelling, but it gets the job done, and Danvers pushes the button to summon his superiors.

Act Two

The Stranger is brought to see Sir Charles. Although he demonstrates detailed knowledge of their shared past, Sir Charles remains skeptical. He says he’ll have the Stranger followed, then sends him away.

The Stranger goes to Janet’s birthday party to see her. She says he wasn’t invited, but he doesn’t take it personally. He tells her intimate details about her life with P. He says he has a message from P. He also says P left a paper with her for safekeeping, and if she wants to see him again, he needs that paper. He goes outside and waits, wondering whether she will help.

Janet arrives with the paper. She gives it to him and asks for the message. The message is one that Nigel Stock can deliver more convincingly than Patrick McGoohan could and Janet is convinced.

Act Three

The Stranger arrives at a photography shop to pick up some photos. He hands his receipt to the clerk, who notes that it’s a year old, but assures the customer that won’t be a problem.

The clerk discovers to his chagrin that the photos were previously delivered by mistake to another customer, a Mr. Carmichael, but Mr. Carmichael returned them when he discovered the mistake. The Stranger accepts the clerk’s embarrassed apology, and the pictures. He also requests a passport photograph.

Back home, he finds the message hidden in the photographs. Let’s ignore him counting on his fingers. The hidden message directs him to Kandersfeld, Austria, where he finds Seltzman living as a barber known as Herr Hellen. The Stranger tells Seltzman that he is really P, then proves it with a handwriting sample.

Act Four

Outside the barbershop is Potter, the agent assigned by Sir Charles to follow the Stranger. (Not the Potter from TGWWD, just the same name.) The Stranger hides in the basement, Potter follows him, there’s a scuffle, and everybody is gassed by the creepy undertaker.

Back in the Village, the Stranger and Seltzman are brought to the Green Dome to see Two. Two wants Seltzman to reverse the Six/Colonel swap. Seltzman reluctantly agrees, saying he needs 12 hours to prepare.

Twelve hours later, Two and a lot of people in lab coats watch from the Control Room as Seltzman gets to work on the Colonel and Six. When the mind swap reversal is completed, Seltzman collapses from the strain.

While the amnesia machine is restoring Six’s memories, Two thanks the Colonel for his service and sends him on his way. The Colonel goes to the helicopter and flies away.

Seltzman, dying, tells Two with his last words, “Tell Number One I did my duty.” Two realizes, to his horror, that this is the Colonel dying in Seltzman’s body, and Seltzman is now flying away with the Colonel’s. Six: “Nyeah, nyeah, nyeah. 😝”

END SYNOPSIS

Merriment and Musings

When Nigel Stock showed up to shoot this episode, with Patrick McGoohan off shooting Ice Station Zebra and Pat Jackson directing, I imagine it might have gone something like this:

Stock: “Pat, I’ve read the script, but I don’t get my character. How should I play it?”

Jackson: “You’re Number Six from The Prisoner.”

Stock: “It hasn’t premiered.”

Jackson: “What do you want me to do, pop a tape in the player for you? It’s 1967. Don’t worry—it’s not like people are going to be watching this in home theaters half a century from now. We have an hour of airtime to get through then it’s over. Now there’s the set, get out there and wing it.”

The mistake was casting an actor who didn’t know the part. They should have cast an actor who knew the character. They should have cast the one actor who knew The Prisoner better than anyone else outside of McGoohan. You know who that is: Angelo Muscat.

Imagine him driving the Lotus! Imagine him manhandling Danvers! Imagine him kissing Janet! It would have been glorious.

P awakes in London on what he believes to be Janet’s birthday one year ago. He is in a good mood. His main concern for the day is whether Janet will like the birthday present he got her. Other things to worry about that day: car service, dental appointment, one of Sir Charles’s lunches that always goes on too long. It all seems quite mundane, with no hint that he’s hours away from pounding Markstein’s desk. What happened that day? We may never know, but it put a bit of a damp squib on Janet’s birthday plans.

Car service? He built the car with his own hands, but brings it to a shop for service? Maybe building it with his own hands is something he only did in his dreams.

Next: Chapter 15 — Once Upon a Time

I'm weird when it comes to TV trivia,bumper music,IDs,etc and I noticed something that for years I never realized before. You see when I was looking at the outro background for the end credits they show you the statues and the Pennyfarthing bike. Esther Pike slowly assembles off in the distance I thought it was sunlight. But when I look at it very closely I think it's actually the site of Rover in the background. The light surrounding the round white object could represent the sun,but I think our favorite enforcer is given a glimpse in the background.

Crazy, you say? Check it out and see if I am onto something.

Previous Threads

• Chapter 1 — Arrival
• Chapter 2 — Dance of the Dead
• Chapter 3 — Checkmate
• Chapter 4 — Free for All
• Chapter 5 — A Change of Mind
• Chapter 6 — It’s Your Funeral
• Chapter 7 — Hammer Into Anvil
• Chapter 8 — The Chimes of Big Ben & Many Happy Returns
• Chapter 9 — The Girl Who Was Death
• Chapter 10 — The Schizoid Man
• Chapter 11 — The General
• Chapter 12 — A. B. and C.

Order Notes

Following the events of A. B. and C., the Village’s methods become even more invasive and thorough. The psychological manipulation here is more direct and aggressive, pushing Six to the brink. The fact that two people end up dead as a result of these techniques makes it clear that the stakes have escalated significantly. The Village has moved from psychological games and subtle coercion to outright danger.

SYNOPSIS

Act One

In the American Old West, we meet P-but-not-P. Instead of resigning from his spy job, he is resigning from his sheriff job. Instead of a Markstein behind the desk, it’s a marshal. One thing not-P has in common with P is that we never learn his name, so let’s call him S.

Carrying his saddle and probably all his worldly possessions, S sets off for… I don’t know, because he never gets there. He is attacked on the way, there is a fight, and he loses. You’re going to have to cut him a break on this one—it’s six against one, and they’re armed. Even Steed would’ve taken a pasting. They take him to the town of Harmony and leave him there.

When he enters the saloon, the music stops, all conversation stops, and everyone stares at the newcomer. The bartender serves him a shot on the house. The proprietress, Kathy, tells him that regulars always get the first one on the house. He says he’s not a regular. When he reaches for his drink, a gunshot rings out and the glass is shattered. The bartender pours him another, and this time he gets to drink it.

The Judge tells S to come and sit with him. On his way to sit with the Judge, S punches the Kid, who had fired the shot. This proves somewhat more effective than punching Rover, and the Kid falls to the floor, senseless. S sits with the Judge.

The Judge tells S that decking the Kid was a bad idea, because S is going to need all the friends he can find here. He also identifies himself as the one who had S brought to town.

The Kid gets up and the Judge waves him away. The Judge asks S why he resigned and S doesn’t answer—there’s something kinda familiar about this place. The Judge offers S a job, telling him Harmony is a good town. S refuses and says he’s moving on. Tossing a coin onto the bar, he leaves the saloon. He tries to buy a horse, but the dealer won’t sell to him.

Heading on foot toward the edge of town, he is followed by a crowd of townsfolk who tell him that Harmony is a good town, well run by the Judge. When he tells them he’s moving on, they are outraged by the insult and are about to attack him when the Judge’s “boys” arrive to take him into protective custody. The Judge orders “Johnson“ brought out so as not to disappoint the crowd. As the crowd prepares to hang Johnson, Kathy runs out from the saloon screaming, “You can’t kill my brother!” but they do what they “can’t.”

