Photo: Number 2 (Colin Gordon) talks to God on the big red telephone in A, B and C …
To count down to our special screening of Fall Out, the final episode of ace television show The Prisoner, PHIL KIRBY introduces a new episode every day in the order outlined by director Alex Cox in his book I Am (Not) A Number…
Placed in a dream state by his captors, Number 6 is directed to a party hosted by the enigmatic Madame Engadine. As the evening unfolds, various agents (codenames A, B and C) attempt to obtain his secrets…
Tonight’s episode is A B and C…
I have a theory about this one.
It’s Number Two who’s the unwitting test subject of the A. B. and C experiment, not Number Six.
Number Fourteen is in on it. She’s running the show.
In the previous episode, The General, this same Number Two ballsed up big time (if you listen carefully to the intro it’s the only time he answers Number Six’s question “Who are you?” with a straight, “Number Two”, not the usual “The new Number Two.”) From the start of A. B. and C, he’s under pressure from Number One to shape up or ship out.
Number Two pressurises scientist, Number Fourteen, to experiment on Number Six with a new procedure that “hasn’t even been tested on animals yet.” Throughout the episode Number Two threatens and bullies and harrasses Number Fourteen in order to help him find the double agent he thinks has bought Number Six and the secret information he possesses.
No.14: His mind is now yours, what do you want to do with it.
No.2: I believe he was going to sell out. I want to know what he had to sell and to whom he was going to sell it.
Number Two isn’t concerned about the welfare of Number Six. He knows the experiment could “damage the tissue”.
No.2: This brainchild of yours better work, for your sake.
If this man is damaged I shall hold you responsible.
No.14: You know I haven’t had a chance to prove the drug.
No.2: Just get it right, or I’ll see that it’s proved on you.
Number Two consistently expresses awe at the science and wonder at the technology Number Fourteen deploys.
“Extraordinary!” he repeats.
It’s obvious he doesn’t really understand what he’s dealing with.
In the final dream sequence, Number Six naturally tumbles to what’s going on and turns the operating tables, framing Number Two.
Number Two blames the experiment, and Number Fourteen’s invention; “Your drug failed.”
Number Fourteen smiles; “No. He succeeded.”
This episode could be read simply as Number Six outwitting The Village hierarchy again, through sheer force of will, superior intelligence and gritty determination. Or you could see it as a contrived performance by Number Fourteen who uses Number Six to get Number Two to gradually unravel.
The evidence?
Number Fourteen is in complete control throughout. It’s her lab, her “wonder drug” and her experiment. She decides the variables. She determines the set, the setting, and the dosage (in Timothy Leary’s famous phrase.)
When Number Six gets wired up to the dream monitor and first takes the drug, Number Fourteen makes sure that she is the last thing imprinted on his mind.
When he wakes next morning she’s there outside his front door, the first person he sees.
When Number Six tracks her down to a cafe and tries to question her, she embeds a hypnotic cue,
Don’t worry, we all make mistakes. Sometimes we have to.
In Dream B, Number Fourteen feeds lines to the suspected double agent dream figure, and immediately after Number Six says, “Have you the feeling that you are being manipulated?” The dream figure replies,
Don’t hate me; we all make mistakes. Sometimes we have to.
And, in preparation for the final dream experiment, Number Fourteen fails to notice that her “wonder drug” has transformed from full-bodied sangria to very weak ribena.
Number Six broke into the lab the previous evening, destroying a large ventilation shaft grill and diluting the syringe. You would have thought Number Fourteen might have noticed the difference. Unless she’s in on it.
Of course, I could simply have been reading too much about MK Ultra.
Oh, and by the way, all this dream stuff? Not too far from what they were up to back then. Here’s Professor Stanley Krippner explaining his sleep laboratory (based in a major US hospital, funded by CIA dollars, awash in LSD.)
And today’s anomalous image… well, it is 1968. Power to the Villagers!
Read about previous episode The General here
theCV presents The Prisoner Fall Out plus a Q and A with Six of One’s Ant Brierly and Roy Stambrow moderated by Phil and Neil (God help us!) at The Courtroom, Leeds Town Hall at 19.00 on Friday 25th May 2018. Tickets are £5 (plus booking fee) and are available here.