"...I am a free man!"

The greatest television series of all time featured a man who we knew only as Number Six.  Placed in "The Village" by forces unknown, he constantly railed against the system to both keep himself sane and to also find a way out.  The Prisoner was Patrick McGoohan's follow up series to Danger Man where he had played John Drake, a secret agent in the cold war.  Whether or not Number Six was John Drake has been debated by many people over the years, but whoever he was, he had had enough of his job.

 

Why though?  Number Two always wanted "information", but he never got it...well, not the information he wanted anyway.  Why had Number Six resigned?...We never really found out.  Yet would he ever escape?  Of course not, because how can you ever escape from yourself?  Number Two changed almost every episode, but Number One was only revealed right at the end.

The final episode "Fall Out" was beyond weird.  Kenneth Griffith was "The President" who decrees that Number Six had won the right to be "an individual".  Number Two (Leo McKern) and Number 48 (Alexis Kanner) are both imprisoned due to their different types of revolt.  Number Six has revolted but has shown he is a true individual and therefore deserves to be set free.  He then tries to address the assembled throng, but is consistently drowned out.

 

 Then Number Six is led to finally meet Number One...who turns out to be......himself!  Chaos then ensues with a rocket being launched, Rover (the Village guard) deflating and dying and Numbers 2, 6, 48 and the Butler breaking free in the back of a truck and being driven towards London.  Number 48 gets off before the city and hitch hikes.  The other three reach the Houses of Parliament where Number 2 goes into the House of Lords.  The Butler and Number 6 reach his flat and enter...the door having Number 1 on it.  The final scene shows Number 6 in his car driving towards us.

 

What did it all mean?  In 1977, Patrick McGoohan said:
"Number 1 was depicted as an evil, governing force in this Village. So, who is this Number 1? We just see the Number Twos, the sidekicks. Now this overriding, evil force is at its most powerful within ourselves and we have constantly to fight it, I think, and that is why I made Number 1 an image of Number 6. His other half, his alter ego".

He also stated that:
"The final scene is meant to show that freedom is a myth, and there is no final conclusion to the series because we continue to be prisoners."  

And that: 
"Each man is a prisoner unto himself".

Be seeing you.