Prismatic Reflection

I was reminded by something I wrote in either a piece of blog, or a comment, regarding the fact that there are still certain mysteries about ‘the Prisoner’ which have never been explained over the past 45 years, and are never likely to be explained now. And that is quite remarkable for what is basically a television series. All we can do as fans of ‘the Prisoner’ series at best, is to interpret what we see on the screen, whether or not any such interpretation is right or not, we simply have to live with it.
    What we shall never know is why didn’t the Prisoner meet with that man he saw looking down from the Bell Tower on the morning of his arrival in the Village. And why, in much the same way, he didn’t meet with the maid who was departing his cottage in such a sudden hurry? Not to mention the way that taxi suddenly pulled up almost instantly as soon as the Prisoner had pressed the button on the panel of the electronic ‘Free Information Board.’ And bearing that in mind, why isn’t the Hospital on the Map of Your Village?
    In ‘A B and C’ when Number 6 pushes open the pair of large wooden doors, there is the sound of a train. Why is that when there isn’t a train station or railway line in sight, only that of a Parisienne street?
    There is the surreal scene in the cave in ‘Free For All,’ when four citizens are sitting around a Village Guardian, which is pulsating. Is it a form of therapy treatment, if so, then why the need for the men to be wearing dark glasses? Mind you, the patients in the Aversion Therapy Room in the hospital, therapy which counteracts obsessional guilt complexes producing neurosis, wear blacked out goggles! But even before we get to ask the question of what is taking place in that cave, there is the question of the cave itself. The inner wall of the Green Dome revolves to reveal a single steel door, and it is through this door that Number 6 stumbles into the cave. That’s all well and good. But looking at the exterior of the Green Dome and the surrounding area, whereabouts is this cave situated? And don’t just say it’s an allegorical cave, because that’s something McGoohan might have said, and in my book that’s simply a cop-out, that means it can mean anything at all, and not even really exist in the first place!
    ‘The Schizoid Man,’ why does Curtis wear a Number 6 badge while impersonating Number 6, when Number 6 doesn’t wear his?
    Moving onto ‘The General,’ there’s a scene where Number 6 is unveiling a number of busts in the Professor’s home, simple finger exercises according to Madam Professor. But there is one bust which we have seen before, at the Exhibition of Arts and Crafts during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben,’ a bust of Number 2 {Leo Mckern}. Are we then to think that the Professor and his wife have been in the Village since before that episode? Are we then to assume that Madam Professor was an entrant for the Exhibition of Arts and Crafts, seeing as the bust of the former Number 2 is presented amongst Madam Professor’s busts? And that plaster head of the Professor’s, how did Number 6 know it was made of plaster? And Speedlearn, a most important educational experiment, just for the Village, or for application in the schools, colleges, and universities of the outside world?
    Let us move on again to ‘Dance of the Dead’ and the case of the tele-printer. Why should Number 2 use a tele-printer to receive and send reports, when her predecessors and successors, use a telephone to report and receive their instructions, as in fact Number 2 of ‘Dance of the Dead’ does at the beginning of the episode?
    How about ‘A Change of Mind,’ when the members of the Committee instantly disappear when the lights go out in the Council Chamber? How is that to be explained?
    Why the frogmen during the Carnival parade of ‘Dance of the Dead’ and during the evacuation of the cavern in ‘Fall Out?’
   Of course you yourself can no doubt bring to mind other unexplained facets, and surreal moments within the series, that are not documented within my short list.
    In the past I’ve been told that for all my delving into ‘the Prisoner,’ and putting the series under a microscope will not improve the series. Well that’s perfectly true, but did not Patrick McGoohan intend us to display an inquisitive mind? To ask questions of ‘the Prisoner,’ perhaps not to the extent aficionado’s of the series have done over the years. And he might have taken me for mad for my devoting much of my time, my life to ‘the Prisoner.’ But while there are people who crave what I write on my blogspot, and while I can still find material to write about the series, I will continue to do so. But it’s fascinating to think although after all this time, we can still find things to write about ‘the Prisoner,’ yet there are aspects of the series which will always remain something of an enigma.

Be seeing you