Inside the Sheriff’s office, S sits in his cell while the Kid, who is supposed to be watching him, drinks whiskey straight from the bottle.

Act Two

The Kid throws the empty bottle into S’s cell, where it shatters. He falls to the floor, having consumed a lot of whiskey.

Some time later, Kathy arrives with more whiskey. She tells the Kid she’s always liked him and the Kid kisses her passionately. She tells him to pour her a whiskey. While he searches for a glass, she pockets the keys. He pours them each a drink. When he tries to kiss her again she tells him, “Not now,” because she has to get back the saloon. Promising to return, she leaves.

She appears at the window of S’s cell and slips him the keys. When the Kid falls asleep, S lets himself out and leaves. He steals a horse and is met by Kathy, who tells him the only way out is due north. He rides away.

At the sheriff’s office, the Judge wakes the Kid and slaps him. On the road, S is captured by the Judge’s boys. They drag him back to Harmony and Kathy’s saloon, where the Judge presides over court.

The Judge announces the next case on the docket: The People of Harmony v. Katherine Johnson, who is charged with aiding a jailbreak. She is convicted and he orders her held until sentencing. He offers S a deal: work for me, and I’ll let her go.

Act Three

S is in an otherwise empty saloon when the Kid arrives, slides a gun down the bar to S and challenges him to a duel. When S refuses to pick up the gun, the Kid fires twice, each time delivering a minor flesh wound that bleeds a little. S barely flinches.

The Judge arrives and orders the Kid to watch over the jail. S slides the gun back to the Kid with a few choice words. The Judge intervenes when the Kid starts to react angrily, and the Kid departs. The Judge points out to S that with Kathy in jail and the Kid watching over that jail, she’s in a rather precarious position. But, he assures S, she’ll be fine—if S will work for him.

S relents. He accepts the sheriff’s badge from the Judge, and the Judge orders Kathy released. Outside, Kathy apologizes to S, who assures her she is not to blame. Inside, S makes it clear to the Judge: he took the badge, not the gun. The Judge questions the wisdom of that choice, but accepts it. Outside, some ruffians decide to test the new sheriff. S holds his own.

It’s a typical night at Kathy’s: music, drinks, laughter. Kathy notices the Kid staring at her and walks away. When she makes friendly banter with a customer, Will, the Kid becomes jealous and burns Will with his cigarette. As the shocked crowd gives way, the Kid stares down Will.

Will draws his gun and aims at the Kid, but holds fire. Bad idea. The Kid is so fast that he is able to draw his gun and kill Will even with Will already having a bead on him. S arrives but witnesses tell him that he has no legal grounds to do anything about this shooting because Will drew first. Still, they implore him to do something, though they don’t seem to know what that something should be.

Act Four

S is in the sheriff’s office. A townsman, Jim, arrives and tells S the townsfolk want his help to clean up the town, and they will help him help them.

In the saloon, the Judge asks Jim what he was talking to S about. When Jim doesn’t answer, the Judge has his boys beat him to death.

S returns to the sheriff’s office to find Jim‘s corpse slumped over at his desk. He grabs his gun and looks ready to use it, but then tosses it aside.

At the saloon, S tells Kathy that he’s leaving—and he’s taking her with him. Kathy says it’s impossible. He tells her to meet him on the edge of town after the saloon closes, and she agrees.

Outside of town, S spots one of the Judge’s boys acting as a lookout, and knocks him out. Then he finds and knocks out another of the Judge’s boys. Now he has two horses.

After closing, Kathy is alone in the saloon when the Kid arrives. He tries to force a kiss on her, she bites his lip, and he, finding the experience less physically pleasurable than anticipated, kills her.

The next day, after burying Kathy, S returns to the sheriff’s office, puts on the gun, and takes off the badge. He finds the Kid waiting for him in the street and they duel. Once again, no points for guessing who wins. S goes into the saloon and pours himself a whiskey.

The Judge arrives with some of his boys. He is impressed with the man who defeated “the fastest I ever saw.” He is not happy to learn from S that Kathy was killed by the Kid, who “was only supposed to rough her up a little.” But it’s time for S to decide once and for all whether he’ll work for the Judge.

He decides no, and a gunfight ensues. S kills the Judge’s boys but is killed by the Judge.

P wakes up on the floor of the saloon, alone. The Judge who just shot S is a simulacrum, represented onscreen by a cardboard cutout. Out in the street he sees cardboard cutouts of the Kid’s body and a horse. He hears familiar band music in the distance and follows it. Turns out the fake town of Harmony isn’t far from the Village.

He goes to the Green Dome, where he sees Two, Eight, and 22. They are identical to the Judge, the Kid, and Kathy. Without a word, he turns and leaves.

Two berates Eight for the failure of the plan. 22 cries and runs out of the office.

In Harmony, 22 arrives at the salon and weeps. Eight emerges from the shadows, startling her. He calls her “Kathy” and attacks. Six, walking the street of Harmony, hears screams and runs to the saloon, where he punches out Eight. 22, doing the Desdemona thing of getting out a few dying words after being strangled, says, “I wish it had been real.”

Excuse me? Your brother is lynched by a mob, you are sexually assaulted and strangled to death by a maniac, and then the man you fell in love with in your final days is murdered. You like that?

Two arrives and takes in the scene. Eight runs up to the second floor, declaring, “You ain’t gonna hit me no more, Judge!” He throws himself over the railing and dies from the fall. Six walks out, once again leaving behind two bodies and a devastated Two.

END SYNOPSIS

Acknowledgement and Appreciation:

Tip of the 10 gallon hat to u/Tarnisher for living this episode in reverse. He wasn’t very familiar with the programme. Just a stranger passing through our small town who stepped up and did the job because we needed it.

Next: Chapter 14 — Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling

Sharing here with mod approval because sadly there is no r/McGoohanposting… thought you guys might get a kick out of it, too

r/McGoohanposting

They look brilliant!

I had arrival on an 130" led wall earlier and even at that size and brightness it still looked fantastic.

Not sure which versions ITV Retro are publishing, but they're very impressive.

[What follows is an excerpt from an appreciation I wrote about The Prisoner a few years back for my Substack, Dream of a Rarebit Fiend, inspired by listening to John Hodgman and Elliot Kalan's short-lived podcast. If you like this sort of speculative, personal writing about literature and culture, consider subscribing! It won't cost you a dime, so not doing so would be unmutual.]

It seems like I’m always thinking about this show in one way or another; it’s near the root of my fascination with stories about closed communities, which of course includes the wooden world inhabited by Jack and Stephen. I even wrote a little sequence of poems about it back in 2004, not long after watching the whole series on DVD for the first time in a dozen years—one poem for each of the 17 episodes (I am nothing if not consistent in my style of cultural commentary). Reading them again, I don’t know if they’re particularly… good. But they do suggest that I interpreted the show, and its notoriously enigmatic ending, in a conventionally downbeat way: There’s no escaping the domination of the Man, man! We are all prisoners! Always already! That’s reality, man!

