Prismatic Reflection

     It was once debated within the circle of appreciation for ‘the Prisoner’ whether or not he own two piped blazers. You see take the episode of ‘Checkmate’ which I watched only recently. When No.6 stood on the chessboard as the white Queen’s Pawn, the piping at his lapel was joined. Yet the next day when No.6 met up with No.2, and was invited by No.2 to join him and go to the hospital to see the rook, the piping on No.6’s blazer was broken! Thus it was decided by certain fans that a continuity error had occurred, that was a wrong decision. After all it makes perfect sense that No.6 should possess two piped blazers, one on and one at the dry cleaners. What could be more natural than that? Perhaps to wear his own suit of clothes at the Ball, which had been specially delivered for the occasion. But was it his own suit of clothes? Had not the Prisoner’s suit been burnt, and indeed why should they be burnt? Of course they hadn‘t. His suit had been given to that infantile man in the Aversion Therapy room. But just a moment…..the Prisoner had been wearing a black polo shirt the day he arrived in the Village, and at the Ball in ‘Dance of the Dead’ he was wearing a white dress shirt and black bow tie, so where did they come from? Perhaps they arrived in the two suitcases the Prisoner had packed, and which we see during the opening sequence to ‘the Prisoner.’ But then that would suppose that the two suit cases had been brought to the Village with the Prisoner. Yet they were never seen in his cottage those suitcases. I wonder why they were kept back from No.6?

We are told that the reason behind there being so many different No.2’s is because it makes it impossible for No.6 to form a relationship with any No.2. Well what about during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben,’ if that wasn’t a kind of relationship between No.6 and No.2, it was something stretching to a rapport! And might not the same be said of No.6 and No.2 of both ‘A B and C,’ and later ‘The General?’
    There are relationships between people in the Village, how could it not be so when human beings are involved? No.6 might have had a mental link with No.24-Alison, but there must have been some kind of relationship which brought them together in the first place. And we must not forget No.8-Nadia Rakovsky She and No.6 appeared to be getting very cosy together. Was it all an act on Nadia‘s part? Did she feeling nothing for No.6? Nah! The Watchmaker-No.50 has a relationship with his daughter Monique-No.51, which is only natural. What had become of her mother, the Watchmaker’s wife is unknown. It is possible she died in the Village. But then there is the Professor and his wife, who came to the Village of their own free will. Well that might be so, however whilst they are in the Village there is no relationship between them at all. They might as well be two individual people with nothing between them! Madam Professor serves only as a persuasion to keep the Professor alive through his continued work via his lectures. She will do anything to keep her husband alive, she loves her husband although there is no physical contact between them. And in between times Madam has her art seminars in which she teaches students art.
    I suppose another form of relationship in the Village would be between No. 2 and an Observer-No.240 in ‘Dance of the Dead,’ they seem pretty friendly. At one point No.240 cannot find No.6, and reports this directly to No.2 for which she is strongly reprimanded by her Supervisor-No.22. So at least there is a working relationship, if nothing else. The Observer-No.240 claimed to have got to know No.34 quite well, well she would, being his observer. But No.34 is dead, and even when he was alive he didn’t know No.240!
   Sex! Sex doesn’t figure in ‘the Prisoner’ in any shape or form. Nor is sex discussed within the realm of appreciation for ‘the Prisoner. I was a member of Six of One the Prisoner Appreciation Society for 15 years, and I cannot recall sex, or rather the non presence of sex within ‘the Prisoner’ series ever being discussed in any publication produced by the society, or anywhere else for that matter. I suppose the nearest thing to questioning anyone’s sexuality within the series would be that of No.2 in ‘Dance of the Dead.’ She is masculine, she delivers lines more akin to that of a man, and she attends the Ball in the guise of Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up! And I suppose her seemingly close relationship with No.240 is questionable. In other words No.2 could be a lesbian.
    There is love in the Village, although it is a manufactured love on the part of No.8, believing herself to be in love with No.6, and he with her. And you could say the same between Cathy and the Prisoner-the Man With No Name, except No.22 had true feelings for No.6, as at the end she tells No.6 that she wished it had been real.

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