Information The Prisoner -Full Details Episode Guide

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1.ARRIVAL

An unidentified British intelligence agent abruptly resigns from his job, storming its London office to turn in his identification papers. He returns home in his Lotus Seven and hastily packs a bag to go on holiday, unaware that an undertaker has followed him home in a hearse and releasing a sleeping gas into his home via the keyhole. The man discovers the gas too late and collapses in his study. Later, the man wakes up in what appears to be his study, but finds it is a mockup located in "The Village". He asks the colourfully-clad residents of the Village what country he is in, but they cannot provide a satisfactory answer. He discovers the Village is surrounded by mountains save for its beachline that opens onto the ocean with no sign of land nearby. Frustrated, he returns to the mockup study to find it is attached to a modern flat. There, he receives a phone call and told that Number 2 wants to meet him at the Green Dome.

At the Green Dome, where several technicians monitor all aspects of the Village, Number Two tells the man they only wish to know why he resigned and to whom he is loyal, as the intelligence he has gathered over his career is too valuable to simply let "walk away". Number Two strongly suggests they rather have his cooperation, but are prepare to use other means as needed. Number Two takes the man on a tour of the Village to show numerous security systems they have in place to keep those here in line, including Rover, a mysterious floating sphere that attacks those that flee. Later that night, the man attempts escape by sea but Rover catches him and renders him unconscious.

The man wakes in the Village's hospital, and finds a former colleague, Cobb, in the next bed over. The man learns Cobb is also incarcerated in the Village, but before he can learn more, the hospital staff take him away for examination. On his return, he is told Cobb committed suicide by jumping out of the window. The man is released, and he goes to accost Number 2, finding that a different man is now there. The new Number 2 says they may change that position from time to time for unexplained reasons, and then explains that no-one in the Village uses their names, but are instead assigned a number, and the man is now Number 6. Number 6 refuses to use this title (or wear his 6 button badge) as he adjusts to life in the Village.

Number 6 attends Cobb's funeral and observes a woman watching from afar, and proceeds to follow her around the Village before he talks to her directly. The woman, Number 9, claims to have been working with Cobb on an escape plan, and suggests that Number 6 can still use the same plan. She gives him an electropass that can keep Rover at bay, giving him time to escape via a helicopter. Number 6 has doubts about her motives as he had seen her talking to Number Two, but accepts the pass. That night, Number 6 uses the pass and acquires a helicopter, but as he flies off, one of the technicians remotely takes over the helicopter and returns it to the Village. Number 6 is escorted back to his home in the Village. Number 2 is watching these events with Cobb, who had faked his death to engage Number 6. With his assignment complete, Cobb prepares to move on to his next duty, but warns Number 2 that Number 6 will be "a tough nut to crack".

 

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2. THE CHIMES OF BIG BEN
The episode opens with the relentlessly cheerful voice of the radio announcer encouraging every Villager to participate in an upcoming crafts show. Number Six is playing chess near the beach when Number 2 joins him. During their conversation, a helicopter lands and an unconscious woman is taken out on a stretcher.
Later, Number 6 is invited to The Green Dome where he and Number 2 watch the woman wake up on the main viewing screen. Number 2 says that she is the new Number Eight and that she will be Number 6's new neighbour.
When Number 6 returns to his cottage, Number Eight emerges, confused, and asks for directions to The Green Dome. When she returns later, she reveals to him that her name is Nadia, but she is suspicious that he is a Village spy. The day after, Nadia tries to escape by swimming out to sea but is brought back by Rover and interrogated in the hospital. In response, Number 6 makes a deal, agreeing to participate more in Village life — for instance, by entering the craft show — if this puts an end to her torture.
Number 6 and Nadia become closer and eventually plan to escape. She tells him that she knows the location of The Village: On the Baltic coast of Lithuania about 30 miles (48 km) from the Polish border.
At the craft show (where every entry except Number 6's is a depiction of Number 2 in some medium), Number 6 presents his work, a multi-piece abstract sculpture called "Escape". He is then awarded first prize and uses the "work units" he has won to purchase a tapestry, the entry of one of the other prize winners. At night, he and Nadia escape in his exhibit, which is really a carved boat, using the tapestry as a sail.
When they reach land, they meet Nadia's contact. Number 6 borrows the contact's watch since his own has stopped. Number 6 and Nadia then hide in a packing case as they travel to London. They end up in Number 6's old office and meet his former bosses. When they suspect him of being a double agent, Number 6 agrees to tell them why he resigned if Nadia is given protection.
However, as he is about to talk, Number 6 hears the familiar chimes of Big Ben. He looks at his watch and finds that it shows the same time — not the one hour's difference of the time in Poland. Realizing that he has been tricked, he begins a search of the office and discovers a tape recorder recreating the background sounds of London. He exits the building, finding himself back in The Village, with Nadia standing with Number 2 — thus revealing she was an operative all along.

