The Therapy Zone

A Point Of View

   I think the following lines from the Guinness Book of Cult TV sum up very well the conflict between Patrick McGoohan, script writer/editor George Markstein, and the Prisoner.

    "One man wanted a spy series, the other wanted to escape from a spy series."

Dance Of The Dead

   No.6 is an "absolutist" who is sentenced to death. However it is a death sentence which is never carried out, nor do they have any intention that the sentence should be carried out. Because it is nothing more than intimidation designed to try and break him!

Roland Walter Dutton In A Fools Paradise

   Is a man who No.6 thinks he once knew! Certainly he recognised the man instantly standing at the mouth of that cave during ‘Dance of the Dead,’ after all he did say his name "Roland Walter Dutton."

   Dutton had been in the village a couple of months, yet they have never previously met in the village. Probably Dutton had been confined to the hospital for much of that time, as the doctor carried out his medical experiments upon him, in an attempt to extract all the information Dutton has. And in being unable to tell them any more, he has been allowed out into the peaceful atmosphere of the village for 72 hours, so that he may reconsider.

   Now some years ago it was suggested that No.6 didn't know Dutton at all, that there is no evidence that they ever knew each other. Well that's ridiculous. No.6 knew Dutton's name. Asked how long he'd been in the village, and as Dutton explained his position to No.6, that he knew that he didn't have access to the "vital stuff."

   It was also suggested that No.6 had actually been brainwashed into knowing Roland Walter Dutton, hence the doubt at the Prisoner's trial "He's a man I think I once knew." That the meeting on the beach was contrived, so that Dutton could spin No.6 a line that he had only 72 hours to reconsider in the peaceful atmosphere in the village. That soon Roland Walter Dutton will cease to exist! And in this, No.6 might feel sorry for the man, that he would open up to him and reveal the reason why he resigned to an old colleague. Well I suppose this is viable, after all the doctor-No.40 had used Dutton earlier in the episode to try and extract information from No.6.

"Who is this, who is this?

"It's Dutton. Hello, hello are you there?"

A Sceptic With A Devious Mind

   Thorpe is very sceptical about his ex-colleagues report about the Village, but is there more to this man than first meets the eye? Is it possible that he already knows of the existence of the Village before his ex-colleague divulges the information about the village to him and the Colonel? If so, then Thorpe would be ideally placed to keep an eye on this former citizen of the village, and be influential in seeing his ex-colleagues return there!

   Thorpe might have been an influential agent in ‘Many Happy Returns,’ who used the information to have himself brought to the village and placed in a position only to one in the episode of Hammer Into Anvil.

   And it is now that we see the darker side to Thorpe, a darker side which we knew was there. A professional sadist, who takes enjoyment from tormenting others, who took enjoyment in torturing his ex-colleague. But who as it turned out, was merely a weak link in the chain of command waiting to be broken!

   Thorpe was brought to the village, and having been so, was determined to show that he could manage without any help, not even from his appointed assisstant No.14. this No.2 would not be allowed to leave the village, as soon he would be residing in the psychiatric ward of the hospital!

Be seeing you..... I might even take him some flowers.... daffodils!

The Prisoner Under The Spotlight

     "Subject Shows Great Enthusiasm For His Work He is utterly loyal and trustworthy. Is this a man who suddenly walks out?"

    "I didn't walk out - I resigned!"

   Well I suppose it all depends on how you look at it really, and upon the subject they're talking about! Either way it looks as though the Prisoner-McGoohan had had enough, and that was enough to see him being brought to the Village! 

     He’s Very Good At It..... Causing trouble! He does it all the time. You will recall how No.6 totally disrupted the Social Group in the episode A Change of Mind, and here he is again, up to his old tricks, by disrupting the members of the Assembly!

    I don't quite know what Sir was going to say in his address to the Assembly, or quite what he is saying here. But one thing is for certain, whatever it is Sir has to say, the members didn't want to hear it!

    The Prisoner - All Things To Everyman

    "Some men are just as sure of the truth of their opinions as are others of what they know"

                           { Aristotle}

    It has been written that there are those who use ‘the Prisoner’ as a means of shoring up one's personal bias, forcing bits of the series into bizarre justification for blinkered views and muddled thinking, which is a tremendous shame. Because all Patrick McGoohan wanted us to do was to think. To question ourselves, others, together with the status quo.

