# The Prisoner: Anyone care to try and explain the final episode? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 30, 2001, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-anyone-care-to-try-and-explain-the-final-episode/84575 "2001-09-30T02:19:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dalovindj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/65b543/32.png) [@dalovindj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalovindj)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-anyone-care-to-try-and-explain-the-final-episode/84575/1 "2001-09-30T02:19:57Z")
I am so glad the Sci-Fi channel brought this one back so I got a chance to experience it. What a cool show. Now then, WTF? That last episode was CRAAAAAAAAAZZZZZYYYY!!! Very little made sense at all. Can it be explained? I have some theories of my own, but I fear they just made a meaningless episode to throw everybody off. Laughing there asses off while people try to figure out that there is nothing to figure out. Like the Movie “Lost Highyway”. DaLovin’ Dj ---
**Author:** ![Mandelstam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Mandelstam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mandelstam)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-anyone-care-to-try-and-explain-the-final-episode/84575/2 "2001-09-30T02:53:55Z")
**dalov** , what is your theory? (Then I’ll tell you mine.) ---
**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-anyone-care-to-try-and-explain-the-final-episode/84575/3 "2001-09-30T03:11:08Z")
Why does it have to have a specific explanation? It’s surrealism. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-anyone-care-to-try-and-explain-the-final-episode/84575/4 "2001-09-30T03:17:53Z")
Dem bones dem bones…gonna WAAAAAALK around… ---
**Author:** ![DPWhite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d26b3c/32.png) [@DPWhite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPWhite)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-anyone-care-to-try-and-explain-the-final-episode/84575/5 "2001-09-30T03:37:27Z")
Its so deep that you have to slyly pretend to understand it to be hip. Here it is in a nutshell: Who is number 1? You are, number six. (That is, you are number one in your own life, when will you recognize that aggressive ape as yourself?) When you finally realize you are number 1 in your own life, it’s time to get back to the real world and live your life. Huh? You say. It’s gotta be deeper than that? Nope. In this brand of existentialism, you are the anti-budda, the only consciousness that matters in your own life. Kinda dull really. ---
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-anyone-care-to-try-and-explain-the-final-episode/84575/6 "2001-09-30T05:08:26Z")
Well, here’s [Cecil’s attempt](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_022c.html) to explain this show. I’ve only seen the first few episodes, and all I can say is that it is **not** easy on the eyes. The quick-fire editing and leaping zooms drove me nuts. ---
**Author:** ![NaSultainne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8797f3/32.png) [@NaSultainne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NaSultainne)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-anyone-care-to-try-and-explain-the-final-episode/84575/7 "2001-09-30T06:06:26Z")
I loved that show when I first saw it, sometime in the mid 70’s. Delightfully odd, and of course, Patrick McGoohan was a terrific spy(Secret Agent). I’d figured out the lines- “Who is number 1?” _Number 6(PG)_ “You are…number 6” _(Number 2)_ years ago. As for the village, his attempts to escape, and the final episode; my take was that whatever led up to his quitting to begin with(the first episode) was the proof those in charge needed to indicate he was, at the very least, unstable, possibly deranged, and the village was more or less his mind’s interpretation of the events that followed. Have to admit there was a strong sense of paranoia on his part through the series, evidenced by the lack of concern for his “reality” by others also living in the village. All in all, fascinating. Was the village truly all in his mind? ---
**Author:** ![Baraqiyal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@Baraqiyal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baraqiyal)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-anyone-care-to-try-and-explain-the-final-episode/84575/8 "2001-09-30T06:29:19Z")
My Prisoner Video Companion takes a stab at an explanation, although it’s been about ten years since I’ve seen it. The next time I get drunk, I’ll check it out again. ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-anyone-care-to-try-and-explain-the-final-episode/84575/9 "2001-09-30T07:20:11Z")