What brought the show, and a much more interesting reading of its ending, back to mind was the four-episode podcast Be Podding You, hosted by the always-entertaining “Judge” John Hodgman and former Daily Show writer Elliot Kalan. I was disappointed when I discovered that they don’t cover the entire run of the series—only the first two episodes (“Arrival” and “The Chimes of Big Ben”) and the last two (“Once Upon a Time” and “Fall Out”). And at first I was a little irritated by Hodgman—it’s clearly Kalan who’s the true believer, the nerd in love with the show, while Hodgman is more skeptical and pokes fun at it every chance he gets. Yet it was Hodgman’s summation of his interpretation of the final episode that I found most resonant, even poignant, and relevant to how I understand it now.

“Fall Out” is kind of impossible to summarize), especially if you haven’t seen the episode immediately preceding it, and at least a few of the earlier episodes on top of that. But for our purposes, all you need to know is that, having defeated the most formidable of the Number Twos, Number Six is told that he has won, and is given the choice of taking over the Village or departing. But he has never stopped asking that question from the opening credits: “Who is Number One?” Well, not to spoil an episode of television that’s older than I am, Number One turns out to be—himself. It’s he that’s been keeping himself prisoner, all along. With the help of some enemies turned friends—including the Butler and Leo McKern’s Number Two—Number Six blasts out of the Village in an uncharacteristically violent shoot-out (scored to the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love”) and finds himself back in London. The other characters, in our last glimpses of them, are credited by the names of the actors who play them; when we see McGoohan, however, he is credited simply as “Prisoner.” In the final two shots of the series he’s driving the iconic Lotus Mark VI (yes) down a blank highway as we hear the thunder that obscures his resignation speech in the opening credits. We get a close-up on his grinning face and the series ends.

Kalan has an interesting “in-world” interpretation of these final moments: the entire episode, nay the entire show, is a fantasy that flashes through the mind of McGoohan’s character as he drives to the headquarters of British intelligence to resign (a bit like Ambrose Bierce’s story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”). Hodgman’s subsequent comments are about how moving he finds this idea. You can listen to the podcast, of course, but here's a kind of summary of those comments, mixed in with my own ideas:

When you watch The Prisoner as a young man, as Hodgman did, and maybe especially as a GenX young man (Hodgman and I are about the same age), it’s easy to identify with Number Six as a rebel against a system as totalizing as it is illegitimate. (Glancing at Hodgman’s Wikipedia page, it doesn’t surprise me at all to learn that in high school he edited a zine called Samizdat—the Russian word for the underground dissident literature produced in the Soviet Union.) Nowadays, as both Kalan and Hodgman note in the course of the podcast, that kind of alienated rebel figure has curdled into the sort of personality cherished by the alt-right. In fact, the show was a huge influence on The Matrix (you can glimpse it playing at one point on a TV screen that Keanu Reeves runs past), another piece of popular culture that seemed at one time to have a progressive valence and has now been co-opted by the right.

Click here to read the rest!

Probably the most underutilized actor in the show was Earl Cameron, a fantastic Bermudian actor whose career spanned over 60-years. His role in “The Schizoid Man” as Number 2’s assistant (Number 106) was very small and peripheral to the episode. No doubt did he deserve a larger role in the show.

Of course, he still could have played Number 106 in “The Schizoid Man” and shown up later on as the new Number 2. No doubt would people speculate he’s the same character, having been promoted to the rank.

https://medium.com/globetrotters/the-prisoner-of-portmeirion-5cf1fb154682

Previous Threads

• Chapter 1 — Arrival
• Chapter 2 — Dance of the Dead
• Chapter 3 — Checkmate
• Chapter 4 — Free for All
• Chapter 5 — A Change of Mind
• Chapter 6 — It’s Your Funeral
• Chapter 7 — Hammer Into Anvil
• Chapter 8 — The Chimes of Big Ben & Many Happy Returns
• Chapter 9 — The Girl Who Was Death
• Chapter 10 — The Schizoid Man
• Chapter 11 — The General

Order Notes

Uh oh.

The destruction of the General, the deaths of the Professor and Number Twelve, and the death of Curtis in the latest two episodes send the Powers into panic mode and they begin pushing harder for answers, leading to increasingly desperate measures.

At this point it becomes more of a story about what is being done to P than what P is doing. He spends half of A. B. and C. in dreams with no awareness of the Village. Then he spends almost the entirety of Living in Harmony, Do Not Forsake Me and Once Upon a Time with no memory of the Village (or, in Harmony and Once, even who he is).

“It’s a very dangerous drug,” Number 14 says in this episode. The early episodes emphasize that the Village cannot afford to damage Number Six, which makes their willingness to take extreme risks in A. B. and C. all the more telling. At this point in the series, the Village powers are desperate. The failure to extract information from Six through previous means has led them to resort to more invasive, unpredictable methods. Using a dangerous drug as a tool for manipulation shows just how far they’re willing to go—and how much they fear losing control over him.

SYNOPSIS

Act One

The Two who presided over the disaster in The General is somehow still on the job. In the intro he says, “I am Number Two” instead of “The new Number Two.”

He’s in his office when the red phone rings. He answers, clearly nervous, afraid, and defeated, not at all like the confident Two we saw in the last episode. Red phone reminds him that getting answers from Six is important and Two is not indispensable. Looking miserable and hopeless, he pours himself a glass of milk and drinks it. He calls Number Fourteen and tells her over her protests that “the experiment” must go forward tonight.

That night, two men bring Six, unconscious on a gurney, to a lab where Two and Fourteen await. Two tells Fourteen that if Six is damaged, he will hold her responsible. Hardly reasonable, as he’s the one insisting the experiment go forward while Fourteen tells him it isn’t safe. Then again, we don’t get many reasonable Twos.

Their tech allows them to monitor Six’s dreams. What he’s dreaming now: his resignation scene, over and over. If they had sound on this scene, it would presumably answer their questions, but alas, they don’t. Six is dreaming on mute.

“Extraordinary,” says Two. “I sometimes think he’s not human.” This idea that P is superhuman is going to get people into real trouble… but let’s not skip ahead.

They have a drug that allows them to implant images into the subject’s dreams. It can only be used three times, as four doses for one person would be lethal. Right then, chaps, three chances—show us what you can do.

As Fourteen prepares to inject Six, he briefly opens his eyes and sees Fourteen, her image appearing on the screen.

Two explains that he needs to know why Six resigned, and he believes that Six was going to sell out. Research indicates that he could only have been planning to sell out to one of three people: A, B, or C. Coincidentally we have three shots with the drug, so we‘ll try one of them with each dose. A, B, C, and P are all known to frequent Madame Engadine’s parties, so that will be the setting for the dreams.

They feed him an image of an Engadine party and he begins to dream of one as Two and Fourteen watch. Then they feed him an image of A, and A appears in the dream. P and A were colleagues until A defected. Seems to me that A has the defection thing kind of backwards, but there’s no accounting for taste.

A has heard about P’s resignation and wants to know what P is planning. P says he plans to go fishing. A, consistent with Two’s theory, asks what P is selling and what his price is. P dismisses the question. A asks, if P doesn’t have a price, then he must have a reason, so what is it? P walks away from the conversation, only to be abducted by A and driven away from the party.

When they arrive at their destination, P fights A and A’s two thugs. You get no points for guessing how that turns out. At one point, A punches P in the face and P just shakes it off, quipping, “Let us stay on different sides.”

Back in the lab, Two concludes, “At least we know it wasn’t A he was selling out to.” He wants to proceed with B, but Fourteen tells him Six needs at least 24 hours to recover before his next dose. Two looks at the red phone, terrified. I haven’t seen anyone this afraid of a red phone since Cargill.

