Fall Out

     With the Supervisor having been promoted to the new Number 2 in ‘Once Upon A time’ by Number 2, it fell upon him, out of duty, and no doubt curiosity, to release the inhabitants of the Embryo Room. Having sealed Number 2’s body in the cage, the new Number 2 asked what Number 6 wanted, “Number One” said Number 6, “I’ll take you" he said.

   Then in ‘Fall Out,’ Number 2 took his place amongst the delegates on the benches of the Assembly. My wife asked “Who is in charge of The Village, who is Number 2?  The Supervisor-Number 28 had been promoted to Number 2 for one week. So probably Number 2 promoted someone else, as the Supervisor’s assistant Number 60 had been promoted to Supervisor in ‘Hammer Into Anvil.’ Mind you, they had brought back another former Number 2 to take the role of President or Judge, if you prefer, in order to preside over the three trials in ‘Fall Out.’

    It’s interesting, because during the proceedings of ‘Fall Out’ life in The Village goes on as normal, and someone would have to oversee that. Whoever it was, it would have come as something of a shock to see The Village being evacuated, especially when he hadn’t given any such order in the first place. But then Number 2 had given the order to evacuate the Village, even if he had taken the decision upon his own shoulders. No doubt he felt it was for the best.

      So what might be the rationale behind the use of this the Beatles song, especially in the fire-fight of ‘Fall Out?’ Irony! Man is capable of peace, love, and war. "Love thine enemy" others would have it "Do it to them, before they do it to you!" There has never at any time been any peace on the planet Earth, not since Man has walked upon it. Man has always been at war with himself some where on Earth, and in that man is his own worst enemy, in the way he spends billions, upon billions on weapons of destruction, rockets and missiles which could destroy the planet in almost the blink of an eye. That is the irony of the violence in the revolution of ‘Fall Out’ to the Beatles song ‘All You Need Is Love.’ Further more, it is ironic that the only people to actually be killed in that violent fire-fight, are the armed security guards.

    Number 6 or Number 1 it makes no difference, its all Patrick McGoohan! With the Prisoner, in the later-made episodes, you are not watching an actor playing the role of Number 6, you are seeing McGoohan playing himself! “I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I” as the delegates of the Assembly chant.

   Patrick McGoohan was never very forthcoming about what the Prisoner was all about. I often wondered if he actually knew, or whether he was just making it up as he went along. When asked a straightforward question, McGoohan was hardly ever known to give a straightforward answer. He described the series as "the battle between the good and evil in oneself." But the series certainly never started out like that. More of a superior spy thriller, which is how story editor George Markstein saw ‘the Prisoner.’ For the late Patrick McGoohan, ‘the Prisoner’ became an obsession. He's not the only one, is he readers.............

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