A Favourite Scene

   Number 6 returns to his cottage, apparently confused, no longer sure of who he is any more. But he’s Number 12 isn’t he? “Sometimes in my dreams I’m, I’m somebody else.” He doesn’t know who, but sometimes in his dreams he has resigned his job. Now why did he resign his job? “Sometimes I’m here in my dreams, then I come back…I wonder now who am I, why am I here?” Perhaps it might be advantageous to call Number 2 at this point, he might be able to help.
   Curtis he was so gullible, taken in by Number 6’s performance, he wasn’t that much better in defending himself in a fist-fight! The fight scene in ‘The Schizoid Man’ is reminiscent of the time when John Drake was fighting with himself in the ‘Danger Man’ episode ‘The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove.’
   It’s stated that ‘the Prisoner’ is all about the mental struggle within himself, here we see that mental struggle transformed into a physical one for a change, symbolically speaking that is. Looking at it another way, perhaps Number 1 had decided to take a personal hand in this episode, presenting himself as Curtis. Then the whole of ‘The Schizoid Man’ could be physically based on the struggle Number 6 finds within himself. As for Curtis perhaps Number 6 made a mistake when he reported the death to Number 2, that Number 1 was alive and able to retake his place at the summit, perhaps ruing his decision to take part in this episode. Not that he came off any better during that final confrontation. It’s no wonder Number 1 ran away, he had no stomach for another physical beating!

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