 

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3. A B AND C

Number 2 is directed by Number 1 to step up efforts to extraction information from Number 6—specifically relating to what information he is believed to have sold, leading to his resignation from the intelligence agency he worked for. Number 2 directs Number 14 to prepare a machine she has developed. With the help of an injected drug, it will allow observation of, and influence on, the dream-state of a person connected to it. They have prepared three dossiers of foreign agents that Number 6 was known to have met during an elegant party hosted by Madame Engadine prior to his resignation, suspecting that he has sold out to one of them. The dossiers are labeled "A", "B", and "C".

On the first two nights, Number 6 is sedated through his evening tea, brought to Number 14's laboratory, injected with the drug, and connected to the machine. Numbers 2 and 14 watch events unfold in Number 6's visions of the party, and then insert, separately, the dossiers for "A" and "B", agents with known ties to Number 6. During the first night with "A", a defector, Number 6 refuses to sell his secrets to "A", and then escapes from being kidnapped by "A" and his henchmen. During the second night with "B", a female spy, Number 6 avoids answering her questions regarding his departure. Number 14 uses the machine to speak directly to Number 6 via "B", but he becomes suspicious and when "B" is dragged off by hostile agents to be killed, he does not stop to save her. Number 2 determines that neither "A" nor "B" is the person they seek, and Number 6 is returned each night to his home. After the second night, dim memories of the experiment lead Number 6 to follow Number 14 around the Village, eventually coming across her laboratory. He dilutes the final injection after verifying the dossier for "C". That night Number 6 fakes drinking the drugged tea, and instead acts drugged before he is taken back to the laboratory.

Number 2 uses the final dossier on "C", whose true identity is unknown beyond ties to Number 6, with the dream state machine. The visions they see of the event are blurred and distorted, a factor that Number 14 attributes to the repeated use of the process. In the dream, it is revealed that "C" is really Madame Engadine, but she explains that she must take him to her superior, whom Number 2 calls "D". To his shock, Number 6 reveals that "D" is Number 2. As Numbers 2 and 14 watch in surprise, they discover that Number 6 has full control of his dream state. He returns to the Village and the laboratory and speaks directly to the dream versions of Numbers 2 and 14. He hands the dream version of Number 2 an envelope which they had believed to contain secret information to sell, but which turns out to be simply travel brochures, and explains that his resignation was not due to having sold out. As the dream ends, the broken Number 2 is startled as the phone from Number 1 ominously rings...

 

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4. FREE FOR ALL
Number 6 is persuaded to run for election to the post of Number 2 when it is suggested to him by the new incumbent that, should he win, he will finally meet Number 1. Number 58, a newly arrived young woman who speaks only an unidentified Slavic-sounding foreign language is assigned to Number 6 as his assistant. Both men campaign for the office, with Number 6 subversively offering freedom if he is elected. Number 6 participates ambivalently, but abruptly makes a break for freedom himself in the midst of the campaign by escaping in a motorboat. He is retrieved on the water by Rover while he robotically mouths campaign platitudes. Number 6 and Number 2 drink and commiserate in a cave where illegal liquor is distilled and Number 2 confesses that he detests The Village. ("To hell with the Village!") Number 6 is again repeatedly drugged[3] and coerced into accepting the campaign, and wins the election when virtually all the robotic "citizens" vote for him. As he and Number 58 go to the Dome to take command of the Village, she agitates him by playing with the buttons on the control panel before brutally slapping him and stunning him with bright lighting. As Number 6 becomes somewhat more lucid and attempts to broadcast to the Villagers that they are free to go, he is beaten by a group of mechanics in coveralls, and Number 58, now speaking perfect English, reveals herself as the real incoming Number 2, while the previous Number 2 prepares to head out. She asks her departing predecessor to give her regards to "the homeland".

 

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5. THE SCHIZOID MAN
As the episode begins, Number Six is assisting Number Twenty-four ("Alison"), a telepathic young woman, in practising mind reading with Zener cards. In an extremely complex plot of bluff and double bluff, Number Two brings a lookalike of Number Six, referred to as "Number Twelve", to The Village. Number Twelve (also played by McGoohan, apart from a few shots with a double) is not a clone, but an agent of The Village who happens to bear a very strong resemblance to Number Six.

The real Number Six is subjected to an intensive course of aversion therapy, altering his tastes and instincts, and training him to do everything left-handed. He is drugged to wipe his memory of the treatment. When he awakes, he is treated as "Number Twelve", while the lookalike assumes the role of Number Six. The real Number Six is informed by Number Two of the plan to break "Number Six" (the impostor) by convincing him that he is not Number Six at all.

Six and Twelve engage in various challenges to prove which is the real Number Six; the aversion therapy allows the impostor to behave more like Number Six than the real one does. In the presence of Number Two and Number Six, Number Twelve is challenged to demonstrate that his fingerprints are Number Six's. They are. He also has his characteristic left wrist mole, which Number Six has lost. Finally, Number Twenty-four is summoned because she supposedly has a unique "mental bond" with the real Number Six, but they fail a test with the Zener cards.

Just as he appears to be "breaking", the real Number Six mentally overcomes his brainwashing when he discovers a bruise on his fingernail that he got when Number Twenty-four tried to get his picture - a bruise that, furthermore, has migrated from the base of his fingernail to midway, confirming that days or weeks have passed, not the single day shown on his calendar. He then gives himself an electric shock to reverse the therapy. He also physically overcomes the impostor, who reveals his name as Curtis. After being forced to reveal his password and remove the fake mole from his wrist, Curtis escapes and is then mistakenly killed by Rover.

