When the clock strikes four...................
"Number Two is unmutual, unmutual social conversion for Number Two Number the unmutual."
{Number 86 - A Change of Mind}
Number 86 denounced Number 2 for being an unmutual! So in hypnotising Number 86 Number 6 was able to turn the tables on Number 2, and hammering the point home he turns the crowd on Number 2 who is marched through The Village at the chant of "Unmutual, unmutual, unmutual, unmutual." Until the moment when Number 6 makes a dash for the relative safety of the Green Dome, with the chasing mob close on his heels! I've often wondered whether or not the citizens actually gained entry to the Green Dome, and so into Number 2's office, and if so, what then? Number 2 dragged and manhandled through the streets of The Village to the hospital by the citizens as they had Number 6, to undergo Instant Social Conversion!
BCNU
There's always been something about this scene, the resolution of the episode, that I disliked. All's too easy, No. 86 hypnotised by No. 6, denouncing No. 2 as unmutual. And - woop! - the crowd is behind him, whether he can eventually escape or not hardly matters. And what's worse, it isn't meant to be tongue-in-cheek, is it. No, I don't buy this trick. It's the fundamental weakness of the script that spoils this episode which otherwise has its remarkable traits. Such as the (first and only time) displaying of the Village community as a very sinister citizenship. The sense of paranoia made palpable. - BCNU!
ReplyDeleteHello Arno,
DeleteYou put that very well. And it is all too easy, and difficult to believe in. It would seem that there is nothing Number 6 cannot do, his abilities stretching as far as hypnotism! Certainly there is paranoia in The Village regarding unmutualls, much in the same way there was paranoia in America regarding Communists in the 1950's.
There is no tongue-in-cheek, and I've never been happy about how nimble Number 2 is as he runs up the steps to the Green Dome pursued by the mob, what's more he's lost weight! All too clearly that's not John Sharp!
Very kind regards
David
BCNU