Number 6 was a Plant: A, B and C
The introduction to this series of posts examining the theory that Number 6 didn't really resign and is a plant in the Village can be seen here: https://culttvblog.substack.com/p/number-6-was-a-plant-introduction
This blog post spoils the identity of Number 1 and also of person 'C'.
I thought I wasn't going to be able to squeeze A, B and C into the theory that Number 6 is a plant, but I think I can truthfully say I have found an ingenious way that this episode fits into the theory. So ingenious, in fact, that you'll probably think I'm contorting the episode to fit my theory - and if you did I wouldn't particularly go to the stake for this one, but here we go...
The 'plant' theory is that Number 6 hasn't resigned at all, but is in the Village for some official reason, whether to investigate reported abuses, security failures, or to test its security to breaking point. Now I will happily grant you that most of this episode is spent on unethical medical experimentation in a doubtless unapproved interrogation of why Number 6 resigned, but if you start to consider that it is actually Number 2 who is under examination here, things begin to look a bit different.
It starts right at the beginning where Number 2 is on the phone to 'Sir' promising him results as to why Number 6 resigned by the end of the week. When you look on this as meaning that Number 6's presence in the Village exerts considerable pressure on Number 2 to perform, to the extent that he starts using untried novel interrogation methods so that he won't himself get dispensed with, the power balance changes a little.
I don't know why all the summaries of this episode say that the person on the other end of the big red phone to whom he is promising results is Number 1. We who know the series know full well that there is no way he is on the phone to Number 1 because he would be promising Number 1 to interrogate Number 6 who is actually Number 1, and that would be insane even by the standards of The Prisoner. He is, however, clearly talking to someone superior to him who expects him to get the information from Number 6.
My point here is that Number 6, by his very presence in the Village, exerts considerable pressure on Number 2, pressure which is reinforced by the conversation with the 'Sir' on the other end of the phone. If you take it as read that Number 6 has been planted in the Village at the behest of Sir, this looks much more like an investigation into Number 2 and what is going on in the Village than an interrogation of a resigned agent.
See, I said I could make this episode fit the theory that Number 6 is a plant. It's just heavily hinted at the beginning and end of the episode and the middle is something of a smokescreen.
During the course of this episode Number 6 derails the unethical medical experimentation on his dreams by diluting the medication which will make his dreams appear on a screen during the course of his interrogation. Number 6 takes control of the interrogation completely by revealing right at the end that what Number 2 wants to know is actually Number 2 himself. The traitor is Number 2.
Number 6 has turned the interrogation round completely on Number 2. Just exactly as if he is investigating him.
The scene where Number 6 tells Number 2 that he was only going on holiday all along may appear to conform to the normal explanation that Number 6 has resigned and is being interrogated to find out why, however I think it could also be explained by the holiday being a cover story for his resignation. It's also clearly not true, because he could no doubt have booked holiday time if he needed it and didn't need to resign.
So you could read this episode as Number 2 being a plant to test the Village and Number 6 especially, and also that his holiday story is his frankly incredible cover story.
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