Pretending to be Curtis, Number Six reports to Number Two that "Number Six is dead. Rover got him." Having "failed", he is to return to report failure. He is put blindfolded onto the helicopter to leave The Village. He believes himself to have duped Number Two into letting him escape, but the helicopter promptly returns to The Village. Number Two reveals that he deduced the truth when Number Six agreed to give his regards to Number Twelve's wife, Susan, who died a year ago.

 

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6. THE GENERAL
Number 6 — along with the rest of the Village population — is subjected to a new mind-altering education technology called "Speed Learn" which can instill a three-year university level course in history over a television screen in just three minutes. It was invented and is "taught" by an avuncular individual known as "The Professor" who is nevertheless seen trying to escape from the Village along the beach at the episode outset. Number Six finds a tape recorder on the beach which he hides in the sand. He witnesses the professor being recaptured, who then proceeds with the education program which instills a detailed, but fairly sterile, set of data on "European history since Napoleon" into all Village residents' minds. Speed Learn is also apparently supported by someone known as "The General". Number 2 tries to find the tape recorder, which he thinks Number Six has, but fails; he then quizzes Number Six on the lecture, and Six answers correctly. After Number Two leaves, Number Six goes back to the beach to find the tape recorder, only to find that Number Twelve has it. Number Twelve agrees to help Number Six. On the tape the professor states that speed learn is an abomination and slavery, and that The General must be destroyed.

Number Six discusses art with the Professor's wife, sketching her in a general's uniform. He searches her house, finding busts she has carved of him and Number Two, and smashes a lifelike effigy representing the sleeping Professor.

Number Six fears that Speed Learn could eventually be used for mind control. Number Twelve assists him by giving him a set of passes and a pen that will play a message about the professor's confession. Before the next lesson is to be broadcast, Number Six infiltrates the projection room and installs his own message. He is detected and thwarted in this attempt, and the real message is broadcast.

Number Six is interrogated and refuses to reveal the complicity of Number Twelve. Number Two claims that the General will know who his accomplice was. "The General" is revealed to be a sophisticated, experimental mainframe computer which has purportedly been programmed to be able to answer any question put to it. As Number Two is about to ask who assisted Number Six, Number Six says that there is a question that the General cannot answer. Number Two arrogantly accepts the challenge; when Number Six feeds his brief question into the General, the computer begins to smoke out of sheer consternation. Fearing the worst, the Professor tries to shut down the computer, and as it begins to overload, Number Twelve tries to save him. But The General self-destructs, killing both men in the process. A distraught Number Two asks Number Six what the question was. The General, and Number Two's plans, were destroyed by a simple epistemological trick:

"Why?"

 

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7. MANY HAPPY RETURNS

Number Six awakens to find the Village completely deserted. He sees this as an opportunity to escape. He takes numerous photos before assembling a raft and taking flight by sea for 25 days. He takes careful notes as to headings and times as best he can, but has an unfriendly encounter with gun-runners who are of no assistance. He escapes them and ends up on a deserted beach. Wandering, he encounters a small band of Gypsies who speak no English.

He eludes what appears to be a police manhunt and stows away on a truck which takes him to what he now recognizes as London. A Mrs. Butterworth now occupies his old townhouse and drives his Lotus 7. She is unperturbed when he approaches her, seems intrigued by his plight, and feeds and clothes him. He mentions that the next day is his birthday. Receiving Number Six's promises that he will return, Mrs. Butterworth says she might even bake him a birthday cake. He returns to the underground carpark/office where he presents himself to his old boss. His photo (and other) evidence of The Village meets with considerable skepticism. Former colleagues "The Colonel" and "Thorpe" are not entirely convinced that Number Six has not defected and now returned as a double agent, but after verifying all the details of his escape and evasion story, they seem to be more reassured.

With the assistance of some military officers and a map, they determine the general vicinity of the Village ("Coast of Morocco, southwest of Portugal and Spain." "Might be an island."). He leads a jet fighter pilot in a sweep of the area and spots the Village from the air, but is unceremoniously ejected, parachutes in, and is greeted in his cottage by the new Number Two: Mrs. Butterworth. She offers him "Many happy returns!" and a birthday cake.

 

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8. DANCE OF THE DEAD

The scientist Number Forty attempts to extract information from Number Six by having Number Six's former colleague Roland Walter Dutton (Number Forty-Two) call him while he is under a sort of electronic hypnosis. Number Six resists and is suspicious of what is happening; Number Two orders the plan to be abandoned.

Number Six wakes up with no memory of the previous night's actions. He makes the acquaintance of a black cat, which later turns out to be a spy for Number Two. Number Two suggests that he get a girlfriend; he tries talking to his Observer, Number 240. He learns that a mysterious Carnival is to be held in the Village.