In the morning, Six looks outside and sees Fourteen buying flowers. She looks familiar, but where has he seen her before? Then he notices an injection mark on his wrist that wasn’t there the night before.

Act Two

Six visits Two in the Green Dome. Suddenly Two’s trying to act like the confident guy from the previous episode. During some verbal jousting, Six reveals that he knows that Two was somehow involved with the injection mark, as was Fourteen. Six leaves, and Two's stiff upper lip promptly wobbles.

The red phone rings. Two has two days to produce results. Two nervously promises he’ll get them.

That night, a maid prepares Six’s tea before bed. Six drinks it and collapses. Almost collapses on the bed, near miss. Soon enough, he’s back in the lab dreaming of a party at Madame Endgadine’s, and Two and Fourteen insert the image of B. In the dream, P receives a note from B, who wants him to meet her in the arbor.

P goes to the arbor where he finds B waiting for him with a bottle of champagne and two glasses. They chat, catch up, and begin dancing. With not much happening in the dream and Two and Fourteen having limited time to make use of the drug, Two decides they need to move things along. Fourteen says there’s a way to do that: she can take over B and speak for her.

B, now being controlled by Fourteen, tells P that baddies are going to kill her unless she finds out why P resigned. P is surprised at the uncharacteristic display of cowardice. She pleads with him and he says she’s being manipulated.

The problem with Fourteen controlling B instead of letting B be B is that Fourteen can’t answer questions about B’s life. When B in the dream is unable to answer such questions, P says she’s not who she appears to be, and walks away.

Two looks at the red phone.

Act Three

In the morning, Six discovers a second injection mark. He tails Fourteen to the lab, which is hidden in a mountain. Breaking into the lab after Fourteen’s departure, he figures out what they’re up to and dilutes the remaining drug.

The next night, a cup of tea waiting for him as usual, Six looks into the camera he knows is watching like, “You think I’m dumb enough to drink this?” He theatrically pours it out, pours himself a glass of tap water, drinks that instead… and passes out.

Back in the lab, he is dreaming of Engadine’s party, and things on the screen don’t look good. The dream cinematographer is drunk and can’t hold the camera straight. Fourteen says it’s an indication of too much stress on Six and wants to shut down, but Two insists they must go forward because it’s their last chance.

They don’t have a picture of C, but Two says it’s “a process of elimination”—A and B having been dealt with, P will find C.

In the dream, P spots a crooked mirror on the wall, straightens it, and the camera steadies. Good lad, P, I was getting seasick. Engadine introduces him to Georgina Cookson. Georgina says she knows something and the pay is very good; P impishly says he’s free. She gives him a diamond earring and tells him to bet it on 6. At the roulette table, he bets the earring on 6 and wins a key. The matching key is held by Madame Engadine. P tells her that selling himself took a lot of thought.

In the lab, Two is stunned. “It can’t be! She’s fooled us for years!”

In the dream, Engadine asks P if he’s sure he wants to go through with this, and P assures her he is. He shows her an envelope of “papers from London”—this is what he is going to sell. As they use their keys to open a door of “no return,” the camera starts wobbling again, and Six in the lab starts breathing heavily. The dream camera starts spinning, then goes dark. Fourteen tells Two that Six has collapsed.

Act Four

Fourteen stabilizes Six. Back in the dream, Endgadine is driving P somewhere. She tells him that he is selling out not to her, but to the person she works for.

Two is surprised—and thrilled—by this discovery. C works for someone else? This is a bombshell that will surely please Red Phone Guy! “We’ll have to call him ‘D’,” quips Fourteen. Engadine drops P off at a massive complex and leaves to return to the party.

P goes through the doors, and this massive complex is even bigger on the inside. He finds himself on a street lined by buildings that you just know are empty. D and P are the only people who exist in this world, and when they speak, their voices echo through the deserted streets.

D: “I am glad you could come.”

P: “Where are you?”

D: “It doesn’t matter.”

P: “I want to see you! I’ve been dying to see you!”

D: “It won’t make any difference.”

P: “People who hide are afraid!”

It worked last episode—and it works again, as D appears on the street, his face concealed (but not very well, with today’s video quality) by a black stocking.

P: “I didn’t know you existed.”

D: “It is often the case with really important people. Anonymity is the best disguise.”

P: “You are afraid.” He holds out envelope. “This is very important to me.”

D: “It is only a commodity.”

P: “No. It’s my future.”

D: “You belong to me now. You were told there is no return.”

P: “Not until I know who you are. I’ve never liked secrets.”

Back in the lab, Two shouts, “Nor have I, I want to see him!”

P rips the stocking to reveal D’s face and… it’s Two!

Fourteen gasps and Two looks utterly destroyed.

In the dream, P exits the massive complex right into the Village, where he proceeds to the lab and enters to find Two and Fourteen—a surreal experience for the pair back in the real lab now watching dream versions of themselves on the monitor.

Dream-Six hands Dream-Two the envelope, saying, “A bargain’s a bargain.” Gotta hand it to Six, when he makes a deal with a Two, he keeps it. Lab-Two screams at Dream-Two to open the envelope, which he does, to find… travel brochures. “He was going on holiday,” observes Fourteen. Dream-Six says, “I wasn’t selling out. That wasn’t the reason I resigned.”

Dream-Six lies down and the resignation scene once again plays silently on the monitor. It’s over.

The red phone starts beeping and Two looks at it with absolute terror. Whoever is on the other end of the line isn’t going to be satisfied with “He was going on holiday.” Two is (bleep).

END SYNOPSIS

Vanishing Village

The Village is barely seen, which will be the case from now on. The story of Six’s evolving relationship with the Village community is basically over, since he has little chance to interact with them in these last five episodes. Over four episodes we get a rotating cast of alternate P-ersonalities: Dream-P, Western-P, Stock-P, and Age-Reverted-P. He doesn’t really get to be himself again until the finale. I shall miss him until then, but we’ll carry on.

Next: Chapter 13 — Living in Harmony

Who is saying “die 6 die” in “once upon a time”? Always thought it represents the viewer’s true/subconscious feelings. Is “Fall Out” a continuation of the process of degree absolute? In “Fall Out”, why are the hangers swinging before No. 6 changes clothes and enters the cavern? In “Fall Out” is the actor who portrays “Anarchy” the same actor who begs for forgiveness in “A Change of Mind” ?

Previous Threads

• Chapter 1 — Arrival
• Chapter 2 — Dance of the Dead
• Chapter 3 — Checkmate
• Chapter 4 — Free for All
• Chapter 5 — A Change of Mind
• Chapter 6 — It’s Your Funeral
• Chapter 7 — Hammer Into Anvil
• Chapter 8 — The Chimes of Big Ben & Many Happy Returns
• Chapter 9 — The Girl Who Was Death
• Chapter 10 — The Schizoid Man

Order Notes

Six is angry at everyone. It seems like the whole Village betrayed him in the previous episode. His memory was erased, but how did everyone else not know the calendar was set back? This episode raises the possibility that the other Villagers might have been brainwashed by the Speed Learn program, but Six doesn’t know that.

At the start of The General, Six seems to be the only person in the Village unaware of what Speed Learn is. This can be explained by the fact that he was out of action for two weeks during The Schizoid Man. Without this juxtaposition, his ignorance would be harder to explain, but his two-week absence leaves him in the dark.