In my enlightened (gag) opinion it’s creative, overwrought pretentious bullshit. I saw it first time around and my opinion hasn’t altered much. The whole series was a funky alternate spin on the James Bond spy schtick but it collapsed under the weight of Patrick McGoohan’s (sp?) ego. There may have been some genuine insights but–as usual–immediate trends=money idiocies held the reins. It’s like trying to find lastingly significant rreferences in “MacArthur Park”. Rotsa ruck. It’s primary source material for the time. In that sense it’s more immediate (genuine?) but it BEGS for re-interpretation. Time can lose essentials but can lend needed perspective, too. Maybe Austin Powers spun useful reinterpretation, as did The Sting, The lion in winter, etc. etc. (Not that there aren’t horrendous examples on the other side.) The first-time-around versions might be heartfelt but they’re still processing what’s happening. Contemporary filters can let an extraordinrary amount of pure shit through. That’s where I place The Prisoner final episode. (And actually the final 4-or-5 final offerings. The series was tanking: cause or effect?) Quoting what Josephine Tey quoted (another dizzying historical spin), “Truth is the daughter of time”. Veb Trying to make the point that near and present history ain’t exempt. It’s where _artists_ are needed. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-anyone-care-to-try-and-explain-the-final-episode/84575/10 "2001-09-30T08:02:52Z")
Rather than post something new, I’ll just paste in my explanation from the bad series ending thread. In that thread, I said: > [@](#): > > In the case of “The Prisoner”, I don’t think McGoohan himself knew what was going on. It wasn’t possible to reveal what was really going on, because the people making the show didn’t know themselves, so they were left with coming up with an explanation that could never satisfy all of the mysteries posed, or the answer that we have, which really isn’t one. > > My theory is that when Number 6 resigned, he was locked up, possibly drugged, by MI6 to prevent his revealing the vital information he has, and everything we see happening is an elaborate fantasy/hallucination that he uses as a psychological defense mechanism. When he sees his own face under the mask of Number 1, that is his own subconscious telling him that he did this to himself. > > Or he was captured by “The Enemy” and what happens to him is an elaborate fantasy/hallucination he is employing to deal with the torture and drugs being used to extract the information, and his face on Number 1 is his subconscious. > > Or he has gone insane, has no information to reveal, and the whole thing is an elaborate hallucination etc. The circumstances are really irrelevant to my theory; I think the key here is that it’s all in his mind. > > Of course, the very problem is that the show supports any of these explanations and others that directly contradict them almost equally. One of the strengths of movies like Memento, Open Your Eyes and Blade Runner, is that, puzzling as they may seem at first, there is a definite explanation that is supported by the clues. You just have to know where to look. > > No matter how much you look at the clues in “The Prisoner”, they don’t support any one explanation. This is one of two things about the show that bothers me, the other being Rover, which is just stupid. Unless you accept my theory above, in which case it does make a kind of sense. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-anyone-care-to-try-and-explain-the-final-episode/84575/11 "2001-09-30T09:08:07Z")
So its not about one man trapped within his own mind and eventually finds out in the last episode that its time to wake up and resume his life then ? ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-anyone-care-to-try-and-explain-the-final-episode/84575/12 "2001-09-30T09:32:02Z")
While refusing to gush with adulation for an admittedly odd series, I will venture that “The Prisoner” was light years ahead of its time in attempting to examine such an advanced concept as existentialism during late 1960’s primetime television. Please feel free to mention any other shows that attempted to deal with such advanced philosophical concepts back then. “The Outer Limits”, “The Twilight Zone” and the rare episode of “Route 66” ventured into such realms, but rarely with the gusto that McGoohan did. My hat is off to him for the sheer audacity required by such an act. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-anyone-care-to-try-and-explain-the-final-episode/84575/13 "2001-09-30T16:08:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by casdave \* > \*\*So its not about one man trapped within his own mind and eventually finds out in the last episode that its time to wake up and resume his life then ? \*\* OK, sure. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-anyone-care-to-try-and-explain-the-final-episode/84575/14 "2001-09-30T16:31:23Z")
When San Jose PBS station KTEH ran “The Prisoner” several years ago, they juggled the order of the episodes, though, of course, retaining the first and last episodes as first and last. The guy who reordered it (a local critic named Scott Apel) introduced it, and gave his rationales for the reordering as well as a lot of analysis. He was quite informative, and his reordering made sense, even if he did come across as something of a snot. He’s publishing a book based on his analysis, apparently: [http://www.impermanentpress.com/pages2/newsx.html](http://www.impermanentpress.com/pages2/newsx.html) As to your question, I think an emminently sensible answer is “No.”. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2001, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-anyone-care-to-try-and-explain-the-final-episode/84575/15 "2001-10-01T00:53:29Z")
