Loyalty Always Pays
And is the case with No.6, because even though he has been betrayed by both the Colonel and Fotheringay during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben,’ each time he got the chance in ‘Many Happy Returns,’ and again during ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling,’ No.6 went running back to his ex-colleagues. So there is loyalty for you, even though he had previously been betrayed by his former colleagues.
Many Happy Returns
"Interesting fellow" Thorpe remarks
"He's an old, old friend who never gives up" responds the Colonel.
Which in turn makes No.6 his own worst enemy!
No.6 is not a man to simply sit about to wait and see what happens. He is a man of Action, that's Action with a capital "A". Neither is he a man who can simply accept his freedom having once escaped the clutches of the........... of the village. He needs to know which side runs the Village, he has suspicions that it is that of his own people. And more, he has to go and find the village again, and yet more, he actually goes back to the village, and it is this which makes No.6 his own worst enemy!
However, having returned to the village, is a promise half kept to No.2. That No.6 would escape and come back, come back, wipe the village off the face of the Earth. Obliterate it and No.2 with it. The second part of this promise the Prisoner kept, in Fall Out when he launched the rocket, causing the mass evacuation.
Appreciation For The Prisoner
To say that I am not so appreciative of the two episodes ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling’ and ‘Living In Harmony’ and the fact that they are not on my list of favourite episodes, cannot be denied.
However I have to say that there is one thing which is very much in their favour, these two episodes, and that is the music composed for them both.
After listening to the third cd of the above disc set, I can now appreciate both Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling and Living In Harmony if only for their quality of music. And if only that, then it demonstrates that the whole of the Prisoner series can be appreciated on many levels, and appreciation of it's music is but one level which can be appreciated in its own right.
The Village - The Nightmare World Of Number Six
And that being the case, why then do so many of us wish to infiltrate that nightmare world of theVvillage? I know people who have said that they wouldn't mind being taken to the Village. Well to that degree I suppose it all depends on how well your own world is, don't you think?
On the other hand we all immerse ourselves in No.6's nightmare world of the village every time we watch an episode of the Prisoner series, purely as good escapism of course. After all, the more sane of us, wouldn't want to end up as No.6 now - would we?
And as for those who wish have themselves taken to the Village, if such a place actually existed, what would they wish to go as, Prisoners or warders? I can think of a number of old past friends who would much prefer to be a warder than a prisoner. For as prisoners they wouldn't hold out against the village for a week, but as warders, they could wield their power over the prisoners. I know people who would just love to be able to do that!
Me? I'm just as much a prisoner as No.6 I'm afraid. And like him, I do not seek power for myself, only freedom.
I'll be seeing you.
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