Prismatic Reflection

   Second to 2, that’s what I call a number of individuals who are assistants to Number 2. Although not every Number 2 has an assistant, certainly neither the first, nor the second as far as we know. But certainly the third Number 2 during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben,’ he had an assistant, who previously was the manager of the Labour Exchange Number 20. To be perfectly honest I’m not sure if the third Number 2 warranted an assistant, as he seemed more than capable to me. Perhaps that’s why his assistant {whose number is indistinct in the surveillance footage} was later confined to the Control Room. As for the former Labour Exchange manager, perhaps he saw being attached to Number 2 as a promotion. But then again at least while he was the manager of the Labour Exchange has had been his own boss. And yet I feel that this assistant would take great delight in using methods they haven’t tried yet in order to break Number 6. But thankfully for 6, Number 2 doesn’t want a man of fragments!
    If Number 2 of ‘A B and C’ has an assistant it has to be the bio-chemist-Number 14. Perhaps she was also treating Number 2 for his stomach ulcer, well you never know. She is a doctor, and there’s a question over Number 2’s health, “Is No,2 Fit For Further Term?” So it would be perfectly natural for him to seek medical advice from Number 14.
    Number 2 who takes Number 6 right through the election period, has no need for an assistant, as he makes full use of The Village’s administration, medical sciences, and techniques adapted from use in the Civil Service. Also he is a past master at the manipulation of such a community as The Village. However having said that, Number 2 has no immediate assistant, there is always Number 58 who has been assigned as Number 6’s driver for the election period. If anything should go wrong, 58 is close enough to 6 to deal with it. As with that time in the Cat and Mouse nightclub, she knew enough to get him to the Therapy Zone in time for another dose of the drug, to exact proportions, which would see him right through to the end of the election.
   ‘The Schizoid Man,’ sees Number 12, or is it Number 6, as Number 2’s assistant? Either way or it could be both, Number 6 has a bruised fingernail which helps save both his sanity and his identity!
   Number 12 of administration is Number 2’s next little helper. Number 12 is a cog in the machine. He has particular  thoughts about the Professor, such as him being a crank, and that cranks attract troublemakers. Number 2 suggests his thoughts should be guarded very carefully. In all the 17 episodes of ‘the Prisoner,’ this Number 12 is the only conspirator working within the Village administration, and against The Village, that we ever see. That makes him unique. What’s more he gave his life for the cause. But which cause might that have been?
     Neither female Number 2 that follow have an assistant, well we cannot be one hundred percent about Mrs Butterworth as we see so little of her in The Village. And as for the next one, I suppose the closest you could call an assistant would be Number 240. She’s not really an assistant at all, but an Observer who works in the Control Room. Although Number 240 does appear to be close to Number 2, and has a rather unorthodox way of making a report direct to Number 2 instead of going through her Supervisor-No.22.
   ‘Checkmate’ sees a Number 2 who is a quite able administrator who requires no assistant. Number 269 appears to be more of an assistant to the Supervisor-Number 56 than to Number 2, seeing as he spends so much of his time in the Control Room. Perhaps that’s where Number 2 sent him, not requiring an assistant himself.
    Number 2 “the hammer,” he has an assistant, Number 14. Number 14’s only desire is to assist Number 2 in anyway he can, but is frustrated by Number 2, who keeps 14 well at arms length. Although Number 14 is a loyal ally to Number 2, who is paranoid about everyone in The Village, only trusting his assistant up to a point. In other words Number 14 has his uses, but nothing beyond that. Number 14 is ambitious, he seeks promotion. Look at the way he’s slumbering, half asleep in that armchair in the foyer of the Green Dome the one minute, then the next, when he hears the pair of steel doors slide open, he jumps to his feet and stands smartly to attention giving Number 2 the impression he’s been standing like that all the time. I bet this Number 14 would like promotion to Number 2 one day. Well if he had been, it would have been a sorry day for Number 6! The last we see of this Number 14 he is unceremoniously expelled out of ‘6 Private’ by Number 6 though the French door, taking the balcony railings with him!
    There has been a series of interim Number 2’s while Number 2 has been away on leave. The current incumbent Interim Number 2 has an assistant, Number 100 who is adept at indoctrination, who has never had a failure yet, and didn’t have with the Watchmaker Number 51. Number 2, who has returned to The Village just in time for his retirement, also has an assistant, Number 22 who doesn’t appear to do very much at all. He doesn’t like the idea of Plan Division Q, but is not prepared to do anything about it, but just stands about awaiting the inevitable. The exception being, when Number 2 asks Number 22 to send someone to the Bureau of Visual Records for a tape he wants to review, the subject “Warning of an assassination plot, subjects Number Six and his successor.” His assistant knows that it would be a waste of time, seeing as there is no recording of that description, this despite him having no duties in the Bureau of Visual Records! We do not see Number 22 again! I cannot see anything bad happening to him, only that he disappeared back into the depths of administration! As for Number 100, he came to grief at the fists of Number 6.
    ‘A Change of Mind,’ again Number 2 has a doctor for an assistant, Number 86. Once Number 6 is posted as being unmutual, it is Number 86 who has to convince Number 6 that he has undergone the full personality change known as Instant Social Conversion. And from there on in, to maintain the sedated state of the Prisoner’s mind. But the stupid woman allows Number 6 to turn the tables on her. Also Number 2 works closely with the Supervisor-Number 26. This is the only time we see the Supervisor in Number 2’s office when they are in conference together.
    The next Number 2 to enjoy an assistant turns out to be a bad Judge! In fact this Number 2 has two assistants. Number 8 who is the brains behind the idea of dosing Number 6 up with hallucinogenic drugs, placing him in a dangerous environment, and talking to him through microphones. Also Number 22. Well she’s there for the love aspect as Cathy who works in the Silver Dollar Saloon, she may even own it. The idea being, give Number 6 love, take it away from him, and make him kill! The only trouble is Cathy/Number 22 falls for The Man With No Name/Number 6. And because of that the Kid/Number 8 becomes jealous, murders Cathy/Number 22 and the whole experiment falls apart!
    He told them a blessed fairytale……. “Well it was worth a try Number Two” Number 10 told her superior. Why should this Number 2 have a female assistant? Well, there had to be The Girl Who Was Death! I suppose Death could have been a male assassin, but where would the sex have been in that?
   The butler is as capable an assistant to Number 2 as anyone. A personal gentleman’s gentleman, his valet in other words. And yet in ‘Once Upon A Time’ he is very much more than that. Not only does he provide meals and refreshment for both Number 2 and Number 6, he also assists Number 2 during the deliberations. The butler is in charge of special effects, props, wardrobe, punishment, and entertainment!
    Being second to Two perhaps isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, to coin a phrase. But one can only serve in whatever capacity one is given, and play only the card one is dealt. Playing the game according to Hoyle one could say. Perhaps the best thing about being second to Two is, the fact that when the proverbial hits the fan, its Number 2 who carries the can. After all he’s the boss, well in charge any way. As for assistants, well they are not unlike Number 2 himself, along with the personal maids such as 21, 66, and 54, they come and they go!

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