> [@](#): > > It doesn’t have to > make sense, it doesn’t have to mean anything. To use Number > Six’s words from “Chimes” - it means what it is! And before you ask, I don’t know > what that means either. [http://www.the-prisoner-6.freeserve.co.uk/episode\_aftermath.htm](http://www.the-prisoner-6.freeserve.co.uk/episode_aftermath.htm) ---
**Author:** ![dalovindj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/65b543/32.png) [@dalovindj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalovindj)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2001, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-anyone-care-to-try-and-explain-the-final-episode/84575/16 "2001-10-01T01:39:40Z")
> [@](#): > > dalov, what is your theory? (Then I’ll tell you mine.) Based on all the wonderful info provided in this thread and it’s links, I will now hold back my opinions as they would seem foolish. I love this place. DaLovin’ Dj ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2001, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-anyone-care-to-try-and-explain-the-final-episode/84575/17 "2001-10-01T05:38:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by casdave \* > \*\*So its not about one man trapped within his own mind and eventually finds out in the last episode that its time to wake up and resume his life then ? \*\* Well, my theory anyway, is that that is exactly what is happening. I seriously doubt he’s going to be very happy with the situation once he returns to reality, though. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2001, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-anyone-care-to-try-and-explain-the-final-episode/84575/18 "2001-10-01T13:03:49Z")
There was an awful, awful four-issue Prisoner miniseries from DC Comics back in the 80s. I’d never heard of the TV show when I learned of the upcoming comic book series, so I went to the video room of the University of Georgia’s library (I was in college at the time) and watched all 17 episodes to prepare. I loved the show! Then I read the comic, which was awful, and found it to be awful. It did nothing to clear up the final episode and added nothing new or interesting to the story. It was awful. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2001, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-anyone-care-to-try-and-explain-the-final-episode/84575/19 "2001-10-01T15:07:56Z")
**The Prisoner** was a summer replacement show in the US (I don’t know the circumstances of its airing in Britain) in the late 1960s, which is when I first saw it, and loved it from the start. I’m something of a shallow philistine, I guess, because the episodes I like are the “easier”, less artsy ones – “Arrival”, “The Chimes of Big Ben”, “Hammer into Anvil”, even “The Girl that was Death”. I certainly didn’t like or understand the last episode, and felt cheated by it. (“Chimes” and one other episode established possible locations for THe Village, but in neither case would it be possible to escape by hopping on a bus!) The Prisoner Companion is a pretty badly written book, not up to the standards of Mark Scott Zicree’s “Twilight Zone Companion” or the Outer Limits Companion, but still filled with useful stuff. It’s been years since I read it, but I think they made the ending sort of allegorical. It’s All In Your Mind, as several here have noted (and note that, at the end, his door at home closes automatically behind him. Has he left the Village?) My frienbd and sometime SDMB poster **KevinLeeC** hadn’t seen The Prisoner until I gave him copies of it. He’d been a big fan of Secret Agent/Danger Man, and his theory was that The Prisoner represented a sort of sequel, in which the Powers That Be asked secret agent Drake to do something he couldn’t bring himself to do, morally, and he retreated into his own mind. Interesting take. The Prisoner is his attempt to reconcile this and break out. Me, philistine that I am, I’d like to see something philosophically simpler. As I suggested in a thread several weeks ago, try running The Prisoner as a cartoion series, with Bugs Bunny as Number 6 and Elmer Fudd (with a beard) as Number 2: Bugs: Hey, Where AM I , anyway? Elmer (as #2): In the Viwwage! ---
**Author:** ![LateComer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@LateComer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LateComer)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2001, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-anyone-care-to-try-and-explain-the-final-episode/84575/20 "2001-10-01T15:15:16Z")
My take has always been that he gets home, away from the Village, only to find . . . That the ordinary world is, in fact, the Village! We are all numbers in a society where we do not know who is really pulling our strings. The Village is, in fact, a metaphor for the real world. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prisoner-anyone-care-to-try-and-explain-the-final-episode/84575.md?page=2)