You Of All People!

    Roland Walter Dutton was certainly surprised to see his old colleague, now No.6 in the Village. You, of all people! I'd never have believed it Dutton tells him, this upon their first and only meeting during the Dance of the Dead.
    So why is Dutton so surprised to see his old colleague in such a situation? Is Dutton suspicious about No.6, wondering of he is a prisoner or warder? Did Dutton think that No.6 had killed the man he cast off adrift in the sea? Perhaps Dutton thought better of his old colleague, that he would be the last person he would meet in the Village! Yet there is suspicion in Dutton's voice when No.6 asks him how long he has been in the Village? To which Dutton responds You don't know? To which No.6 responds Would I ask? It's difficult for Dutton to say how long he's been in the Village, a couple of months perhaps. While No.6 arrived quite recently.......quite recenly, when Dance of the Dead is the eigth episode in the series? But of course Dance of the Dead was originally intended to be a much earlier episode in the screening order of the Prisoner, third, if not second. So if that had been the actual case, then No.6 would have been right to say he'd been in the Village only until quite recently. So why haven't No.6 and Roland Walter Dutton met sooner in the Village? Well they met by a cave on the beach, not exaclty in the Village. And seeing as how Dutton must have spent the majority of his time as a patient at the hospital, the doctor-No.40 attempting to extract as much of the information inside Dutton's head as he could, it seems highly unlikely that the two men would have met before. Don't forget what Dutton said to No.6, They'll take me back to hospital, and by the time they realise I'm telling the truth, it'll be too late. In any case, there has to be a first time, and when Dutton met No.6 in Dance of the Dead, that was the first time.
    No.6 asks Dutton how London is. Dutton replies that places don't change, only people. Some people indicating that No.6 is still as he alawys was. But Roland Walter Dutton is not the same man. For he is not as fortunate as No.6, Roland Walter Dutton is expendable!   BCNU