The Therapy Zone

Arrival

    In the conversation between the new No.2 and the Prisoner he says "We do here what has to be done. It's the law of survival. It's either them or us." Imprison people, steal their minds, destroy them! "Depends on whose side you're on, doesn't it?" To which the Prisoner replies "I'm on our side." What the side of the village? If his own people put him here, there cannot be any question of which side runs the village. And if the Village is set up to gather information, as suggested in ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling,’ it's not just the reason behind the Prisoner's resignation that they want - but all the information inside his head! The Prisoner has been put in the village for the protection of National security, and to be thoroughly debriefed at their leisure! And it might have worked, had they offered him something in return. Oh but of course they did, or at least No.2 did. It was during the aerial tour of the Village when No.2 suggested to the Prisoner "You might even be given a position of authority." Well they did actually offer that position of authority, in ‘Fall Out,’ they offered No.6, or sir as he became to be addressed as, the offer of ultimate power!

The Prisoner

   You can just tell it's going to be one of those days, when you wake up and suddenly something feels different. Then as you make a search of The Village you discover that everyone's gone but you! Imagine, everyone escaped The Village but No.6. What could be worse than that? Me being left alone in The Village! Mind you, I don't have the necessary skills as our friend No.6 here. Oh I could chop down trees and probably make myself a raft. But then what? I'm no sailor, and have very limited navigational skills, and besides which, it's a very long way home! So if it were me in No.6's shoes, I'd probably have to sit down and wait to see what happens next. And if then no-one turns up, well I'd probably pack necessary provisions and head off across country, but keeping well away from those mountains!

Downright Surreal!

    ‘A B & C’ is a primary example of surrealism in the Prisoner, as much of the episode takes place in No.6's dream. However towards the end, with No.6 only partially drugged, his projected visions are as if he is partly awake and partly asleep. And when No.6 is heading for the secret laboratory somewhere in the woods, watching No.6's progress on the wall screen. It must have been a very surreal moment to see the pair of steel doors of the laboratory slide open on the wall screen, but not the actual doors, and to watch No.6 walk in on the both of them, in his dream that is!

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