The Illusion of Escape! b

   ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ certainly contained the illusion of escape, but at that time it was the furthest the Prisoner had managed to get away from The Village, 30 miles along the coast! In ‘Many Happy Returns’ the Prisoner actually returned to London. There was no illusion in this case, only doubt and suspicion.

    And then the day came when Number 6 is returned to London for a second time, again supposedly free of The Village, and apparently on the day he was supposed to hand in his resignation, followed by his abduction, in ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling.’ In fact for a few moments everything appears to be normal {well as normal as ‘the Prisoner’ can be} as suddenly it appears that ‘the Prisoner’ has been “re-set,” and about to begin all over again when he goes off to hand in his resignation. But even that is an illusion, because ZM73 soon discovers he not the man he thought he was!

   There is no paranoia, no suspicion of his surroundings as ZM73 takes being back in London for granted. There is only confusion, and disorientation. ZM73 did not wake up in his London home having escaped The Village, because he had not been abducted as yet by a pair of undertakers. He had not yet handed in his letter of resignation, perhaps the reason why he wasn’t abducted to The Village at that time! And yet this is another illusion. The illusion is broken when ZM73 looks into the mirror in the hallway and remembrances of The Village return to his memory. But he must “play the game” if he is to have any chance of undoing the terrible trick that has been played upon him!

   After the “Fall Out” the former Number 6 manages to escape The Village once more. London is now a reality, there is no suspicion of place, the illusion finally broken. Even ZM73 is about to climb behind the wheel of his Lotus 7, and a hearse drives slowly passed, there is no paranoia. But then why should there be, he doesn’t know that he was abducted by a pair of undertakers! ZM73 does climb behind the wheel of his Lotus 7, he drives off through the streets of London on his way to an office which is so familiar to him. A single word appears on the screen “Prisoner,” as an unsuspecting Civil servant enters the Houses of Parliament through the Peers entrance, to a clash of thunder. The sight of a long deserted runway, a car, a green yellow nosed Lotus 7 comes looming towards the camera, and finally the man behind the wheel of his car, the look of determination on his face. It is as though all that has happened, all that was seen to happen, the illusion suffered by ZM73 in ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling,’ had been re-set back to the day of ZM73’s resignation!

Be seeing you