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Friday 14 December 2018

The Prisoner Means What It Is!

    The Prisoner it means what it is, but what exactly is it? First and foremost it’s a television series. Its drama, action and adventure, something to lose oneself in for fifty minutes, escapism if you prefer. And Number 6 is the hero, but he turns out to be the villain was well. While Number 6 is countering the machinations of Number 2, he as Number 1 is giving the orders at the same time! Who do you think issued that termination order against Dutton? My money is on Number 1. But of course we’re not supposed to know who Number 1 is, not until ‘Fall out.’ So it’s not the same the second time of watching, because we know who Number 1 is, of Number 6’s battle with himself, in which others may suffer as collateral damage! I think I preferred it when I didn’t know who Number 1 is, it was simpler then, the unknown villain behind the big door. Mind you no matter how many times one sits through ‘the Prisoner,’ Number 6 still doesn’t know who Number 1 is, not until that confrontation in ‘Fall Out.’
   “Who is Number One?” the Prisoner demands to know.
   “You are Number Six” Number 2 replies.
   Then some clever clogs came up with the idea of where to place the emphasis, so to makes it appear that Number 6 is Number 1. That way enthusiasts can say we knew who Number 1 was right from the very beginning. But I prefer it simply that Number 2 is telling the Prisoner that he is Number 6, that seems fine to me, and I’m happy with it, that’s all that matters. If people disagree then that’s fine.
    Because of the way ‘Fall Out’ ends its possible to stick the episode at the start of the series, and that’s alright because ‘Arrival’ begins at the end of ‘Fall Out,’ it completes the vicious circle. In the Prisoner’s end is his beginning, and his future looks to continue just as his immediate past. I have tried to find ways in which it’s possible to break that vicious circle, and there are ways. However to do that at any point those within the circle must come to realize what it is that plays out time and time again, over and over repeatedly. And there lies the rub, ‘the Prisoner’ is the time and time again no matter what. Those involved are incapable of realizing they are trapped in a vicious circle, therefore it impossible for anyone to change any course of events. That’s because it’s not filmed in such a way that the hero begins to realize that he’s the prisoner of a vicious circle, and each time the events play themselves out the hero cannot attempt to alter the course of events taking place. ‘The Prisoner’ is only a vicious circle because it has the start of the opening credits stuck on the end of ‘Fall Out,’ making it begin all over again. But then we are happy to see the events play themselves out, we should be used to it after 51 years. Perhaps that’s why we attempt to impose our own ideas,
interpretations, and beliefs on the Prisoner, to make it mean something altogether different. Or at least to give situations new meaning, but then the Prisoner means what it is no matter what we make of it, rightly or wrongly.

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