"Number 6 is dead, Rover got him!"
And so with those few words, another escape attempt is about to be made, all be it very spontaneous! But who exactly is trying to escape? This is a light hearted look at what was, and of what could have been.
I suppose it could be said that one has to be in two minds to watch "The Schizoid man" then afterwards take two aspirin and lie down in a darkened room, because you just might have to do that after reading this!
In the kitchen of 6 private {Number 6's cottage} a fight takes place, a fight between two men who look exactly alike, Number 6 and Number 12. Number 6 forces Number 12, or is it the other way round, to tell him his name....Curtis and the password Schizoid Man.
Removing the fake mole on Number 12s left wrist and placing it upon his own, Number 12 then makes a dash for it, out of the cottage and into the night where Rover the village guardian is on patrol. Number 12 nervously gives the password Schizoid Man, and Number 6 with confidence Schizoid Man. Rover then has a choice to make, both men look identical, so should it go for the confident Number 6 or the somewhat nervous Number 12, it chooses the latter as Number 12-Curtis gives the password again but then makes the mistake of running for it. Rover is on him in an instant smothering and suffocating, it seems, Number 12 to death!
Well of course it was Number 12-Curtis who was suffocated by Rover, and Number 6 phones Number 2 to give him the bad news and the password Schizoid Man.
"Number 6 is dead, Rover got him!"
"What!" barks Number 2 "control room deactivate Rover immediately."
Then Number 6 dons the Cream blazer of Number 6, cream appears white on the television screen, but then when has Number 6 been seen wearing a cream blazer about the village? Oh well never mind, he then goes off to the Green Dome to see Number 2 who thinks Number 6 to be Number 12 and instructs him to go and see Alison-Number 24 as she might have some insight into Number 6's mind.
But of course Number 6 could not know who Curtis was, any of his background, or of any of the details of the plan which he thought was Number 2's idea and devised to break him, or indeed who or what the General is. So Number 6 has to play the game off the cuff so to speak, to bluff his way out of the village.
So it is in the guise of Curtis that Number 6 pays a call on Alison. But she has nothing more to tell him than she already has. But during the visit Alison helps herself to a cigarette as Number 6, with his back turned to Alison, he puts a hand into a blazer pocket and then toys with his lighter, before turning and lighting Alison’s cigarette! This action confirms to Alison that the man now standing in her cottage is not the man she thought he was, not Number 12 at all, but that of Number 6, the man with whom she has a genuine rapport!
But alas the escape plan of Number 6 is too spontaneous and doomed to failure, simply because he does not know that Susan died a year ago, he has seen a photograph in Curtis's wallet, that he doesn't know who to report to the General, that he cannot comment about the idea Number 2 put earlier to Curtis and he's too strung up! And so Number 2 becomes suspicious of Number 12 and the fact that the man getting into the helicopter will not forget to give Susan Number 2's his love confirms that Curtis is not the man he thought he was!
Number 6's plan was going well up until that taxi ride to the Heli-pad, although Number 2 did appear to have a doubt back in his office. The only flaw in Number 6's plan was lack of knowledge, I mean how was he to know Susan had died a year ago!
I don't want to bore you with all the details, you know them anyway...don't you? But imagine for a moment that it was in fact Number 6 who Rover suffocated that night and not Number 12-Curtis
"Oh heck its going to get complicated" the schizoid man.
Then it could have been Curtis who was forced to play out the role of Number 6, either being a perfect look-a-like for Number 6 or having had plastic surgery carried out upon him, no he was not a clone, how could he have been? Either way Curtis could have held Number 2 and the village in contempt, perhaps he himself had designs on escaping the village and in this guise of Number 6 Curtis-Number 12 could have decided to escape the village, doing as Number 6 would have done.
So Curtis masquerading as Number 6 puts his plan into action. He declares Number 6 as being dead, then goes to see Number 2 in his office, but quickly realises that he must forget all Curtis knows, about himself, the plan in which he had been so heavily involved, and any future plans Number 2 might have for him. Well Number 6 would know nothing of him, the plan to break him, who or what the General is. And so that is the ploy Curtis as Number 6 would have to play and bluff his way through and so out of the village. Both acting and doing as Number 6 would have done, as though he actually was Number 6.
"I said it would be complicated!" the Schizoid Man.
Number 6 pays Alison-Number 24 a call, this on Number 2's instructions. Though she has nothing more to tell him. They talk for a while, Alison then reaches for a cigarette, Curtis produces a cigarette lighter from his blazer pocket and just at the right moment turns and lights Alison's cigarette for her. Thus making the connection that he, the man wearing the cream blazer is in fact Number 6 with whom she has a genuine rapport. after all hadn't that apparent rapport between them been a fix in Number 2's office, five out of five indeed!
Curtis found it easy to play the role of Number 6, after all he had been doing it for a number of weeks now whilst Number 6 was being conditioned into being left handed. And now he simply continued playing the role which hopefully would see him escape the village.
So having convinced Alison that he is Number 6, Curtis then returns to his cottage of 6 private in order to pack his suitcase in readiness to leave the village for home. Dressed in his own blue suit, he checks his wallet before placing it in an inside pocket of his jacket, and sees the picture of his wife Susan. {It was at this point that my wife Morag points out that there is no bruising under the fore finger nail of his left hand which Number 6 received during an accident with a soda siphon!}
"So this really is Curtis! Blimey its getting more complicated than even I gave credit for!" Schizoid Man.
So where does that leave us?
"Wait for it!" Schizoid Man.
With Curtis continuing his role as Number 6, whilst masquerading as himself, pretending to be Number 6!
"Told you it would be confusing!" Schizoid man.
However there was a flaw in the plan, it was that Curtis was playing his role as Number 6 too well. He was behaving and acting just as Number 6 would have done, and when it came down to.
"Give my love to Susan" Number 2 says, knowing that Susan is dead.
"I will" Curtis replies cheerily from the cabin of the helicopter.
The helicopter takes off, completes a circuit of the village and lands again. Number 6 is helped from the cabin, his blindfold removed.
"Susan died a year ago Number 6!" Number 2 informs him.
Curtis failed to escape the village because his character of Number 6 was too good for his own sake. The mistake was his, he said what Number 6 would have said "I will" and forgot who he really was. The character of Number 6 having completely taken over!
So what after this little episode? Well Curtis would have to remain in the character of Number 6, not to do so might mean his own death, and whilst having to maintaining the character of Number 6, he might get another chance of escape!
Hang on a minute. If Curtis is Number 6 and number 6 is Number 1, then that means Curtis was Number 1 all the time!
"Its no wonder I went running of into the distance screaming "who am I?"
The Schizoid Man.
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