The Prisoner File

    What's all this about an offer of ultimate power being offered to No.6 during ‘Fall Out?’ Could they really be serious? Could they really have trusted No.6 to lead The Village? Surely 'they' made a mistake? I mean to say, look what happened when No.6 was elected as the new No.2 in ‘Free For All.’ No.6 hadn't been in office five minutes before he was attempting to organise a mass breakout! He had control. He was immobilising all electronic controls, and told the villagers that they were "Free, free to go." Of course No.6 was never actually in control, of either The Village, or himself. However it did demonstrate what No.6 would do if given half a chance.
    ‘Fall Out’ has a number of inconsistencies and logicalities, just like the previous sixteen episodes which help make up the series. So what do they do? They bring back yet another former No.2 who has had direct dealings with No.6, who knew just what No.6 would be capable of. Then promote him to President, which I thought was all rather theatrical, and after praising No.6 as a man who having revolted, fought, resisted, held fast, maintained, destroyed resistance. Overcame coercion. The right of the individual to be individual or person. They applauded his private war, and finally they conceded that despite material efforts, No.6 had survived intact and secure. And after all that, all remained was the recognition of a man, a man of steel who is magnificently equipped to lead them. Well of course the President was correct, but really, the President couldn't have been serious about the offer of ultimate power? Certainly No.6 was given the opportunity to address the Delegates of the Assembly. Given the chance to make his speech, the Delegates shout No.6 down at every time he tries to commence his speech. “They” have no wish to allow No.6 to make his speech. More than that, “they” have no desire to hear what it is he has to say. Both No.48 and the “late” No.2 were allowed to plead their cases, then why not No.6? It would seem that the Delegates of the Assembly were not prepared to sit and listen to the ravings of an egomaniac!
    So why should “they” elect such a man as No.6 to lead them? They knew what No.6 was like. They knew what No.6 would try and do if he was given half a chance, and given that half a chance, he tried to take it in ‘Free For All!’
    ‘Fall Out’ was the final manipulation of No.6 by the Administration behind The Village. They faced No.6 with himself , a final throw of the dice in order to try and break him. They failed! So who is No.1? The alter ego of No.6? Or was he Curtis of ‘The Schizoid Man?’ Whoever No.1 is, he turned out to be unstable. A laughing maniac, who as soon as he was discovered, made for the nearest exit from the control room in the rocket by climbing a steel ladder into the nose cone of the rocket. Have you notice how villains who are being pursued, have this uncontrollable urge to climb upwards in order to avoid capture. Then of course the biggest mistake of all was made. Once No.6 had confronted No.1, having sealed him up in the nose cone of the rocket, they left No.6 to his own devices in the Control Room inside the rocket, where he set the countdown in motion. Surely security should have been sent to the Control Room once the President thought that something was wrong. Then No.6 could have been overpowered, and what follows in the episode would have been avoided. The launching of the rocket with No.1 still aboard. The fire-fight and death of all the security guards, and the ultimate escape of the butler, No.48, No.2, and No.6. And I suppose that of No.1/Curtis, if that was indeed he.
    It is believed by many fans that The village was destroyed by the launching of the rocket, seeing the rocket as a missile with a nuclear payload, hence the title ‘Fall Out.’ But in that lies the difficulty. The title of the episode is ‘Fall Out.’ If it had anything to do with a nuclear element, then it would be one word ‘Fallout.’ I don't think The Village was destroyed, there is no evidence of The Village’s destruction, only its evacuation. There is no evidence to suggest that the rocket is a nuclear missile. Don't forget that there were three clear Perspex 'Orbit Tubes,' for sustaining human life during a long space flight, within the rocket.
    No, the title ‘Fall Out,’ two words, suggests nothing more then there having been a falling out. A falling out between The Village and No.6, amongst former friends, and the ultimate falling out between the television viewers at the time, and Patrick McGoohan!

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