That night he makes another escape attempt, but is blocked by Rover on the beach. He spends the night on the beach and, upon awakening, discovers a dead man's body washed ashore. On the man's person is a radio. When Number Six tries to reach a high point to listen to it, at first he gets only static and a muffled, seemingly foreign, language channel. Then suddenly there is a mysterious broadcast:

"Nowhere is there more beauty than here. Tonight, when the moon rises, the whole world will turn to silver. Do you understand? It is important that you understand.

"I have a message for you. You must listen. The appointment cannot be fulfilled. Other things must be done tonight. If our torment is to end, if liberty is to be restored, we must grasp the nettle, even though it makes our hands bleed. Only through pain can tomorrow be assured."

Later, Number Six puts a lifering on the corpse and sends it out to sea with a note. Hiding in a cave, Number Six meets Dutton, who has been broken. Remembering his acquaintance with him, Number Six addresses him by name. Dutton says he has told his captors all he knows, but they believe he is withholding further secrets, and they will soon be employing harsher methods to extract the information from him.

The Carnival becomes a costumed ball and dance in which everyone has an elaborate identity except Number Six, who is simply given his own dinner jacket. He leaves the party to investigate and finds out that Dutton is to be executed. Later, he enters a morgue and finds that the body floated out to sea has been discovered. Number Two explains that the corpse will be altered to resemble Number Six, so that the outside world will assume he has died at sea.

The soiree ends, however, in a kangaroo court with Number Six on trial for the possession of the radio. After arguments for the prosecution (by Number 240) and defense (by Number Two), Number Six asks for Roland Walter Dutton to be called as a character witness. When Dutton is produced he is dressed in a jester's costume and is clearly a mindless simpleton. The trial ends with Number Six being sentenced to death. He is pursued through the corridors of the town hall by enraged Villagers, but escapes into a back room. There he finds and damages a teletype machine that may be a communication between the village and Number One. There Number Two informs him that "they don't know you're already dead". Number Six swears that he will never give in to the Village. As the damaged teletype resumes operating, Number Two wryly observes, "Then how very uncomfortable for you, old chap!"

 

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9. Checkmate

Number Six is persuaded to participate, as the white queen's pawn, in an oversized game of chess using people as pieces. A rebellious rook (Number Fifty-eight) is taken to the Hospital for "evaluation". After the game is completed, Number Six talks with the Chess Master (Number Fourteen), who comments that one can tell who is a prisoner and who a guardian "by their disposition. By the moves they make." Number Six is later invited to visit the Hospital to observe the fate of Number Fifty-eight, and sees him subjected to Pavlovian mind control treatment. The woman playing the queen (Number Eight), who had fraternized with Number Six during the game, is subjected to hypnosis to make her fall in love with him and report his whereabouts should he attempt to escape again. Number Six shuns her, but seeks an alliance with Number Fifty-eight (the rook) and other villagers that he now believes he can identify as prisoners, not guardians. They attempt an escape by making a 2-way radio out of various pilfered electronic parts and then hailing a passing ship with a Mayday distress call, pretending to be a crashing airliner. Number Six discovers, however, that again he has been a pawn — Number Fifty-eight had mistaken the strong-minded Number Six for a guardian. Believing that the escape attempt was a test of his loyalty, he reported it all to Number Two.

 

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10. HAMMER INTO ANVIL

Number Two interrogates a stubborn female prisoner, Number Seventy-Three, in the Village Hospital. Frustrated, he attacks her, she screams, and Number Six rushes to her aid. The commotion allows her to leap from her bed and kill herself by jumping out the first-floor window. Number Six swears to Number Two that he will pay for his cruelty.

Number Two forcibly has Number Six brought to the Green Dome and the two begin a war of nerves. Number Two quotes Goethe: Du mußt Amboß oder Hammer sein ("You must be Anvil or Hammer"). "And you see me as the anvil?" asks Number Six, to which Number Two answers "Precisely. I am going to hammer you." Already aware that he is being watched by the Village's hidden camera and spies at every turn, Number Six proceeds to act in a highly suspicious manner, as if he were some sort of spy or double agent. He takes six copies of the same record of Bizet's L'Arlésienne suite at the music store and plays them, eyeing his watch. He then writes out a message, that Number Fourteen retrieves a copy of, which claims to be from "D-6" to "XO4." Number Two is convinced that Number Six is a plant.
Number Two and Number Fourteen follow Number Six to where he drops a document in the cabin of the stone boat. They retrieve it, but the pages are all blank. After having them tested, Two suspects the technician of working with Number Six. Number Six then goes to place an ad (a quotation from Don Quixote) in the next issue of the Tally Ho. He then calls the head of Psychiatrics, posing as a superior who wants a report on Number Two's mental state. Two monitors the call and starts to become more paranoid at the behavior of Number Six and those around him. Later, Six asks the town band to play the Farandole from the same Bizet piece. He leaves a fake message in a dead drop that is from a deceased person, wishing him a happy birthday.