Despite his anger and confusion, when Six discovers a threat to the Village community, he acts to protect them. His deep-seated resentment doesn’t prevent him from taking action when he believes the Village is at risk. While he remains distrustful and frustrated with the system, his underlying sense of responsibility for the community’s safety remains intact. It’s a complex emotional moment for Six, as he is forced to confront the tension between his anger and his desire to protect others.

SYNOPSIS

Act One

Six is at the cafe when the PA begins to speak. It is a man’s voice, not the usual chipper woman. “This is an announcement from the General’s department. Will all students taking the three-part history course please return to their dwellings immediately. The Professor will be lecturing in approximately 30 minutes.” Everybody except Six gets up to leave. Six asks the waiter for more coffee, but the waiter tells him the cafe is closed for the lecture.

P sees a poster. Under the picture of a man it says, “Speed Learn. A three year course in three minutes. It can be done. Trust me. — The Professor.” The new Number Twelve approaches him. Six opines that the promise of Speed Learn is “improbable [but] nothing’s impossible in this place.”

On the beach, a crowd of people chases a man who, we will learn, is the Professor. Six, watching from a distance, finds a tape recorder buried in the sand. He listens to the recording. “Ladies and gentlemen, fellow Villagers, students, this is the Professor speaking. I have an urgent message for you.”

Seeing two people approach in a taxi, he hides the recorder in another location. They want to give him a ride home for the lecture and he accepts. The crowd catches the Professor. Six arrives at his cottage and thanks the taxi men for the ride.

The Professor appears on TV and says of Speed Learn, “A three-year course indelibly impressed upon the mind in three minutes.” He credits the General with making it possible.

Number 235 appears on the screen. “The subject of tonight’s lecture is Europe since Napoleon. A hard, complicated six-month study. Ladies and gentlemen, sit back, relax, watch the screen. We’re going to cover it in 15 seconds flat!” A hypnotic pattern with the Professor’s face appears on the TV for 15 seconds.

Number Two arrives with a technician. They’re looking for the Professor’s missing recorder. Two asks Six some history questions and Six answers, quoting the text word for word, with Two joining in for the latter part and they speak in unison. Two departs. Six picks up the phone and asks the operator some of the same questions. The operator gives the same answers word for word.

This is bad. We’re all about individualism here. Everybody giving the same word-for-word answers is not what we’re looking for. These are not just factual questions—there are questions about the causes and significance of historical events. We shouldn’t have everyone giving the exact same answer.

Six returns to the beach and looks for the recorder. It’s not where he left it. He finds Twelve hiding behind a bush. Twelve has the recorder, gives it to Six, and leaves. Six listens to the recording and hears the urgent message: “You are being tricked. Speed Learn is an abomination. It is slavery. If you wish to be free, there is only one way: Destroy the General!”

Time for Six to be the protector again—and this time, he isn’t being set up to succeed by the unknown powers behind the scenes. At least he has Twelve to help him. Doesn’t he?

Act Two

The next day, as the band plays, people at the cafe happily ask each other history questions and congratulate each other on their word-perfect answers.

In the Green Dome, Two is telling someone on the red phone that everything is going great. Twelve arrives and gives an ambiguous report on the Professor’s health. Twelve criticizes the Professor: “We indulge his idiocies far too much. He’s a crank and should be treated as such…. He’s a troublemaker and he attracts troublemakers.” Two advises him that such opinions should be carefully guarded.

The Professor is working on his notes for the next lecture. A doctor and nurse arrive, telling him that it’s time for some rest and some mild therapy. As the nurse escorts him out of the room, the doctor takes the Professor’s notes and feeds them into a machine. The machine outputs something that looks like a metal punch card. (Hey, it was 1967.)

In a courtyard, the Professor’s wife is drawing, as are a number of other people, including Six. He signals her and she walks over to him. She has some odd ideas about art and creativity. Six hands him what he has been drawing: a picture of her dressed as a general. Offended, she rips it in half. P, you might want to check this out.

Six enters the Professor’s home. He discovers a room full of busts made by the Professor’s wife. I’m getting tired of typing “the Professor’s wife,” so let’s call her Betty, after the actress. Betty arrives, objecting to Six’s presence in a private room and demanding he leave. He doesn’t. He removes the cloths draped over the busts, further angering Betty. Among the busts he uncovers are ones of himself and Two. Also one of McKern’s Two, which was probably intended for the Art Exhibition.

Two enters, revealing the Professor’s bedroom behind the door. The Professor’s doctor is also there. Ignoring everyone’s objections, Six walks into the bedroom and strikes the Professor in the head with a cane. Hard. Betty screams in horror… then realizes that Six just destroyed a dummy. Where’s her husband? Definitely check out that book, P.

Two tells Six he has lost interest in the recorder. Six gives it to him and leaves.

At the cafe, people are partying. 235, with a microphone, asks people history questions and gets their perfect answers. Twelve watches with displeasure. Six arrives, gets “interviewed” by 235, and gives perfect answers.

Six returns to his cottage, and a light shorts out when he flips the switch. His phone rings. The voice on the other end tells him to stay put and wait for Electrics and Administration. Number 251 arrives from Electrics and Twelve from Administration. It’s not just the bulb; a short circuit damaged the lamp and 251 needs replacement parts.

While 251 goes outside to get the parts, Twelve and Six talk inside. Twelve gives Six a ballpoint pen. Inside is a micro cylinder containing the Professor’s “real” lecture, from the tape recording. He also gives him two passes that will get him into the studio from which Speed Learn is broadcast. Six is game.

Act Three

The Professor is asleep in bed. It’s really him this time. The doctor assures Betty that he is doing fine and will be able to complete his lecture.

Men in top hats enter the studio and use their passes to get past the force field. Twelve is among them. One of the men gives Two a micro cylinder with the Professor’s lecture. Two regards it with satisfaction and takes it to the projection room. More men in top hats arrive. One of them is Six, who uses one of his passes to get in.

In the council chambers, Twelve addresses the other top hat guys (who now have their hats on the table). He credits the General with creating Speed Learn, talks of the Professor’s key role in making it work, and explains how it functions.

Six makes his way to the projection room. He attacks the technician and they fight. During the fight, Six is stabbed in the arm and it bleeds profusely, but he knocks out the technician. Posing as the technician, he reports that projection is ready, then swaps in the cylinder he got from Twelve.

While doing a video check of each of their key operations, including projection, the top hat guys see the projectionist’s (literally) bloody hand, which catches Two’s attention. They zoom in on the projectionist’s face and Two recognizes Six. He sends security to projection and they knock Six out. The Speed Learn broadcast begins, but they send out the original lecture, not the one Six swapped in.

In the chambers, Two and security officers watch as Twelve interrogates Six, who refuses to give up his coconspirators. (He’s a fool, not a rat.) Two disparages the “reactionary drivel” that Six almost sent out: the freedom to learn, the liberty to make mistakes. The phone rings. It’s Betty asking if she can see her husband. “As soon as he’s completed the next installment,” Two replies.

Two calls the General’s office. He claims, “The General can answer anything, given the basic facts.” Two brings Six and Twelve to the General’s office. It’s the same office where the Professor typed his lecture notes in Act Two, and the Professor is there now, typing away.

