Once Upon A Time
When No.6 is regressed back to his childhood, we live through part of McGoohan's biography, and finally learn the reasons behind the Prisoners resignation.
No.2 admits that he's beginning to like No.6, and the Butler Butler
No.2 and No.6 change places which is sometimes essential in some cases, which is a risk if the doctor has his own problems, which No.2 does have of course. But No.2 is also keen, far too keen to get Degree Absolute over and done with as soon as possible. This happens when No.2 jumps the gun by grabbing No.6 by the lapels of his piped blazer and asking the newly graduated pupil "Why did you resign?"
"From what sir?" the bemused pupil asks.
"Now my boy, you know perfectly well what I'm talking about..... Why did you resign?"
"I can't tell you that Sir" No.6 tells him.
Of course No.6 couldn't tell No.2 why he resigned, because the pupil Prisoner had only just graduated from school, and hadn't done anything yet. First he had to be recruited into the Banking business, and even then the act of ‘the Prisoner’ resigning from his top secret and confidential job was years off!
The Tally Ho Feb 10th seen to be read by the doctor-No.14 in the episode ‘A B and C.’ The headline asks Is No.2 Fit For Further Term. This is regarding No.2's health, and not his administrative capabilities, as was suffering from a stomach ulcer at the time.
Yet the village, and its administration, can be very quirky, as here is the same newspaper dated Feb. 10th., with the same headline Is No.2 Fit For Further Term but used in the episode ‘The Schizoid Man!’ Surely, this headline cannot refer to the current No.2 of this episode? Unless the episode of ‘The Schizoid Man’ was a year later!
The Prisoner, and continue with ‘The Schizoid Man.’ No.6 has a double in the village - No.12, and both swear that they are No.6! No.6, or is it 12, cannot be broken in an interrogation by No.2. Even their thumb prints are identical, and when No.6 fails to demonstrate that he is No.6, with the help of Alison-No.24 and their sympatico relationship using the mind reading cards, well it all seems to up for No.6.
But No.6 is a resilient man, and when all becomes clear to him in the mirror of his bedroom, he is able to turn the tables on No.2. And by impersonating No.12-Curtis, No.6’s look-a-like, he attempts to escape the village.
Yet in this attempted escape, there is one piece of information, which No.6 could not possibly know, the fact that Susan, Curtis’s wife died a year ago, is No.6’s stumbling block, and No.2’s saving grace!
No.2 did not succeed with his original remit, to extract information from No.6, yet he succeeded in in preventing No.6 from escaping. As for No.6, well he was prevented from escaping the village, yet he was successful in preventing No.2 and Curtis from extracting the reason behind his resignation. So we’ll call this a draw all round I think.
‘The General’ isn’t really an episode which should have involved No.6, well certainly not directly anyhow. Because No.2, who we see has been brought back to the village for a second term of office, is involved with the greatest human experiment ever to have been conducted - SPEEDLEARN. Through SPEEDLEARN and the General the village citizens are to be educated in a revolutionary way, and no more tedious learning by rote!
Yet No.6 does involve himself after hearing the Professor’s message on a tape recorder, that Speedlearn is an abomination, and that the General must be destroyed!
In the end, the episode of The General is a complete and utter disaster for No.2. Not only is the General destroyed, but also the Professor is electrocuted to death by his own creation, as well as No.12 of Administration who bravely atempted to save the Professor’s life.
As for No.6, well he poked his nose in, and because of that two men are now dead. No doubt he will see this as a success for him against the village, in his saving the citizens from a mass educational experiment which tells you when, but not what!
Be seeing you
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