Number Two becomes increasingly agitated, wishing he could get away with killing Number Six. Number Fourteen offers to do so, making it appear an accident, and challenges Number Six to a game of "kosho" — a Japanese, trampoline-based contact sport — but is unable to "accidentally" drown his opponent. Number Six leaves a cuckoo clock in front of Number Two's door, causing him to panic and summon a bomb squad. Six captures a pigeon, attaches a message to its leg and sets it free in the woods. The bird is intercepted by Number Two's forces, and Two sees that the message states that Six will send a visual signal the next morning. Six goes to the beach and sends his the visual signal (in light-flash Morse code) — a nursery rhyme with no apparent hidden meaning, all witnessed by Two.

Later, Number Six is able to trick Number Two into believing that Number Fourteen is conspiring against him. When the other keepers of the village cannot discern the hidden meaning in Number Six's messages, Number Two suspects everyone working for him of being part of a conspiracy. Number Fourteen fights with Number Six, who throws him out a window. In the end, Number Six confronts an unnerved and agitated Number Two, who expresses the belief that Number Six is really "D-6", a man sent by "XO4" to test his security. Feeding on Number Two's paranoia, Number Six charges Number Two with treason: if Number Two's belief was true, then he would be duty-bound not to interfere. At Number Six's suggestion, Number Two picks up the red hotline phone to call Number One, report his own failures and ask that he be replaced.

 

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11. IT'S YOUR FUNERAL

Number Six is awakened one morning by a young woman, Number Fifty, who tells him an assassination is being planned and asks him to help her prevent it. He does not believe her, thinking that she's working for Number Two. Number Two monitors the scene. Later that day, Number Six meets another prisoner who tells him about jammers, people within the Village who concoct false assassination plots, which Control is obliged to investigate. Number Six is told that Control has a list of these people and ignores their warnings.

The following morning, Number Two has a meeting with the Computer Attendant (Number Eight) and Number 100. The computer has plotted Number Six's daily routine. When Number Two learns that Number Six will be attending his weekly kosho workout that morning, he realises everything is going according to plan. Number 100 is sent to the gym and replaces Number Six's watch with an identical one, which is broken. Number Six thinks his watch has stopped and takes it to the watchmaker (Number Fifty-four) to be mended.

While the watchmaker is in the back room mending his watch, Number Six notices a detonation device that can be operated by radio. As he leaves the shop, Number Six meets Number Fifty again and learns that she is the watchmaker's daughter. He also learns that the watchmaker is planning to assassinate Number Two. Number 100 assures Number Two that the watchmaker is too thoroughly indoctrinated to want to assassinate Number Two.

Now believing the story, and realising that if the assassination is successful, the whole Village would be punished, Number Six goes to inform Number Two of the plot. Number Two, secretly filming their meeting, tells Number Six that the watchmaker is a jammer and Control is not concerned about him. He asks Number Six to find out how they intend to kill him, as it will give him a good laugh.

That evening, Number Six and Number Fifty return to the watchmaker's shop, where they discover the watchmaker is making a replica of the Great Seal of Office. They realise that this will be filled with explosives and detonated during the forthcoming Appreciation Day ceremony.

Number Six returns to Number Two's house the following day, but he meets a different Number Two. This Number Two, seemingly the "primary" Number Two with the others Number Six had dealt with being substitutes for him while he was away, is older and tells Number Six that he is aware of the warning – in fact, Number Six has warned every previous Number Two that they are to be assassinated, and he is not concerned because he is about to retire. Number Six is shown footage of himself purportedly warning previous Number Twos, which has actually been cut together from the film of his meeting with the younger Number Two. Number Six says that the film is fake and that the plot is being mastered by his successor (the younger Number Two). The older Number Two starts to believe Number Six, as his employers are not the sort of people who pay pensions. The younger Number Two assures Number One that the assassination will proceed successfully.

On Appreciation Day, the watchmaker hides in the tower ready to detonate the bomb when the seal of office is placed around the retiring Number Two's neck. He is seen by his daughter and Number Six, who both race to the tower to stop him. Number Six gets the detonator, but is confronted by Number 100, who tries to take it from him. While they are fighting, the seal of office is transferred to the distinctly nervous new Number Two. Number Six then gives the old Number Two the detonator, telling him that it is his passport out of the Village. He goes to the helicopter and leaves.

In the closing scenes of the episode, Number Six congratulates the new Number Two, assuring him that something equally suitable will be arranged when he retires.

 

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12. A CHANGE OF MIND
Number Six pursues his daily exercise routine in the woods. Two young toughs arrive and accuse him of being anti-social for not using the community gym and a fight ensues in which Number Six prevails. In an anteroom to the Council Chamber, a Villager is seen desperately confessing to being "inadequate and anti-social"; he is applauded by others for this admission. Number Six is invited into the committee chamber to confess his lack of cooperation, but sarcastically declines to do so.

The Village newspaper, the Tally Ho, reports that Number Six is due for "further investigation". Number Two denies having any influence over the committee but warns of the consequences of non-compliance. Number Eighty-Six, an attractive female, chides Number Six for his non-cooperation.
Number Six's exposure of a community "rehab" process causes the committee to label him uncooperative. He is taken to the Hospital, where he encounters a Villager with a scar on his temple who says that he had been labelled as "unmutual", but is now cured. Number Six again appears before the committee and is told he will be labelled for "Instant Social Conversion" if he doesn't fall into line. He then reads in the Tally-Ho and hears over the public address system that he is officially "unmutual".