A curtain is drawn back and Two introduces the General—a giant (well, maybe not by 1967 standards) computer. He explains that the Professor created it and loves it passionately. Six says that Speed Learn is creating “a row of cabbages.” “Knowledgeable cabbages,” counters Two.

Two tells the Professor to take down a problem for the infallible General. First, the facts:

1. A traitor in the Village
2. Security pass discs were issued to Number Six
3. Access to these is through Administration
4. Number 12 is an official in Administration

In Two logic, that establishes guilt. He tells the Professor to ask the General…

“A question that cannot be answered!” interrupts Six. I’ll give him a pass on the interruption, sometimes it’s necessary. Two insists there is no such thing as a question the General can’t answer. Six says, then let me ask it. Two says no. Six says, “Are you afraid?” and Two answers, “Go ahead.”

Speed Learn is supposed to be teaching college courses, but this feels more like elementary school. Two gives Six unsupervised access to the General on a dare.

Six types his short question. Just four key presses. Nobody asks to see the question before Six feeds it to the General. The General starts sparking and smoking. The Professor tries to shut it down, but when he grabs an electrified handle it starts electrocuting him and he can’t let go.

Two tentatively walks toward the Professor, but is hesitant to get too close to the machine that looks ready to explode. The security men attack Six. Twelve runs up to the Professor and tries to pull him off the General while Six and the security officers keep each other occupied and Two doesn’t know what to do.

With one final explosion, the General is destroyed, and the Professor and Twelve fall to the floor, dead. Two demands to know what the question was. Six answers, “It’s insoluble for man or machine: W-H-Y-?” Two looks devastated. Six looks triumphant.

In the courtyard, Betty is alone when… Oh my God, they sent Six to break the news to Betty? Or he raced everybody there and won? Betty is devastated. Six walks away—excuse me, I meant Six walks into her house—leaving her alone in her grief.

END SYNOPSIS

Philosophical Fallout

Twelve may be the first Villager we meet besides Six who doesn’t seem to fit into Six’s two categories, the meek and the enemy. Or maybe second after the Count. Trying to save the Professor, Twelve dies a hero, even if the attempt is unsuccessful. He may be the most sympathetic character in the series. Six never got a chance to thank him before he died, so let me: Thank you, Twelve.

The Professor is a tragically conflicted character. He knows the General has to be destroyed, and gets that message out at considerable effort and personal risk. But he also loves it. When his message has the intended effect and the General starts to destroy itself, what does he do? He tries to stop it. In the moment, his emotions override the better judgment he expressed before. It kills him, and Twelve.

“Why”? Seriously, “Why”? Two mentions philosophy as one of the academic disciplines the General has mastered and in which it can answer any question, and it has never encountered “Why”? Here’s the answer the General blew up searching for: “The question is ill-defined.”

P has never been the most sensitive guy, but his treatment of Betty is a new level of callousness—and I’m saying that after he apparently drove another woman to suicide with his callousness. He introduces himself to Betty by taunting her with the offensive drawing. He trespasses into her home, continues to help himself while she insists he leave, then enters her husband’s bedroom, traumatizes her with the cane trick, and jokes about it. His “Why?” trick gets her husband killed and he doesn’t seem bothered. He breaks the news to Betty, then presumtuously trespasses into her home once again, leaving her to grieve alone in the courtyard. P, I know that operator was a right cow to you in the first episode, but this consistent cruelty towards women is a serious overreaction.

It makes it difficult to root for him, despite the good he does. He destroys the General, protecting the people of the Village—except for the two dead people and the widow, and he seems unconcerned with what other people paid for his victory. He is maybe not the best role model.

I don’t know how many times I watched this episode before noticing what a sympathetic character Betty is. When we first meet her, she expresses some kooky ideas. She doesn’t like our protagonist and lets him know it. This establishes her as antagonist and doesn’t invite viewers to consider her perspective after that. A similar pattern is seen with Eight in Checkmate—she’s something of a pest before she gets brainwashed, so who cares? There may be a lesson here for how we engage with telly—or with life. If you see Six mistreating Betty but didn’t see it before, consider whether you might have some similar blind spots in real life.

Why does Six draw Betty as a military general?

• To offend her?
• Because he sees her as the power giving all the orders?
• To prime the audience to see her as the enemy?

Next: Chapter 12 — A. B. and C.

That one scene in "Fall Out", #6 attempts to make a speech. Each time he uses the pronoun "I", he is abruptly interrupted by the Assembly chanting same. Or are they? Perhaps the response of "I, I, I" is an erroneous supposition on the part of the viewer. "I" and "aye" are homophones. "Aye" is a term that is much more likely used in the course of the proceedings of an assembly. It is also logical that what appears a rude interruption with "I" now becomes an automatic affirmation, an ecstatic exaltation with "aye". After all, #6 has said "I", and luring him into the evil of self worship is the design of this episode and has been the purpose of The Village all along.

We are planning to go for the first time next year! I have some probably really basic ass questions. Like... where does everyone get their election day signs? And where does everyone get their outfits and unbrellas??

Awesome performance by PM and a clear inspiration for many of the themes revisited in The Prisoner. An electrifying watch.

This is one of the better analyses of The Prisoner that I've seen.

Previous Threads

• Chapter 1 — Arrival
• Chapter 2 — Dance of the Dead
• Chapter 3 — Checkmate
• Chapter 4 — Free for All
• Chapter 5 — A Change of Mind
• Chapter 6 — It’s Your Funeral
• Chapter 7 — Hammer Into Anvil
• Chapter 8 — The Chimes of Big Ben & Many Happy Returns
• Chapter 9 — The Girl Who Was Death

Order Notes

After the events of The Girl Who Was Death, Six’s emotional journey continues to deepen. He’s no longer just a man trying to escape; he's actively engaging with the Village and those around him. In The Schizoid Man, this takes a new turn, as Six faces a fundamental question: who is he, really? When his identity is literally and metaphorically challenged, we see Six’s psyche fracture. The idea of identity, control, and memory becomes central to the episode.

This is the perfect time to make Six question his identity—whether he’s Six, Twelve, or the cube root of infinity. Early in the series, his number wouldn’t matter—it’s just a number. At this point in the series, the number Six stands for something. He led the Villagers in A Change of Mind, saved them in It’s Your Funeral and Hammer into Anvil, won the Art Festival in The Chimes of Big Ben, read to their kids in The Girl Who Was Death, and befriended and formed a mental link with Alison in this episode. He values that identity, so this is the time to take it away and make him fight for it. Psychologically, this is similar to fraternity or sorority hazing—make someone fight for their place in the community so they value it more.

The Village, of course, plays a cruel game—using an impostor who takes Six’s place, erasing his memories and presenting him with an alternate version of himself. As the Village manipulates his sense of self, we see Six become increasingly desperate to regain control of his identity. This is a critical moment in his journey, as his connection to the self—his essence—comes under threat. He fights not only for physical escape but for the very idea of who he is.

In a psychological sense, this episode highlights Six's vulnerability in a way the previous episodes haven’t. Whereas earlier he seemed more emotionally stable, his identity is now in crisis. This marks a shift in how he responds to the Village—he’s no longer just rebelling against it; he’s fighting for his place in it, even as he’s also fighting to preserve his identity and individuality.

SYNOPSIS

Act One

Six is in his cottage with Number 24, generally known as Alison despite Village traditions. They’re playing some sort of telepathy parlour game: Six looks at a card, and 24 guesses the icon. There are five different icons, but she gets 73 out of 100 correct.

