But of course, for that ending to work, you would have to ignore all the Simpson DNA evidence
We discussed it here (and I, for one, really didn’t like it): The Prisoner on AMC (open spoilers after each airing)
I have determined that the mysterious person following Jim Morrison around was actually Kerry Livgren, who was looking for stuff he could use. He even wrote a song about the experience.
At the end of Groundhog Day Phil is a totally changed man. Or is he?
As he steps outside with Rita, he exclaims to her, “Let’s live here.”
But, to the tune of the ominously titled, Almost Like Being in Love, he adds, “We’ll rent to start.”
Just like TV Tropes has The Rule of Cool (why do tough guys walk away from explosions? Because it’s Cool!), I have the Rule of Fun. And rather than try to shoehorn in complicated psychological theories, it’s more fun for me to watch Number 6 thwart The Village’s efforts (and often break “The New Number Two” in the process).
Oh, and it’s fun to go back and watch Danger Man (aka Secret Agent) episodes, wondering if John Drake is going to rebel and end up in The Village (which, by the way, is the setting for a couple of DM episodes… odd to see it in B&W).
Do tell!
Well, I can’t speak for 6, (or the writers 
) but…
My interpretation is that the entire “bedtime” story about being a secret agent and his mission and the cloak and dagger and secret codes and people constantly trying to kill him and the always-existing threat of nuclear war, and ultimately the futility of being an agent (as a super hero once said, “its like, I just cleaned up this mess! Can’t you keep it clean for ten minutes?!”) is each one of the reasons he had to quit.
Every element of the story (cricket, bombs, secret meetings, playing at being Sherlock Holmes, mad supervillians (with Napoleon complexes), seductive femme fatales (who might not be simply a femme fatale “Bond girl” but actually be the literal embodiment of Death itself (and maybe “Drake” realized he had a subconscious death wish, hence its seductiveness)), super weapons, is a piece of the answer, another metaphor in the roman a clef he is telling the children.
But 6 knew he was being watched (as he always is) and knew that being given a chance to tell a story to the children was yet another ploy, so instead of rebelling, fighting back directly as he usually does, he tricked them by actually telling the truth, albeit couched in riddles.
To use my own metaphor, number 2 was Col Klink and his assistant (“the girl who was death”) was Sgt Shultz, and Hogan/6’s supposedly bogus story (“I have to use my secret radio to contact the underground and blow up the Mannheim Bridge”) that he told, that 2 didn’t believe/understand, was actually the truth. But since 6 has deceived the masters so much, they just couldn’t tell the truth when it was literally right in front of them.
That’s pretty!
One of my theories is that he answered the question in Degree Absolute, when he said, “Protect Other People. POP.” He had realized that the secret department he worked for was more dangerous to society than it was protective: he was part of the problem, not the solution. So he quit.
(The original version of the closing credits has a big “POP” appear at the very end.)
I like that.
From Live And Let Die:
“He’s a secret agent.”
“On whose side??”
Just wanted to say thanks for the Prisoner theories. The show has a special place in my heart…
[deep background] Back in the 70s, UW-Madison had more film societies than any place east of Berkeley, so every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night there were a dozen classic/arthouse films being shown in lecture halls. And you could buy a “season ticket” for, say, ten Ingmar Berrrrgman films on consecutive Friday nights.
Well, the week after I moved to Madison (from NothingToDo, MI), one society started showing The Prisoner. For seventeen Sunday nights, we got to watch this (on film, mastered by ITC) on the big screen.
I made some of my first friends there, because we’d go out for a beer afterwards and try to figure out what we’d just watched.
Kind of like we’re doing here…
A powerful magician placed a spell on the DC universe that prevents anyone from recognising anyone else while they’re wearing a disguise.
Actually, in Identity Crisis they state that Zatanna casts a spell that makes villains forget each time they discover a hero’s identity. I’m not sure if this is canon in the main universe though.
When I showed The Prisoner to a friend who had been a big Secret Agent/Danger Man fan (but had never seen The Prisoner before), he came up with the theory that the series all takes place in his mind.
Number Six really IS Secret Agent Drake (as many have suspected), but they asked him to do something that was against his moral code, and he had a breakdown, retreating into his own mind, where the events of The Prisoner take place. It explains how people he knows well from His Side are inexplicably working for The Village, and how they can monitor and control everything, how the Village can be i three different places at once, and why the last episode makes virtually no sense. It also explain s the meaning of the line in the litany “Who is Number one?” “You are number Six”, which many have suggested could be read as “YOU are, Number Six,” in such a way that it makes sense.
And when “Mom” Bradley passed away, whom did Joe hire to replace her? A “lady MD” who’s “as pretty as can be.” Gotta make sure those girls stay clean, uhm, healthy for the male customers! 
I see where you’re going with that, but I just took it as another joke. Usually you “rent to start” if you’re not sure you’ll want to stick around, because you want to learn more about the city or neighborhood first. But Phil already knows just about everything there is to know about Punx.
It was a Bill Murray ad-lib, and was based around the heavy snow on that day having blocked the garden gate - i.e. maybe it’s not perfect here after all. They quickly shot that scene early in the shoot, to utilise the perfect snowdrift weather, but it was early in the shoot and so perhaps the implication wasn’t thought through.
And in this universe, Aleister Crowley was a real wizard.
After graduating from Hogwarts, Harry Potter went to college at Miskatonic University.
After HP, Harry used his bitterness at being raised in a magic free environment and made the wizarding world public knowledge, and between wizard “tech” and modern science (“you mean you muggles can have instant communication anywhere on the planet? In high quality sound and image? Without owls?? Amazing!”) and together they brough a new era of peace and understanding to the world.
This is geek deep dive, combining Harry Potter and White Wolf’s Mage RPG:
Harry Potter’s world is one in which the Adepts of Hermes absorbed almost all the other Traditions, and they and the Technocracy arrived at a truce. Magic is allowed to exist, Wizards and Witches and the various magical creatures are allowed to live more or less freely - as long as it all remains a secret.
Harry Potter misapparates to the wrong Santa Rosa and finds himself trapped in a Larry Niven reality from which he cannot manage to escape. When he returns to Godric’s Hollow, he finds that this uncomfortable reality has come along with him and is starting to spread.
The Smurfs are Satanic – no, literally, not just esthetically. Gargamel is actually a pious and heroic agent of the Inquisition.