Next morning Number Six is thoroughly shunned, and Number Two threatens him again with Social Conversion, which is a sort of lobotomy. Number Six is attacked by the irate Villagers and marched to the Hospital. There he is strapped to a table and the Social Conversion process is explained to a Village television audience by Number Eighty-six, who is the chief technician in charge. Drugged, Number Six is subjected to an ultra-sonic treatment which lobotomizes him. At the last second, Number Eighty-six shuts off the ultrasound.

Number Six wakes up, apparently docile, returns to the community, and is welcomed by all. In his flat he sees his cup of tea being drugged by Number Eighty-six and pours it away. Number Two arrives and questions Number Six about his resignation, but is rebuffed. Number Two and Number Eighty-six discuss Number Six and reveal that the "ultra-sonic" lobotomy was an intentional sham, meant to convince the subject (in conjunction with the drug) that he has been lobotomized. Number Eighty-six, watching Number Six remove the dressing covering his "operation scar", doubts that he has been properly conditioned, but Number Two insists that all is well. She tries to drug Number Six again, but he takes over the tea-making process, switching the cups so that Number Eighty-six drinks the drugged tea instead.

Back at the exercise site in the woods, the thugs again confront Number Six. He initially appears confused and unable to defend himself, but ultimately rallies and prevails. Number Eighty-six, still intoxicated with the drug, is hypnotised by Number Six and explains how the conditioning process was faked; she is given undisclosed instructions by Number Six.

Number Six visits Number Two and convinces him that the ploy has worked, informing him that he wants to publicly confess to "everyone". Number Two arranges for the whole village to hear Number Six speak. The programmed Number Eighty-six arrives on cue at the stroke of 4 o'clock and loudly charges Number Two with being "unmutual". The Villagers turn on Number Two, who is forced to flee through the Village streets.

 

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13. DO NOT FORSAKE ME OH MY DARLING - the episode without McGoohan, made whilst he was away filming Ice Station Zebra. He returned to appear in a couple of scenes after the rest was in the can.

In an atypical teaser before a modification of the standard opening sequence (different music, the usual Number Six/Number Two dialogue is absent), two men sit in the office of a senior intelligence officer named Sir Charles. They are analyzing photos by way of seeking clues that will lead them to locate a missing inventor named Professor Seltzman (later revealed to have developed a technology that can switch two people's minds into one another's bodies). They are unsuccessful.

A man referred to only as "Colonel" arrives at the Village and only then learns from a new Number 2 that his mission is to trade bodies with Number Six, using Seltzman's system. Number Six had been the last agent to have contact with Seltzman. After the swap, Number Six (now in the Colonel's body, and retaining only his pre-Village memories) awakens in his old London apartment and soon sees an unfamiliar face in his mirror. His fiancée arrives and, of course, fails to recognize him. He prudently restrains himself from enlightening her. Despite the shock, he realizes what has been done to him, maintains his cool, and sets about to regain his own body. After a visit to his former superiors (the most senior of them, Sir Charles Portland, previously seen in the teaser) avails him nothing, he attends his fiancée's birthday party. There, he retrieves an old photo lab receipt from her, which he had given her in pre-Village days. He implies his true identity to her and she seems to almost understand, as Sir Charles (her father, by the way) had not seemed willing to do. With the retrieved photos back at his flat—they had previously been developed by Sir Charles' minions, and then returned to the shop, it seems—he uses an alphanumeric code system based on Seltzman's name to select certain photos which, projected together and viewed with a special filter, reveal the location of Seltzman. This turns out to be (the fictitious) Kandersfeld, Austria, to which Number Six promptly travels. Seltzman is believed—at least by Number Two and his superiors—to have perfected the reversal of the mind swap process. This is exactly what Number Two wanted, and, Number Six having been followed, both men are gassed into unconsciousness and returned to The Village.

The restoration of the identities, however, takes a final unexpected twist: Seltzman agrees to oversee the switchback, but actually does a three-party switch: the body of Number Six gets his mind back, the mind of the Colonel is transferred into the body of Seltzman, who then dies, and Seltzman transfers his own mind into the body of the Colonel, and then leaves on the helicopter before Number Two knows what is happening.

 

[michaellevenson]