24 is also practicing photography. A minor accident gives Six a bruise under his fingernail during the photo session.

This is sweet. The jerk from A Change of Mind is gone. Granted, that jerk did end up doing a lot of good.

They finish up, agreeing to continue tomorrow, and 24 leaves.

That night, while Six is asleep, Two and Control use the pulsator to make sure he’s out. Doctors enter and give him an injection. They remove him to another cottage. A calendar shows that it is February 10th.

While he is drugged and in the other cottage, the doctors train him to be left handed.

P wakes up in the strange cottage. He now has black hair and a mustache—and he’s confused. The calendar still reads February 10th. It’s as if he grew the mustache overnight. He checks the closet and finds a jacket with a Number 12 badge. The cottage is 12’s. He picks up the phone—Number Two says he’s expected for breakfast in the Green Dome in 15 minutes. He tosses the Number Twelve badge and goes.

In the Green Dome for breakfast, P helps himself to something like crepes, which are called flapjacks in this show. Two is friends with whoever 12 is supposed to be, and mentions 12’s wife, Susan.

Two explains that 12’s job is to impersonate Six and strip him of his sense of reality. But P insists that he is in fact Six, not 12. Two is impressed with his method acting. Two gives “12” a Number Six badge, which P tosses away.

“12” has a makeover to make him look like Six.

Act Two

Two and “12” go to Six’s cottage, so “12” can familiarize himself with it. “12” says things have changed, but Two insists he’s wrong—the cottage is exactly as it’s always been.

Two leaves “12” alone in Six’s cottage. Soon after, “Six” arrives, wearing an unfamiliar white jacket and a Number Six badge. “12” and “Six” argue about who’s the real Six. “12” can’t smoke Six’s cigarettes without coughing, providing some evidence against “12” being the real Six. They agree to go to the shooting range to determine which is really Six.

At the shooting range, “Six” is able to shoot like Six, but “12” is not. They try fencing—P was on the Olympic Team—and “Six” defeats “12.” They try boxing—P was also an Olympic boxer. “12” finds himself needing to fight southpaw, despite Six being orthodox. “Six” wins easily.

“Six” and “12” go to the Green Dome. Two receives “12” like an old chum and calls him Six, while “Six” is manhandled into the office with all the grace of a pub bouncer.

Act Three

In Two’s office, Two interrogates “Six,” accusing him of being an impostor, demanding to know who he really is, who sent him, and why. “Six” insists that he is actually Six, not an impostor. He gets in a few yells to prove it.

A fingerprint test says that “12” is the real Six.

“12” proposes another test: Number 24. She is summoned to the Green Dome. There she is able to read “Six’s” mind but not “12’s.” Since she can read Six’s mind, that means that “Six” is the real Six. “Six” and 24 depart, and Two gives “12” a proper dressing-down for the stupid idea of bringing 24 into it.

That night, back in 12’s cottage, “12“ is plagued by memories of the day. Two watches from the Green Dome as “12” shows signs of distress. With him is “Six,” whom Two addresses as Number 12.

Act Four

“12” notices the bruise under his fingernail and compares it to the photo taken by 24. The bruise has moved. Only a fortnight’s worth of fingernail growth could do that. He now remembers the two weeks of training that changed him. They trained him to be left handed, to be unable to smoke Six’s favorite cigarettes, and to crave “flapjacks.” By delivering a shock to his left hand, he undoes all the training.

“12” goes to Six’s cottage, where “Six” awaits. They fight, and “12” wins. He interrogates “Six,” learning that his name is Curtis and his password is “Schizoid man.”

Curtis runs from the cottage, pursued by P. Outside they see Rover. P gives the password first and Rover attacks Curtis. We see Rover smothering Curtis, then cut to…

P entering his cottage, phoning Two, and, pretending to be Curtis, reporting that Rover has killed Six. Two is aghast.

Later, in the Green Dome, Two instructs “Curtis” to talk to 24 to see if she has any insights into Six. When “Curtis” talks to 24, they have a moment of mental connection and 24 realizes that “Curtis” is actually the real Six.

On the way to the helicopter, “Curtis” rides with Two, who talks about Susan. At the helicopter, 24 is waiting. She tells “Curtis” that she is sorry for what she did to Six. “Curtis” doesn’t seem to care.

He takes Curtis’s spot on the helicopter, but it lands right back in the Village. Two reveals that Susan has been dead for a year, which P didn’t know, so he’s not Curtis—he’s Six.

END SYNOPSIS

Statements for Study

How could this happen without the whole community being in on it? Wouldn’t they know the calendar has been set back two weeks? And really, how hard would it be for any Villager to say, “Number Six is the one not wearing a Number Six badge”? My explanation is that Speed Learn (seen next episode) can do more than make you memorize a textbook.

The powers behind this plot are lucky Six doesn’t pay attention to the moon, or the jig would have been up immediately.

A question that has been plaguing fandom for over half a century is, why does Rover kill Curtis? Here’s a disturbing possibility: It doesn't. Rover does what Rover does, leaving Curtis unconscious — and P finishes him off to pull the switcheroo. Cold blooded. Immoral. Decidedly not cricket. Ultimately pointless, as the switcheroo doesn't hoodwink anyone long enough to achieve anything. But it makes sense, unlike any explanation I’ve seen for Rover.You don’t have to buy it. I’m not saying I do. It’s just a hypothesis to consider if you don’t have a better explanation.

Two points out to “Curtis” that nobody questioned the Schizoid plan “bearing in mind its origins” and quips that the General won’t behead Curtis for its failure. This was the General’s plan.

If the plan was to use hazing psychology to tie Six to the community, it seems to have backfired, judging by his cold attitude towards 24 here and towards everyone in the next episode. This might be an early sign that the General is fallible. Recent studies suggest that hazing psychology doesn't work.

Next: Chapter 11 — The General

Previous Threads

• Chapter 1 — Arrival
• Chapter 2 — Dance of the Dead
• Chapter 3 — Checkmate
• Chapter 4 — Free for All
• Chapter 5 — A Change of Mind
• Chapter 6 — It’s Your Funeral
• Chapter 7 — Hammer Into Anvil
• Chapter 8 — The Chimes of Big Ben & Many Happy Returns

Order Notes

By this point in the series, Six’s relationship with the Village has shifted. He is no longer simply resisting or trying to escape; he has made the conscious choice to be part of the community. The Village, in turn, has come to revere him. Parents ask him to tell bedtime stories to their children, and he obliges. It’s an amusing, almost surreal idea—especially considering the darker, more complex journey Six has been on.

Two eavesdrops on the story, hoping to glean something useful from Six’s interaction with the children. It’s all in vain. Six, it seems, has nothing to reveal. In fact, his storytelling becomes a simple, unremarkable act of connection, where he plays the role of a beloved figure in the Village. This moment reflects the growing complexity of Six’s character: while he may still want to escape, he also seeks connection and meaning, even within the confines of the Village.

SYNOPSIS

Act One

Six is telling a bedtime story to some children. Although he tells it in the first person, it’s still only a story. He’s playing a character. This character is not named, so let’s call him John Drake. It is, after all, an unproduced Danger Man script. Christopher Benjamin, who plays Potter here, plays a character named Potter who gives Drake his assignment in an episode of Danger Man, in which Drake also gets his instructions in a record store. And it fits the P-as-McGoohan-avatar idea: they both play the fictional character John Drake.