     No.6 thinks So Much Of Himself! The Prisoner refuses to settle down, defends his rights as an individual. Refuses to give the reasons behind his resignation, to wear his badge, or acknowledge his number! There are also rules to which No.6 sees himself as not being subject to. And in One Upon A Time he sees himself , and the business he carries out, as being "Above the law. "Perhaps No.2 and the village administration are making the mistake of putting No.6 on a pedestal! Is No.6 really so important? After all, No.48 was in the same groove as No.6, in the way he also refused to wear or observe his number!

     The Community Must Live, so too Must No.6. And you might be surprised just how many times the Prisoner-No.6 actually accepts, acknowledges and responds to his number. In ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ the Prisoner actually tells No.8-Nadia that he is No.6. In Free For All he takes a telephone call in which the operator asks him if he is No.6? In defiance he tells the operator "That is the number of this place." But even in that he admits that he lives at No.6 - 6 Private.

   During the episode of ‘The Schizoid Man’ No.6's identity is called into question, and even though this is all he now has, a number, the Prisoner is positively desperate to cling to that identity. Desperate to prove that he is No.6! When taking things from the General Store in preparation for his escape of ‘Many Happy Returns,’ No.6 writes in chalk on the counter top I.O.U 964 and signs himself No.6? Okay, there's the question mark after No.6. But he didn't have to write anything, let alone No.6? He could simply have taken the things he needed, it wouldn't have made any difference. But the fact that No.6 had to sign his identity number, even with a question mark, surely means he wants the proprietor to know who took the items from his emporium.

    In a note to himself in ‘Hammer Into Anvil’ he signs himself D6. And finally in the gymnasium during ‘It’s Your Funeral’ after a bout of Kosho, No.6 actually collects his personal belongings from a locker marked 6.

   Alright, perhaps there are only a few occasions upon which the Prisoner accepts, acknowledges, and responds to his number. But it seemed a lot at the time!

     Life Is A Cabaret Old Chap, well not for No.6 it isn't! Even when he was invited to the Ball in the evening they couldn't resist putting No.6 on trial, and thus making him the Cabaret! As for that line "Life is a cabaret old chap," I can almost hear No.2 saying that - can't you?

Be seeing you

A Favourite Scene In The Prisoner

   In 'A B and C' when it would seem that the Prisoner handing in his resignation is so powerful, that it still preys upon his mind. However I suppose that's hardly surprising, seeing as No.2 will not let the subject drop! Perhaps the Prisoner anguished over that act. Perhaps it was something he didn't want to do, but was forced into doing for whatever the reason.

Be seeing you.....No I'll be seeing you!

Pictorial Prisoner

    In the episode 'The General,' both the General's office and the Professor's home are decorated with militaria. Pictures of Generals and that kind of thing.
   In the above picture, we see No.6 leaving '12 Private,' and hung on the walls are pictures of military soldiers, and a General. Now why should Curtis' home be decorated with such pictures, of course it can be, as this is 'the Prisoner,' and it would seem that nothing is done without a reason. Perhaps it had something to do with the General as discussed between No.2 and No.6 {impersonating No.12} on the way to the helicopter.
   One other thing, No.12 was also a pipe smoker!

Be seeing you

Dead And Drowned!

    Was the body of the man washed up on the beach in 'Dance of the Dead.' Some think that No.6 had something to do with his death, but I don't see it. Certainly the man had been a citizen of the Villge, as he had been wearing Village attire. It seems likely that "Rover got him!" Why? Still remains a mystery, possibly he had been listening to his radio outside of the Village and had been caught out!

  In his wallet had been a small photograph of the dead man sitting with a young woman by the "free sea" in the central piazza, this then is confirmation of his Village citizenship. And the radio message listened to by No.6? Well that was obviously meant for the dead man, who of course never received it. But that message is an indication that something, someone was working behind the scenes, possibly to try and bring the Village down!

