The Village
Having brought No.6 to the village, was possibly the biggest mistake the villages administration could make. When you have so many sheep, and then to bring a goat amongst them, well it's bound to lead to trouble!
Many Happy Returns
This is not so much as escaping the village, but a great leap of faith No.6 is about to undertake. A dangerous sea journey to where? Because No.6 has no idea of where he is sailing from, so he cannot judge where he is sailing to!
It would seem that anywhere is preferable to the Village, and No.6 is well prepared to take the risk. Never a man to simply sit about and see what happens. Certainly this episode turned out to be a voyage of discovery for No.6!
Living In Harmony
It was once suggested that the episode Living In Harmony should be placed in the running order of the Prisoner second from last, just before ‘Once Upon A Time’ in fact. This is due to the idea that during Living In Harmony "they" are grooming No.6 for a position of authority offered to him during ‘Fall Out,’ as Sheriff in Harmony.
But surely the Sheriff had resigned his job at the beginning, just as the Prisoner had done. True the Judge was using every strategy to coerce the stranger in becoming Town Sheriff for Harmony, which the stranger resisted any such coercion. But one can only resist coercion for so long, and so reluctantly he was forced to accept the position of Town Sheriff.
It's one point of view I suppose, No.6 being groomed for a position of power. But really at the end of ‘Living In Harmony’ we do actually learn the reason behind the episode "Fill him full of hallucinatory drugs! Put him in a dangerous environment! Talk to him through microphones. Give him love, take it away. Isolate him. make him kill, then face him with death. He'll crack. Break him, even in his mind, and the rest will be easy."
Doesn't sound much like "grooming No.6 for a position of power to me!"
Be seeing you
Whoever brought that theory up must have missed something. Of course No. 2 was trying to get him smartly by offering him something many people would aspire to even more so if under pressure: a position of influence, even power. I am sure No.6 would have turned it down as he eventually did in "Fall Out". - BCNU!
ReplyDeleteHello Arno,
DeleteThe words of your comment are very true. But didn't No.6 stand for public office, to be voted the "new" No.2 in 'Free For All?' And once attaining that position, for however short a term of office, thereby he attempted to force his will on the people! No.6 told No.2 that everyone votes for a dictator, and even in the case of No.6, he was right!
Perhaps, seeing as how things turned out in 'Free For All,' what happened in that episode, when No.6 attained a position of power, should have acted as a waring for what would happeen if No.6 had accepted the offer of ultimate power!
Regards
David
BCNU
Yes he did. But what ultimately triggered him? Not that he wanted to cooperate or just fill any big seat. That's what No. 2 had in mind when he was talking about getting a position of responsibility. No. 6 wanted insight and perhaps thwart the system from within. - BCNU!
ReplyDeleteHello Arno,
DeleteI think No.6 saw that running for public office, in standing against No.2 in the election, as simply being an opportunity that he might be able to exploit in some way, well he might as well, he had nothing else to do!
Yes, he may very well have thought about bringing the system down from within, but sadly that would never happen, as "they" had been in control all the time. Who can say with any precision what was in the mind of No.6 at that time?
One other thought. I had always assumed, yes I know one should never assume anything. I had always thought that "they" knew what No.6 would do if elected as No.2, to organise a mass breakout. But what if it was in the mind of No.6 to bring down the system from within if elected as the new No.2 as you say? What better way to counter that, than by conditioning No.6's mind the idea of organsing a mass break out. In other words "they" didn't know what No.6 would do if he was elected, "they" were telling him what to do! Putting the idea into No.6's mind through "Inception!"
Kind regards
David
BCNU
That's alright. From my perspective he was naive believing running for (any) office in the Village would eventually bring him, well, out of there. Some have argued this would indicate the episode should be screened very early on. A reasonable point. Then, he remains hesitatingly after No. 2s first approach to run for office but obviously there's something that incites him to get into the electoral procedure ("No. 1 will no longer be a mystery to you" says No. 2). And finally the Village knew their Lenin well: trust is good, control's better. No. 6 was also drugged and being kept under control during his campaign. Sure, this case isn't too simple. But one thing does not preclude the other. - BCNU!
ReplyDeleteHello arno,
DeletePerfectly correct, the one does not preclude the other, and that is what has made 'the Prisoner' so enduring.
Kind regards
David
BCNU