Who Will Look After No.1?

    Who will look after No.1? It was once suggested by Number 2 that Number 6 may be taken for mad if he insists on living a dream. To my mind it’s Number 1 who is mad, and that Number 6 is needed to control Number 1 through himself. And at times to act as a buffer between Number 1 and the citizens of The Village, ‘The General,’ ‘It’s Your Funeral,’ and ‘A Change of Mind’ being the prime episodes in this regard. Number 2 once asked Number 6 why does he care? He cares because he has to, because it’s unthinkable what Number 1 might do if he didn’t.

   An interesting twist on this, would be that the Prisoner has to resign in order to be brought to The Village, so that once there he is able to control Number 1. And that Number 6 has become self-aware, and has to detach himself from Number 1 so to strive for freedom, and become Number 1’s opponent.

    On a symbolic level, if ‘Fall out’ is made number one, the first episode of ‘the Prisoner’ series, then Number 6 having become self-aware of what he has become, decides that there is only one way out! He separates himself from Number 1, putting as much distance between them as he can. Then when Number 6 returns to London he goes to hand in his resignation, so that he’s free to go to The Village in order to become Number 1’s opponent. How one combats the fact that the Prisoner has been in The Village before is simple, Number 6 and Number 1 are locked together in a vicious circle. So ‘Fall Out’ doesn’t have to be the first episode, but both first and the last!

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