14. LIVING IN HARMONY

This episode is a Wild West allegory of all the other episodes of The Prisoner. Number Six is again a non-conformist and refuses to be a number or to blend in with the other members of the Village. He refuses to accept things the way they are and wants to escape and expose the Village.
The episode begins with a Western paraphrase of the regular opening sequence, with Number Six, dressed as a Sheriff, turning in his badge and his gun (i.e., resigning). Leaving town, without a horse but still carrying his saddle, he is attacked by several men in the countryside as the episode title "Living in Harmony" appears on screen, where one would expect to see the series' name. (The "I am not a number" dialogue that usually follows the title caption in other episodes is omitted.) Number Six wakes from his beating and finds himself in a strange Western town. A Mexican tells him that he is in the town of Harmony. Number Six goes into a saloon and meets the mayor of the town, also called The Judge. He meets with an intense mute young man known as The Kid who guards the jail. We are also introduced to a saloon girl, Kathy.
After unintentionally agitating a mob into trying to lynch him, Number Six is taken into "protective custody." To satisfy the mob's bloodlust, the Judge allows them to lynch Kathy's brother. She, fearing for Number Six's life, goes into the jail, distracts the Kid, steals the keys, then passes them to Number Six. He escapes, only to be lassoed and brought back to town by the Judge's henchmen. At an impromptu trial, the Judge announces that Number Six is free to go as he was only in protective custody, but Kathy is guilty of aiding a prisoner to escape, as she did not know he was merely in protective custody. The Judge then makes Number Six a deal: if he will become the sheriff of the town, Kathy is free to go. The Judge insinuates that she may not be safe with the Kid watching over her. Reluctantly, Number Six agrees and takes the badge, but refuses to wear a gun. The Judge, disappointed, plans to get him to carry a gun by making unarmed men attack him.
Number Six asks Kathy to escape with him, but while he is clearing the way the Judge gets the Kid to kidnap Kathy. However, the Kid takes it too far and strangles her to death. Number Six finds her and buries her. He then turns in his badge but picks up the gun, has a showdown with the Kid and kills him. The Judge arrives with several armed men and upon learning of Kathy's death gives Number Six the ultimatum to work for him or be killed. Although Number Six picks off the Judge's men, he is then shot by the Judge. He awakens lying on the floor of the empty saloon. He is wearing his usual Village clothes rather than Western wear, along with headphones and a microphone. All the characters that he saw are present only as paper cutouts.
Number Six wanders groggily out of Harmony and finds that it is just an annex of the Village. He rushes to the Green Dome and finds the Judge (the new Number Two) and the Kid (Number Eight). Number Six glowers at them, notices Kathy (Number Twenty-two), and walks out disdainfully. Number Two and Number Eight discuss the failure of their experiment. Number Twenty-two is obviously distressed and rushes out of the Green Dome. Number Eight follows her back to the saloon, calls her "Kathy," and starts strangling her as if the role-playing were continuing. She screams. Number Six hears and rushes over, but too late. Number Twenty-two dies in his arms, in her last words wishing it had all been real. Number Two arrives and Number Eight frantically throws himself off the saloon balcony to his death.

 

[michaellevenson]

15. THE GIRL WHO WAS DEATH

A cricket match ends in a player (Colonel Hawke) being assassinated with a bomb disguised as a cricket ball. Number Six is on an operational assignment, but it is unclear whether this is "real time", pre-The Village, or possibly another induced hallucination. Secret messages are passed to him at a shoeshine box. In a record shop, he receives an assignment to find a Professor Schnipps who has been working on a rocket that will destroy all of London. It turns out that Colonel Hawke was investigating the matter, which is why he was assassinated. He picks up where Colonel Hawke left off in another match, but manages to avoid the same fate. He finds a note to meet a mysterious person at the local pub; while there, he drinks from a glass that says You have just been poisoned. He then starts to drink numerous drinks to try and vomit out the poison. When he goes to the restroom, he gets another message to meet at the Turkish bath. While he is relaxing, a mysterious figure places a plastic dome over his head and locks his stall. Avoiding death, he now gets another message to go to the carnival, to the local fight. Number Six dresses up in a Sherlock Holmes costume with deerstalker hat and cape, with moustache and mutton chop sideburns. At the fight, he is picked for the next match and told by his opponent to go to the tunnel of love. He then hears the voice of a woman, which is a recording in his boat that is rigged with explosives. He tracks down, and is tracked by, a seductive woman called Sonia, alias "Death". She leaves the amusement park with Number Six in pursuit.

They come to an abandoned village, where Sonia has set traps. He successfully evades all of them, goes into a shed to avoid being shot, and rides a bulldozer. Sonia destroys it with a rocket launcher and departs.

Eventually, after faking his death, Number Six tracks Sonia to a lighthouse where Schnipps (dressed as Napoleon) and his associates are based. His lieutenants are dressed in Grande Armée uniforms and represent an apparently anti-London alliance composed of Scottish, Welsh, Irish, and Northern (particularly Yorkshire) marshals. Number Six sabotages their firearms and hand grenades, rigging them to backfire or malfunction. Captured, Number Six is tied up and left inside the lighthouse, which is revealed to be the rocket. As it is about to launch, he escapes and the rocket blows up without launching, killing his adversaries.

In the end, it turns out that the adventure was nothing more than a bedtime story which Number Six was telling to three children, two boys and a girl, in the Village nursery. Number Two (who looks like Schnipps) and his assistant (who looks like Sonia) were hoping that he would drop his guard and allow some clue as to why he resigned. But Number Six, after putting the children to bed, turns to the hidden camera and cheekily wishes: "Good night, children... everywhere."

 

[michaellevenson]

16. ONCE UPON A TIME

The Number Two from the prior episode "The Chimes of Big Ben" (Leo McKern) returns to the Village. He calls his superiors and obtains permission to undertake a dangerous technique called "Degree Absolute" in a final attempt to break Number Six and learn why he resigned from his position as an intelligence agent. Number Six is put into a trance state, causing his mind to regress back to his childhood. He is taken to the "Embryo Room", deep below the Green Dome, filled with various props, as well as a caged room that contains living space and a kitchen. He, Number Two, and the Butler (Angelo Muscat) are subsequently locked into the room via a timer that will unlock the room after one week.

