Number 6 Was a Plant: Introduction
This post is the first in a series of posts about The Prisoner, in which I will seek to understand the series in light of the theory that Number 6 did not resign but instead is still an active spy during his time in The Village, in some way spying on the way things were run there.
Perhaps Matthew White and Jaffer Ali explain the proposition better than I would:
'The place to begin this debate is in the episode Hammer into Anvil, in which Number Two is convinced that Number Six is a plant, assigned to The Village by The Village's authorities to spy on Number Two. The initial screening of this episode makes it appear that Number Six is playing a devious game, that he has turned the tables on Number Two in order to take revenge on Number Two's sadistic handling of a fellow Villager. But what if this is no game? What if Number Six is indeed carrying out his orders? What, indeed?
'We have plenty of evidence that Number Six was an accomplished spy. Besides the obvious espionage techniques employed in Hammer into Anvil, he is seen cracking complicated codes in such episodes as Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling (the proper projection of photographic slides to reveal a location). In that same episode he is known to others by secret code names, be it another number (ZM73) or a fictitiousname (Schmidt, Duvall). But the question remains: Is he still a spy, or has he resigned?' (Matthew White and Jaffer Ali: The Official Prisoner Companion. Warner Books, New York, 2009, Chapter 3.)
They make the point, rightly in my opinion, that this theory makes perfect sense of the solution that Number 6 is actually Number 1. Not going to lie about this, but I find it fairly dreary that a prisoner could spend an entire television series proclaiming that he is a free man and resenting his imprisonment when actually he is the architect of his own incarceration and could presumably get out of it at any time he chose to. If, however Number 6 is Number 1 in the sense of being 'the boss', that makes perfect sense of his pretend resignation and testing his Village out, almost to destruction. It's possible that he is the boss of the organisation which runs The Village and has come concerns about the way it is being run so finds out in a practical way: this is, of course, dependent on the organisation being so completely secretive that the people in The Village don't know who Number 6 is, although of course there are suspicions. He must also be seen to resign while not actually resigning so that he can go in in disguise and avoid the pretences of an official visit.
There is further evidence in support of this theory:
'Why would Number Six subject himself to the various tortures within The Village? The answer must have something to do with national security: Number Six has been placed in The Village to test its security. In Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling, we understand that the breaking of security is of prime importance to The Villagers. (Number Two in that episode is delighted to discover that he may have stumbled across a method-mind transference-that would break the security of any nation.)
'This theory is appealing and puts several pieces of the puzzle in place. We never know what information is in Number Six's head, and neither does any Number Two. But Number Two is always under orders to treat Number Six with a special respect and not to destroy him or his mind. These orders, which are given by the ultimate authorities, protect Number Six within The Village. Why would Number One be so careful to protect Number Six unless Number Six was actually working for Number One (or is Number One himself)?
'The final bit of evidence to support this theory is contained in the last scene of the last episode. Number Six, now in London and apparently free from The Village, leaves The Butler at his house in London. The door opens automatically, much like the doors in The Village. But Number Six pays that no mind. Indeed, it's as if he expects it. Most have thought this confirmed the fact that there is no escape from The Village. But what if it means that Number Six has been a Villager all along?' (Matthew White and Jaffer Ali: op. cit., Chapter 3.)
I will not be covering it in great detail in this series of posts to avoid sending myself mad, but there are further hints that Number 6 may be a plant, in the Big Finish audio version of the show. In several places he is referred or deferred to as if he is the boss of The Village. In the episode Project Six (based on A, B and C) Janet explicitly tells him that he has made himself a prisoner rather than being made one. Of course you could interpret that as meaning that he could just have not resigned and avoided imprisonment that way. Then in Hammer into Anvil, Rover reads Number 6's inmost thoughts and it is discovered he thinks of himself as Number 1. He just doesn't answer when Janet asks him if he is Number 1, but both she and Number 2 have their suspicions. Obviously this isn't made explicit, but left as hints in true Prisoner style.
On the other hand David Stimpson thinks the theory that Number 6 is a plant makes a nonsense of the resignation scene in the titles, and also that possibly Number 6 could have not resigned, but it then backfired and he actually found himself a prisoner in The Village after being brought back at the end of The Chimes of Big Ben:
'What if No.6 is a plant, sent to the village to check on security, to check on No.2? That idea makes a total hash of how we see the opening sequence, that of a man who having resigned is trying to get away before they come for him. That would all be an act, as he allows himself to be abducted, as the Prisoner goes to work undercover in the village Absurd? Well Nadia Rakovski allowed herself to be abducted, to attempt a fake escape and be subjected to the awful effects of being captured by the village guardian! To make no mention of being interrogated and subjected to torture in that interrogation room, as she was a plant, working undercover in the village. Oh I know what Nadia Rakovski allowed herself to be put through is nothing compared to what No.6 was put through. But the principle is the same.
'Certainly whoever No.,6 is he is definitely a spy. He has intelligence of working with codes, uses code names, Schmidt, Duval, D6, ZM73, XO4, and a false name of Peter Smith. He gives nothing away about himself, only that of his birthday 19th of March 1928, the only real thing we know about the Prisoner-No.6's identity.
'It isn't until his supposed escape in The Chimes of Big Ben that we see that his cover is blown! the Colonel and Fotheringay have been brought to the village to help extract certain information from an old ex-colleague, and is left dumped in the village. Now he really is a Prisoner, betrayed by his very own people! But the Prisoner is still loyal, as we see in Many Happy Returns when the Prisoner "runs" again, back to old friends and ex-colleagues. And in Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling we not only learn that this one time spy, and undercover man is engaged to the bosses daughter, Janet Portland, and that the Prisoner's direct boss, above the Colonel is Sir Charles Portland. The fact that ZM73 had been sent on a mission deep under cover for the past year, means that even Sir Charles Portland was not privy to such delicate information. After all, Sir Charles may have told his daughter under pressure by her!' (Source: https://david-stimpson.blogspot.com/2012/11/no6-plant.html)
This is an exploration of The Prisoner that I'm looking forward to very much, because I really like this theory and think it may make much of the show look very different.
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