Number Two
With her elfin like looks, and almost impish like behaviour, you might be mislead into thinking that she would do harm to No.6. But on the contrary, this fairylike creature is in fact No.6 guardian angel. For when she sees the doctor carrying out a medical experiment on No.6, No.2 orders the doctor to stop, to get that man Dutton back to the hospital. The doctor-No.40 reads the situation as No.6 was about to talk, although as No.2 puts it "He'd have died first." You can't force it out of this man, he's not like the others." No.2 doesn't want No.6 broken, he must be won over. No.2 tells the doctor that No.6 has a future with them, and that there are other ways!
So this No.2, has a devious mind and a cunning plan. She also doesn't find any difficulty as Peter Pan, the little boy who never grows up. Nor had the actress, the late Mary Morris, any problems saying such lines as "Then how very uncomfortable for you old chap." In fact Mary Morris played her role as No.2 in a very masculine way. And then at the end of the episode as she laughs, her elfin looks really stand out, to the effect that all that is missing are a pair of pointed ears to complete the picture!
Number Nothing!
During their, shall we say deliberations, No.2 found himself locked in the cage, with No.2 having found himself changed places with No.6, who then directs the Butler to unlock the door of the cage, which is something No.2 fears. "You're free!" No.6 tells him. "No, I'm No.2" he shouts with defiance. "You are number nothing!" No.6 sneers in reply.
So what about this Number Nothing, if No.1 is the figure head for the village, Number Nothing would not actually be No.2, who No.6 described as being less than a number! But nothing is a number, nought or Zero, and that could be the collective members of the Assembly.
A Graveyard Littered With Numbers
No.73 was driven to suicide by a sadistic No.2 in the episode Hammer Into Anvil. There is a birthday greeting for No.6 it is from No.113 "Warmest greetings on your birthday. May the sun shine on you today and everyday." The only trouble is, for the Supervisor-No.28, is that No.113 was an old woman who died a month ago. And of course as No.6 walks the graveyard looking for a suitable number to sign his birthday message, we can observe the grave of both No.73 and 113.
So I ask the question which I have never asked, or even contemplated before. Why should the dead retain their number as No.73 and 113 did? After all, doesn't that then make those two, and any other such number retained by the deceased, obsolete for use by the living? To do so would mean duplicating any such number, along with any such file kept on any particular person or individual. Only the photograph would distinguish between the dead and the living person or individual.
In the village, I believe that the dead should have no number, only an unmarked grave. However having said that, previously the number 113 was used twice. Once by the reporter for The Tally Ho newspaper during the electoral period of Free For All, and secondly by an old woman who died a month ago, and was never used since. Well as far as we know. So perhaps it is right for the dead in the village graveyard to retain their number. But wouldn't that mess up the villages numbering system?
Be seeing you
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