Number Two begins to use regressive therapy following Shakespeare's Seven Ages of Man, using the various props to enact a series of psychodramas, with Number Two playing the authority figure (e.g., father, headmaster, employer) and Number Six the subject (child, student, employee). Each drama is aimed at trying to make Number Six explain why he resigned. During the first six of these, Number Two finds Number Six has developed an aversion to saying the word "six". Number Two also comes to like and respect Number Six as he learns more about him.

On the final day, Number Two enacts the role of military jailer, harshly interrogating Number Six as a prisoner of war. Number Two's efforts seem to have effect as Number Two starts to blather on reasons for resigning, but he becomes concerned when Number Six says he knew too much, including about Number Two. Number Two becomes agitated, and Number Six continues to call him a fool and an idiot. Suddenly, Number Six starts counting down from "six", and by the time he's reached zero, has regained full control of his mind. Already exhausted from his efforts, Number Two is shocked and collapses. He explains to Number Six that Degree Absolute, a well-known psychiatric technique, has its risks to the one performing the therapy if they have their own psychological problems. Number Six shows his understanding in a brief role reversal (by asking Number Two "Why don't you resign?"), much to Number Two's delighted amusement.

Number Two recovers and joyfully offers Number Six a tour of the Embryo Room. They end at the door timer, finding only five minutes remain before the room unlocks. Number Two becomes scared and pleads with Number Six to tell him why he resigned. Number Six remains quiet as Number Two goes to the kitchen area and pours them both a glass of wine. Number Six suddenly closes the door to the caged area, locking a panicked Number Two inside. The Butler takes the key from Number Two. Number Two paces the caged area while a voice screams "Die, Six, die!", until the timer runs out. Number Two falls over, apparently dead. The door to the Embryo room opens where the Supervisor waits. He tells Number Six they will need the body and then asks Number Six what he wants. Number Six only replies "Number One", and the Supervisor offers to take him there. He, Number Six, and the Butler depart the room.

 

[michaellevenson]

Spoiler: MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT

17. FALL OUT

Spoiler: MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT

After besting Number Two at a battle of wills in "Once upon a Time" at the apparent cost of Number Two's life, Number Six requests he be taken to see Number One. He is taken by The Supervisor to a large cavernous chamber that includes a British assembly hall with a number of masked delegates, of which the Supervisor joins, and a large metallic cylinder with a mechanical eye, labeled "1". Six is shown to his seat, a large ornate throne, to watch the proceedings.

An MC acts as The President, and announces Six has passed the "ultimate test" and won the "right to be individual", but there are matters of ceremony involved in the "transfer of ultimate power". The caged area with Number Two's body is brought to the chamber; medical personnel recover the body, resuscitate him, and give Two a make-over. Number Two along with Number 48—a young modishly-dressed man—are presented as two different examples of "revolt" to the assembly. Number 48 refuses to cooperate and drives the assembly to sing a rendition of "Dem Bones" before he is restrained. Number Two reveals he too was abducted to the Village and spits at the mechanical eye in defiance. Both men are taken away.

The President then presents Number Six as a third form of revolt, but as "a revolutionary of a different calibre" to be treated with respect. Six is shown his home in London is being prepared for his return, and he is presented with traveller's cheques, a passport, and the keys to his home and car. The President calls on Number Six to lead them as his behavior has been exemplary. Six attempts to address the assembly but their shouting and banging drown him out.

Six is shown into the metallic cylinder. He passes transparent tubes holding Numbers Two and 48 along with a third, empty tube, each labelled as "Orbit". Climbing a stairway, he finds a robed man in a mask watching surveillance videos of Six. The man has a number 1 on his robe!! Six pulls off the mask to find a gorilla mask underneath, and then under that, a man seemingly identical to Number Six. The robed figure escapes into a hatch above. Six locks the hatch and recognises the cylinder is a rocket. He initiates its countdown, sending the President and Assembly into a panic, and a evacuation of the Village is ordered.

Six frees Numbers Two and 48, and along with the Butler, they gun down armed guards, making their way to the caged room which is revealed to be on the bed of a Scammell Highwayman low loader. They drive away from the Village as the rocket launches from the abandoned Village. Rover (the security of the Village) deflates and is destroyed (to the accompaniment of "I, Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi (I Like You Very Much)") upon exposure to the flames of the rocket's exhaust.

The four drive towards London. Nearing the city, Number 48 alights and proceeds to hitch-hike. Just outside Westminster Palace, the truck is stopped by the police. The three abandon it and leave their separate ways. Number Two enters the Palace by the Peers' Entrance, while the Butler escorts Six back to his home, where his Lotus 7 car waits. Six sets off in his car, while the Butler enters Six's home, its door opening in the same manner as the automatic doors in the Village. The episode ends with similar audio cues from the series' opening sequence, with shots of Six driving around London.