BCNU

The Therapy Zone

Many Happy Returns

   Well I don't know if there is always to be many happy returns for the Prisoner. But one thing is clear, the Prisoner must always return to the village, even to be drawn back as he was in ‘Many Happy Returns.’ Because even when the Prisoner had successfully escaped the village, there is something inside him which cannot let the village go. There is a desire within the Prisoner to know the answers to certain questions, and I understand that. But to physically go and search for the location of the village, that was surely asking for trouble.

   It seems to me that no matter what the Prisoner does, no matter where he goes in the world, he will forever be drawn back to the village for as long as he lives.

It’s Your Funeral

  Is a curious title for an episode in which there is no funeral and nobody dies!

   Yet I suppose it is the threat that counts

Free for All

    In which the Prisoner is put to the test! Well the same can be said of the viewers who have watched, and become fans of the series. Because the Prisoner can certainly test fans who are trying to come to an understanding of the series..... don't you think?

Mind The Fall Out!

    There are those who would have it, and I only argued about this recently with a friend who sees the rocket in Fall Out as a "Doomsday" rocket set to destroy the world, which of course it doesn't.

   But as my friend argued, the village was destroyed! But was it? And if it was where is the evidence for this? All I see towards the end of Fall Out is the village being evacuated by whatever means available - Mini-Moke, helicopter, on foot, or by a Scammell Highwayman transporter, or indeed rocket - the evacuation of the village being carried out by the order of the President, and of course the launching of the rocket. There were no explosions, no destruction of buildings as far as I can see, and the only flames I saw were from the exhausts of the rocket as it blasted off from its underground silo of the cavern.

   I witnessed no destruction of the village, or am I missing something?

The Girl Who Was Death

    This maybe a fairy story featuring a deserted village, an escape by helicopter, an eventual escape by boat. An underground passage leading to an underground cavern, along with a rocket which No.6 sabotages.

    This fairy story features many of the ingredients which go to make up the whole Prisoner series. In Arrival No.6 attempts to escape the village by helicopter. In the episode Many Happy Returns No.6 wakes to find the village deserted! And in Fall Out we have an underground passageway leading to an underground cavern, and there's the rocket, which Sir launches in much the same way as he had sabotaged Professor Schnipps rocket in ‘The Girl Who Was Death.’

   So in telling a fairy story to any children who happened to be watching, including the readers here, No.6 was not only incorporating his past adventures in the village, but foretelling the future!

The Message Behind The Prisoner

   If indeed there is any kind of message is this. Not to simply accept things as they are, but to question, and to question those around you. Don't think as others would have you think. Don't react as others react, to be an individual as far as society will allow. Simply to be yourself. Don't be a sheep! Well that's how I read the message, and I do at all times, try to be myself, an individual, and a goat when times and situations call.

Be seeing you

Thought For The Day

    I wonder why the Prisoner left that receipt for the photographic transparencies with his fiancee Janet? Couldn't he trust anyone else? And why was he shielding Professor Seltzman? Could the Prisoner see the medical application to the Seltzman machine, and didn't want anyone perverting the Professors discovery, as indeed the Village Administration had already done!
    And of course there's Janet Portland to consider. What might have happened after the Colonel/Prisoner had given Janet that personal message? It had been a year since the disappearance of her fiance, and now here he was having returned, his mind wrongly housed in someone else's body! That would take some explaining on the part of the Prisoner. And I'm sure Janet would have many questions about his sudden disappearance, where he had been for a year. Did the Prisoner tell Janet all about the Village? And what did he tell her would happen next, seeing as who he looks like now? For example did he tell her that he would have to find Professor Seltzman to see if he had perfected the reversal process. And even if he had, what good would that be without the Prisoner's body which was in a medical room back in the hospital in the Village. There could be no doubt in the mind of the Prisoner, that to get his body back, he would have to once again return unhappily to the Village in order to achieve that. But then, if it had not been for the intervention of the chauffeur, and the Prisoner's subsequent abduction back to the Village. How might the Prisoner have found his way back on his own? Ah, perhaps I have the answer to that one. He would have the co-ordiantes of the location of the Village having located the Village by naviation at the end of 'Many Happy Returns!'

Be seeing you