The Prisoner Doppelled!

   The Prisoner doppelled, that’s two times Six isn’t it? Well it is in THEPRIS6NER. In the original series two times 6 is Number 12 the Schizoid Man, who is really Number 6 made out to be Number 12 while he is a doppelganger for Number 6. But even before the advent of ‘The Schizoid Man,’ Number 6 had been doppelled during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben!’ when Number Six is still in bed, his double has been seen at the balustrade of the Green Dome. And again when Number Six is leaving the Green Dome the same double is standing on top of the Bandstand. And again later as Number Six is returning to the relative comfort of his cottage his double is seen again, this time running down the road from the Green Dome. Even Number 6 cannot be in two places at the same time, unless he’s been doppelled! That doppelganger could be Number 12, going about The Village as Number 6, or even Number 1 out and about The Village in the guise of his counterpart Number 6. That way who would question him? But before we come to Number 1, originally Number 6 was to have had a double in ‘A Change of Mind.’ Someone who looked like Number 6 was to have undergone the operation known as Instant Social Conversion. This was to prove to the citizens that Number 6 had actually undergone the operation. To have had one double for Number 6 in The Village would be fine, to have two might have been pushing it just a bit too far. So that double might have been Curtis again! After all we only have Number 6’s word for it that Number 12 died from his encounter with the Guardian. They could have revived Number 12 and put him on ice for a while. Then when another double for Number 6 was required, they wheeled Number 12 out again. And then again in ‘Fall Out’ when they were to face Number 6 with Number 1, the fact that Number 1 and Number 6 are one and the same, and that Number 6 only has himself to blame for his captivity in The Village. But then Number 1 could have been Curtis again, and it’s no wonder he cut the figure of someone insane, seeing what he had been put through since his arrival in The Village. But in the end what does it all matter if Number 12 is Number 6 and vice versa. Or that Number 1 is Curtis playing Number 6 again, it’s all Patrick McGoohan several times doppelled!

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