The Therapy Zone

Here In The Therapy Zone We Ask, the Question

                                   Did The Prisoner Actually Resign?

    I suppose this question only becomes relevant if the Prisoner-No.6 is actually employed by the village administration, by No.1 in fact. Most viewers would agree that the Prisoner was incarcerated in the village because of his act of resignation, after all many of the No.2's whom the Prisoner was to encounter who were determined to discover why he resigned. So if the Prisoner had resigned from a position within the villages administration, then the reason for his resignation would be of paramount importance to them. And seeing as how the Prisoner knows so much and cannot be left on the loose, what better place to out their ex-colleague but in the village while they discover the reason behind his resignation.

    But on the other hand, could No.2 of Hammer Into Anvil have actually got it right, that No.6 was a plant, assigned to the village to spy on them, possibly by No.1. After all John Drake had been able to infiltrate Colony 3. And if this hypothesis is correct, rather than that of the first, where does that leave the Prisoner's resignation? Well that act could have simply been a blind, if the Prisoner was in the pay of another department or Country, who wish to have their man infiltrate the village. And this still works even though the Prisoner is still working for the village's administration. If this is true, then we have to decide if we can trust the Prisoner-No.6 or not.

   There is ample evidence that the Prisoner-No.6 is an accomplished spy. He had such contacts as "A and B" in A B and C. He was used to working with codes and ciphers as he demonstrated during Hammer Into Anvil. He used a code name and pseudonyms, Schmidt, Duval, Peter Smith and ZM73 as we discover in Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling.

    There is compelling evidence for the Prisoner not to have resigned at all, which lies within the dialogue of the opening sequence.

"Who are you?"

"The new number 2"

"Who is number 1?"

"You are number 6"

    So if No.6 and No.1 are both one and the same, as we observe in Fall Out then the Prisoner could not possibly have resigned, No.1 being the ultimate authority of the village. But if the Prisoner was to resign, this might be reason enough for him to do so, having put himself through so many various tortures in order to extract the secret of his own resignation. Self persecuting himself you might say.

    However if No.6 was a plant, as No.2 believed, then the Prisoner was certainly the man for the job. Fully equipped to revolt. He has resisted, fought, held fast, maintained, destroyed resistance, overcome coercion. the right to be a person, someone or individual. He has vindicated the right of the individual to be individual, the recognition of a man, a man of steel who is magnificently equipped to lead the village and its community. Thus becoming No.1, which the Prisoner instantly rejected. And having escaped, returned to London, he drove off to hand in his letter of resignation! So the prisoner did resign after all, there was no avoiding it really was there?

  It is always possible that No.6 was working for No.1 as a plant, placed in the village to spy and test the security and methods of the village. That would explain why No.2 was allowed to go only so far with No.6 in trying to extract the secret of his resignation. Why No.6 was so protected by No.1, why they must not damage the tissue, because this man has a future with us!

    Perhaps the Prisoner has been a citizen of the village all along, and that the evidence for which can be seen in Fall Out as the Prisoner returns to his home. He drives off in his Lotus Seven to set about his resignation, having rejected the offer of "ultimate power" offered to him by the President during his trial of Fall Out, just as his Butler enters his house, the front door opens automatically for him, and with a very familiar electronic hum.

   I suppose in the end its all down to personal interpretation, whether or not the Prisoner actually resigned, if he was a plant working for No.1. The Prisoner could, I suppose have actually been No.1 in the village, himself the plant! But then that would raise the question of who No.2 in Hammer Into Anvil was speaking to on the telephone when No.1 was actually sitting in a chair in his office at the time! Well at least we were able to sort that one out, and really it would have been one hypothosis too far, or would it............?

    At least Curtis-No.12, the look-a-like for both No.6 and No.1 as it happened, of The Schizoid Man  

couldn't possibly have been No.1... Rover got him. And that would really have messed things up!

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