I have never found the ending of ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling’ very satisfactory. Before his return to London
Be seeing you
Hello David,
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there's really an answer to this question. I doubt it..
One idea I have is that maybe Seltzman secretly knew about the village, and Number 6 learned about it from him.
Or maybe his mind was only rewound to the day of his resignation when it was transferred to the Colonels body. Maybe this process was made undone when the process was reversed. Or the like.
Or was it simply a rushed addition to the script? I'm not so very sure if the scriptwriter had something in mind to explain it.
Very best wishes,
Jana
BCNU
Hello Jana,
DeleteThe end of the episode 'Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling' works better in the original script. The following dialogue continues thus after the operation of the reversal process which we see in the episode.
The Prisoner's eyes open and begin to focus. He is looking up.
No.2 "Have a good sleep, old boy?"
Prisoner "Where am I?"
No.2 "In the Village."
Prisoner "What do you want?"
No.2 "Information."
Prisoner "I'll tell you nothing." {sitting up he shouts} I am a free man!"
No.2 "Welcome home Number Six."
Of course this dialogue was cut from the final scene. Had McGoohan left that piece of dialogue in the scene, then I feel the ending would have been better explained.
Very kind regards
David
BCNU
Hello David,
ReplyDeletethat's an explanation! Thank you! It's a pity that this dialogue was cut from the episode. I wonder why.
Best wishes,
Jana
Be seeing you
Well, I don't think the Amnesia Room works properly where No.6 is concerned... when No.6's mind is put into the Colonel's body, Colonel 6 wakes up, sees his reflection and the unhappy Village memories come flooding back. That's how I interpret the scene just before Janet arrives. No.2 earlier said that the Amnesia Room will remove "all" memories, but clearly this wasn't the case.
ReplyDeleteBut we see Colonel 6 recalling No.2 saying "Proceed as our friend would have done." I don't understand this bit. If "our friend" refers to No.6, why is No.2 saying this to No.6? He couldn't have been saying this to the Colonel, because if he had, then Colonel 6 could not have recalled it. If "our friend" refers to the Colonel, well it can't do because the Colonel doesn't know where Seltzman is; he can't proceed. Perhaps No.2 did say it to the Colonel and No.6 overheard.
But in answer to the original question, I think No.6 knew that the Village were behind it all the time and he needed to be taken back to the Village to get his body back.
Now this raises another question to me: is No.6 acting morally? Presumably he was their only hope to get Seltzman. And presumably the Village could wreak havoc with the Seltzman reversal technique. But to No.6, getting his body back is his priority. By the end of the episode, Seltzman has escaped and the Colonel is dead. But No.6 has helped the Village to learn the reversal process.
Then again, perhaps No.6 had no doubt that he'd get the Village abolished some day, before they could use the technique.
Anyway, I've digressed from the original question quite a bit and ended up somewhere confusing. Another answer might be that the reversal process can uncover things "deleted" by the Amnesia Room, as stated by Jana.
Be seeing you
ZM72
Hello ZM72,
DeleteAlways good to hear from you.
That is a fair enough interpretation of yours, of what I see as being the most incomprehensible episode in the entire series of 'The Prisoner.' Yes I can see where you are coming from regarding the Village memories coming flooding back as the Prisoner/Colonel looks into the mirror. But if they had, the Prisoner would not have made the mistake about Janet Portland's yellow dress. He went to Janet's last fitting of that yellow dress, and that was a year ago! Which to my mind, indicates that the Prisoner has no memory of the past year, his incarceration in the Village.
As for Colonel/6 recalling No.2 saying "Proceed as our friend would have done." None of this makes any sense, as you say, it's not the Colonel No.2 is speaking to, it's No.6. But none of that scene taking place as the Colonel/6 looks into the mirror is actually in the original script! What is in it, is a nice scene of a black hearse driving up to No.1 Buckingham Place, and two Undertakers carrying a coffin into the house, ie bringing the Prisoner back to his house from the Village.
But going back to that mirror, the Prisoner should have known something was wrong from the moment he woke up and looked at his wrist watch. After all, I know my own hand and wrist, so too would the Prisoner! But even then I'm undone by that, as the hand and wrist we see is neither that of Patrick McGoohan or Nigel Stock, it's cameraman Len Harris!
To the question of whether or not No.6 knew it was the the Village that had carried out the mind transferrance, No.6 is sure it's not his own people, but his enemies in his other half, those of the Colonel. So this indicates to me that the Prisoner is not sure. So if the Undertaker had not got to them first, how would No.6 know to get back to the Village so that he could undergo the mind tranferrance process and get his body back? If Potter had got to No.6 and Seltzman first, then No.6's mind would have had to settle for the body of the Colonel, and the Colonel as No.6, to remain a prisoner in the Village....I think!
Was the Prisoner acting morally? He had certainly been shielding Professor Seltzman before his abduction to the Village, as the Prisoner was the only person who knew where Seltzman was. Sheilding him because he knew that if certain authorities got their hands on Seltzman and his mind transferrance machine, the science and technology would be perverted! And that brings the question; if no-one knew where Professor Seltzman was, save for the Prisoner. How did the Village Administration get their hands on the Seltzman machine in the first place? Go on, answer me that one!
In regard to No.6 helping the Village Administration learning the reversal process, what reversal proces? This is another anomally in this incomperhensible episode, because there was no need for any such "reversal process!" To corrctly re-house both the minds of No.6 and the Colonel, all they had to do was to put them through the original process they went through a second time. Yes Seltzman appeared to be a catalyst for the mind transferrence the second time, but he wasn't there the first time. Seltzman was tricking No.2, while putting the mind of No.6 back in his body, and Seltzman exchanging minds with the Colonel.
Now I'm going to go and lie down in a darkened room, because attempting to fathom 'Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling' just about drives me round the bend!
Very kind regards
David
BCNU
Yes, I'd forgotten about the yellow silk bit. The Colonel/6 hadn't but I had. I must've been in the amnesia room. I can't remember! So he has some fragments of recollection of the Village, as we see in the mirror scene, but just fragments.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, just why is the reversal process so important anyway? And why couldn't the Village just do as you suggest and run the normal Seltzman process. This part does get addressed somewhat in the story, as Colonel/6 asks whether the reversal process exists.
Yes again, if Potter had got to them first, or if the Undertakers car had broken down, or even if Colonel/6 had shook them off on the way to Austria, what could have Seltzman done about it!
It is a confusing episode alright.
Be seeing you
ZM72
Hello ZM72,
DeleteThe Prisoner's mind is confued that's for sure, but not as confused as the televison viewer might be! If only Mcgoohan had not messed the epsidoe about after his return from working on 'Ice station Zerbra,' we would have had a more comprehensible episode, and may I suggest even an "alternative" episode to the one we have, that of "Face Unknown!"
If the reversal process was really needed, that makes what the Village Administration was doing even worse. Using the mind transferance to put the mind of an agent working for the Village into the body of their choosing, but without the possibility of reversing that!
Yes the Undertaker's car could have broken down, but they would not have lost the Lotus 7, you will recall {or not if you are still suffering the after effects of the amnesia room} they had a tracker hidden on the car. So there was no chance of Potter losing track of the Lotus.
Pat McGoohan may very well have conceived the idea of 'the Prisoner,' but when it comes to 'Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling,' he had much to answer for!
Very kind regards
David
BCNU