Number 6 - As A Friend?

   You can count the number of friendships No.6 cultivates in the Village on one hand. Nadia during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ was the first, or rather second if you count No.9 of ‘Arrival,’ supplied No.6 with the electro pass, but cannot really be counted as a friend to No.6. And the same can be said of Nadia, and yet there appeared to be the aspects of friendship between Nadia and No.6 although Nadia had been assigned to No.6 in much the same way as No.9. and No.6 was suing Nadia simply to escape the Village. But what about No.2, could he be a friend of No.6’s? There was certainly a rapport between the two, friendly banter and all that. Which of course was rekindled during their time together in the embryo room of ‘Once Upon A time,’ as No.2 was actually beginning to like No.6. And he did introduce No.6 to his new neighbour No.8, and she I think became close to No.6, as a friend, but possibly it could have been more than that. Well that's the feeling I get from her attitude she shows towards No.6. There's a warmth in her, especially when they are sealed inside that crate together!

   No.6 had other friends, such a 'A' and 'B' of the episode ‘A B and C,’ although such friendships as these had been cultivated outside the village and long before his abduction. No.24-Alison in ‘The Schizoid Man’ could have been a friend. Certainly they looked friendly towards one another. But of course we don't know, and can never know, just how this friendship between No.6 and Alison began to blossom, more on the part of Alison or No.6. A mutual friendship, based on a "mental link" or one purposely cultivated by Alison which in turn the idea originating at the door of No.2's office! At the beginning it might just have been another assignment, but at the end, unlike Nadia, Alison was ashamed of what she did, and wanted No.6 to know that given a second chance she wouldn't do it again! I suppose as well as not being able to say just when this friendship began to develop between Alison and No.6, we cannot say just how this "mental link" between them came about. As we observe No.6 helping Alison with her "mind reading" in his cottage, the "mental link" appears to be real enough. unlike the "stacked cards" during No.6's attempt to prove that he is No.6, there is no way that the cards used by No.6 in his cottage that evening could possibly be stacked against him in the same way as they were in No.2's office that time.

   So it would appear that there was something more than friendship between Alison and No.6. Which could, I suppose, be said of No.6 and the little watchmakers daughter No.51-Monique of ‘It’s Your Funeral.’ At first they had been brought together by the manipulation of No.2, in the assassination plot against No.2. But was this a friendship in the true sense, or was Monique simply using No.6 in order to save her father from a fate worse than a fate worse than death? Perhaps they were using each other for their own ends. Monique and No.6 certainly seemed at times to enjoy each others company over a cup of coffee on frequent occasions.

   No.8 of ‘Checkmate’ had a kind of friendship with No.6, even if it was all on-sided. And yet there were moments of kindness No.6 showed towards No.8.

    Cathy, the saloon girl of the Sliver Dollar Saloon in the Wild West town of Harmony, she was another to get close to the man with no name and a cosy little friendship was quietly developing between the pair. But of course almost anything and everything which occurred during the episode of ‘Living In Harmony’ was false. But even so, No.22 who played Cathy in No.8's "role playing game" had wished it had been real, and told No.6 so as she lay dying in his arms.

   The trouble with trying to build friendships in the Village, you can never quite find the friends who you can really trust and rely upon, not the Prisoners anyway. It could be different for those who arrived in the village of their own free will, the warders for example. And those citizens who work in and behind the scenes of the Village. People who maintain both it and its services. After all, you couldn't have an installation like the village where even those who work for it have no trust in one another, could you now?

    No, No.6 enjoys associations and acquaintances in the Village. And for him it will not get much better than that. How No.6 reacts to those who betray him, like Alison-No.24, who remain in the Village, is not known. But perhaps he won't be so hard on the girl. After all she was only carrying out No.2's instructions!

Be seeing you