bukys@rochester.UUCP (Liudvikas Bukys) (02/24/85)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - SPOILER WARNING! You have been warned! Here are some of my speculations and questions about the "The Prisoner". - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - When last we met, I expounded on my opinions about the meaning of various parts of "The Prisoner". This article contains mention of various things that I don't understand to my satisfaction. I fully realize that some of these may not have answers. I'd like to hear what people have to say. --- --> Who is the Butler? I think that at the end the Prisoner is a free as a man can get, being free from mindless conformance to society and also from the tyranny of his own self. My impression is that the Butler may also be a free man. So why does he walk into Number 6's automated/villagized apartment at the end? I think (but I'm not sure) it means that the demands of society are unescapable, that even though you can't escape it you can still be free. `... in the world, not of it ...' I'm not sure, though, how, if the Butler is a good guy, he can stick around with the village people at all. I suppose it could be just a cynical/pessimistic there's-no-escape you're-still-in-hell cheap-shot ending, but that's not really consistent with the overall theme, I think. --> Was #48 (the rebellious youth) in the last episode supposed to be the same character as the #48 in "Life in Harmony" (the Wild West episode). Same actor, I think it was the same number, but I can't detect any overlap between characters. --> What exactly was #2's crime? I didn't really notice him rebelling (much) until he did the stare-down with green eye. I suppose his crime could have been his failure in the "Degree Absolute" war of wits. Since he and Number 6 kind of exchange roles by the end of that experience, it could be that his failure makes him the rebel that Number 6 was. There was a statement like "We've got to work out our problems together." Maybe his problem was that he was really still in revolt to some extent, and the only way he could have survived the "Degree Absolute" contest past the point where he failed would have been to finally suppress his own revolt, which he was unable to do. (?) --> Who, if anyone, was behind the green eye before Number 6 went into the tower? --> What was the rocket for? --> Are these various hints at extraterrestrial influence just a distraction to keep the viewers on their toes? Hints: the rocket, the mask under the mask on "#1". On this question I think it may be a quick effort to make a quick but important point: that Number 6 and the village people are responsible for what they do, and they can't blame anyone else for their own behaviour, even when the results are so weird that they are unrecognizable, and seem "alien". --- Other things: unfortunately, the one episode I missed was the one where Number 6 got pushed out of the plane and back into the Village. My roommate told me that the Village was in Morocco, though. It definitely wasn't in Lithuania; that whole escapade was faked (he really didn't get back to London, remember?). Either way, it's kind of tacky to have them *drive* back into London (unless the "Morocco" or whereever location was faked too). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Liudvikas Bukys rochester!bukys (uucp) via allegra, decvax, seismo bukys@rochester (arpa)