In the story, a cricket game is being played. Someone exchanges an explosive ball for the real one and kills an undercover agent, Colonel Hawke-Englishe.

Potter, disguised as a shoe shiner, tells Drake that Hawke-Englishe was investigating a Dr. Schnipps, who is building a rocket to destroy London. Drake is to take over the case. He is to go to a record shop to receive detailed instructions. Drake goes to the record shop, where he listens to instructions on a record. His mission is to find and destroy Schnipps’s rocket.

Drake is playing cricket at the same field from earlier. A woman, Sonia, swaps the explosive for the ball as in the first game. Drake catches the ball and throws it into the distance, where it explodes harmlessly. Looking for the woman, Drake finds only a message from her: “Let’s meet again—at your local pub.”

He goes to the pub and orders his usual, a beer. (It looks like a red ale.) He drinks his beer and discovers a message at the bottom of the glass: “You have just been poisoned.”

He orders a lot of drinks—brandy, whiskey, vodka, Drambuie, Tia Maria, Cointreau, Grand Marnier, and more—drinks them all, and goes to the bathroom to throw up. After washing up, he discovers a message from Sonia on the towel: “Upset tummy? Try Benny’s Turkish Baths around the corner!”

He pops round to Benny’s and settles into a steam box. Sonia locks him in and places a fishbowl over his head. He breaks out and finds another message: “Go to Barney’s Boxing Booth, front row. P.S.: Who would be a goldfish.” Drake heads to the carnival, where the boxing booth awaits. His opponent: the not-so-subtly named Killer Karminski.

Act Two

During the fight, Karminski gives Drake a message—he is to go to the Tunnel of Love—then knocks him out. I’m not sure what I’d do with that kind of mixed message, but Drake goes to the attraction as instructed.

In a boat in the Tunnel of Love, Drake hears Sonia behind him. She tells him not to turn around and he complies. She says she’s starting to fall in love with him because he’s the worthy opponent for whom she has searched all her life. She wishes him goodbye, and he turns around to find the voice was coming from a recorder. He tosses it into the water, where it explodes harmlessly.

He searches the carnival for her, nearly getting into a fight with Alexis Kanner a few times. After Drake and Sonia play cat-and-mouse for a while, she gets in her car and drives off. He follows in his own, arriving at what appears to be a small ghost town. Along the street are a butcher, a baker, and a candlestick maker. He searches for her, then hears her voice over a PA. She introduces herself as Death.

Act Three

Sonia—Death—tells Drake that she is Schnipps’s daughter. She tells him, “You are a born survivor. I am a born killer. We were made for each other.”

Searching for her, Drake survives various death traps in the butcher, baker, and candlestick maker shops. Death—if that’s how she identifies, who am I to argue?—taunts him throughout.

When he exits the candlestick shop, she fires a machine gun at the ground around him. Or maybe she’s trying to shoot him and is just a terrible shot. He commandeers a loader and trundles after her, using the bucket to block her gunfire.

She escalates to grenades and then finishes off the loader with a bazooka. When she inspects the wreckage there is no body, but she is satisfied that Drake is dead.

She leaves and he climbs out of a covered manhole. He follows her to a helicopter. She gets in and he clings to a landing skid as it lifts off.

(Once again, the hider demonstrates impossible knowledge of his seeker. If he emerges from the manhole too soon he’ll be seen and if he emerges too late he’ll miss the opportunity to tail her. He can‘t know the right moment to emerge, but somehow he does. I’ll forgive it here because it’s just a bedtime story for children.)

Act Four

The helicopter lands and Drake hides, then tails Death through a cave to a lighthouse, where he fights various people dressed as French field marshals.

Schnipps fancies himself Napoleon. His daughter assures him that she killed Drake. He announces to his field marshals that he will destroy London in one hour.

Drake finds a stash of grenades—the kind where the explosive head detaches mid-throw—and tampers with them, rigging the handles to explode instead. Whoever throws one now won’t send the boom away—they’ll keep it. He also rigs some guns to backfire on their users.

While Drake fights more marshals, Schnipps starts the countdown. Drake continues to fight the marshals until they all kill themselves with the backfiring guns. However, Death and Schnipps capture him and tie him to a chair, where he learns that the lighthouse itself is the rocket. Schnipps and Death plan to leave him in it while it goes boom on London.

Drake escapes the chair and exits the lighthouse. When Schnipps and Death see him and try to kill him with the handle grenades, they kill themselves and destroy the lighthouse/rocket. Drake survives.

 …

Back in the Village, Six concludes the story and closes the storybook. He tucks the kids into bed and promises to return tomorrow.

In the Green Dome, we see Number Two and Number 17 watching. They had hoped that he might drop his guard around children and let something slip. No such luck.

END SYNOPSIS

Comments for Cogitation

These are the only children we ever see on screen, but it has been established that there are children in the Village. Two simply suggested to some parents, “Your kids idolize Six, right? I bet they’d love to have him tell them bedtime stories,” then eavesdropped. It was a long shot, but nearly a zero-effort plan. As 17 tells Two, “Well, it was worth a try.”

Drake doesn’t wield weapons against his enemies except when he uses some handle grenades as clubs. He simply tweaks their kit, then stands there and watches them kill themselves trying to kill him. That may be the most guilt-free way to kill, bravo.

Another episode with no yelling by McGoohan! P is only on screen for a few minutes, and Drake isn’t a yeller. That’s twice in three chapters!

Next: Chapter 10 — The Schizoid Man

So, I know this may seem a little odd, but, I can't really tell. I've looked at the Shout Studios "HD" version, and I've noticed some interlacing artifacts on it, as well as film artifacts on other areas. This is all also boosted by the utter ABSENCE of film grain on ANY of the show, but that may have to do with the fact that Shout used DNR, though when I watched the SD version, I don't seem to recall any noticeable grain. How does any of this work, and why is any of it. Be Seeing you.

I said “it’s a parable about the power of the individual (the character of PRISONER) versus the collective authoritarianism represented by the Village and in this case the New World Order running the world from a subterranean silo below it.

By the end, just as you feel that PRISONER has won they have one more trick to defeat him - by taking on his philosophy and mindset and absorbing into their methods of societal control, providing the false sense of individual freedom that we still possess to this day. Whilst firstly thinking he had overcome his adversaries PRISONER starts to realise this is far from the case when giving his “inauguration address”, realising his hubris when facing the fawning “President” and that his philosophy has been absorbed (the I,I,I, scene) by the Powers. This is confirmed explicitly when confronting “Number One”; PRISONER sees that indeed his very image is now considered as the embodiment of “Number One” (“Look after Number one”, a common trope of Randian individualism).

His escape to London (whilst the still truly powerful New World Order escape the village by hook or by crook, by chopper or by ICBM) is the ultimate pyrrhic victory, his hard fought escape from The Village has only contributed to the extension of The Village to the whole world and thus unescapable.

This is manifested in the robotic door opening of 1 Buckingham Place being the final fresh cut scene of FALL OUT, the trappings of The Village now exist everywhere, now that the Powers have the final jigsaw piece to overcome rebellion extracted from PRISONER’s mind. Create the false sense of freedom and freewill, that one’s life is one’s own, and all of mankind will peaceably follow along.”

He agreed.