Conspiracy. Number 2 saw conspiracies everywhere. There was no-one he could trust, that there are enemies at work within The Village, although Number 2 and his administration do not necessarily know who they are. Might they not be Jammer? As Number 2 says “We know there are those who believe they can get away with their plots and conspiracies,” sounds like Jammers. And yet Number 2’s suspicions were supposed to have been created in Number 2’s fevered paranoid imagination. But might not Number 2 be onto something? After all, all through the episode Number 6 himself carried out several acts of Jamming, non-existent plots and one-man conspiracies.
Number 12 was a conspirator, his confederate
was Number 6, and they conspired together to bring down both the General and
disrupt the educational experiment of Speedlearn. There was also an act of
conspiracy when Number 6 went about recruiting men he could rely upon. And how
many times has that happened in history, only for there to be a traitor amongst
them? In this instance Number 6 conspired against The Village, as he had done
in ‘The General.’ And yet it would not be so long before Number 6 was forced
into another conspiracy, or perhaps alliance would be a better word. This time
for the good of The Village and its community, to prevent an assassination of
an out-going Number 2. Number 2 asked Number 6 why does he care what happens to
him? He doesn’t, not about Number 2, but for the innocent people of The Village
who will be harmed and worse, when the mass reprisals begin.
Later a final unholy alliance is formed by four conspirators, a rebellious youth, a man reborn, and the former Number 6, whose rebellion was perhaps the purest of them all. He wanted nothing for himself, but his freedom. And then there was the Butler, who follows unquestioningly, forever loyal and devoted, until the wind changes. Such is the price of fame and failure, how sad. Perhaps it was just a case of the Butler knowing which side his bread was buttered. He wanted to be on the winning side for a change, no matter the cost to others.
And people join one side or the other in order to simply survive, as with the Professor and Madam Professor. An alliance was formed between the three. For Number 2 it was to see the successful conclusion to the educational experiment of Speedlearn. For Madam Professor it was to keep her husband alive, and the Professor so that he could go on teaching, but also to keep his wife alive, the one for the other, with Number 2 in the middle manipulating them both.
Conspiracy? Yes, perhaps not at the same level Number 2 thought, but there were those like Number 12 who held both the Professor and Speedlearn in contempt, and with the help of Number 6, made an active move against The Village. One conspirator? Where there is one there is another, and another, until you have a cell….a terrorist cell. Didn’t Number 2 imagine Number 6 had a bomb? That might have been pure paranoia on the part of Number 2, but we do know someone who had a bomb. And if that plastic explosive hidden in a replica of the Great Seal of Office, had been detonated during the Appreciation Day ceremony, that would have been an act of terrorism! Never mind whether it would have been assassination or execution. From the ordinary citizen’s point of view, it would have been a terrifying act of terrorism. What is it Number 6 put in the personal column of The Tally Ho….. "Hay mas mal en el aldea que se sueña,” “There is more harm in the Village than is dreamt of.” Or as several translators have it, “There is more evil in the village that is dreamed.”
Later a final unholy alliance is formed by four conspirators, a rebellious youth, a man reborn, and the former Number 6, whose rebellion was perhaps the purest of them all. He wanted nothing for himself, but his freedom. And then there was the Butler, who follows unquestioningly, forever loyal and devoted, until the wind changes. Such is the price of fame and failure, how sad. Perhaps it was just a case of the Butler knowing which side his bread was buttered. He wanted to be on the winning side for a change, no matter the cost to others.
And people join one side or the other in order to simply survive, as with the Professor and Madam Professor. An alliance was formed between the three. For Number 2 it was to see the successful conclusion to the educational experiment of Speedlearn. For Madam Professor it was to keep her husband alive, and the Professor so that he could go on teaching, but also to keep his wife alive, the one for the other, with Number 2 in the middle manipulating them both.
Conspiracy? Yes, perhaps not at the same level Number 2 thought, but there were those like Number 12 who held both the Professor and Speedlearn in contempt, and with the help of Number 6, made an active move against The Village. One conspirator? Where there is one there is another, and another, until you have a cell….a terrorist cell. Didn’t Number 2 imagine Number 6 had a bomb? That might have been pure paranoia on the part of Number 2, but we do know someone who had a bomb. And if that plastic explosive hidden in a replica of the Great Seal of Office, had been detonated during the Appreciation Day ceremony, that would have been an act of terrorism! Never mind whether it would have been assassination or execution. From the ordinary citizen’s point of view, it would have been a terrifying act of terrorism. What is it Number 6 put in the personal column of The Tally Ho….. "Hay mas mal en el aldea que se sueña,” “There is more harm in the Village than is dreamt of.” Or as several translators have it, “There is more evil in the village that is dreamed.”
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