The Prisoner: Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling

(S01E13) The beginning of this episode certainly will startle you if you've been watching The Prisoner regularly. There are no opening credits, at least at first. There is a teaser and then goes the title card with different music and no dialogue with Number 2.

First, a little background regarding this episode. When this episode was being filmed, Patrick McGoohan was filming his role in the movie Ice Station Zebra which starred Rock Hudson. (Not a bad flick, by the way.) In any case, you don't see much of Number 6 here except at the beginning and at the end, but his presence is felt throughout the entire episode.

As we have come to learn, Number 6's captors are taking extreme measures to get him to tell why he resigned. They have resorted to all sorts of tactics, including some very severe hallucinogenic drugs and mind control, but nothing has worked to their satisfaction. It appears that Number 6's will is strong and it will take much to break him.

Again, Number 2 takes the lead in another mind-control experiment whereby the method of switching the minds of two people, developed by Dr. Jacob Seltzman, is believed to hopefully reveal Number 6's most inner thoughts. An outsider (the Colonel) is brought in to the Village to inherit Nubmer 6's mind in his body in order to track down Seltzman, bring him to the Village, and lead the process to finally learn what they need to learn from Number 6.

It's a very complicated story which includes a number of subplots, including the introduction of Number 6's fiancee and what their relationship must have been like. We see a number of flashbacks, or what we think Number 6 must have seen and experienced before he ended up in the Village. The Colonel does a number of "spy-like" things in order to get more information, and he eventually ends up in Austria where he finds Dr. Seltzman.

They both go back to the Village, and the mind-switching process is conducted with quite startling results. In any case, Number 6 still remains, but have his captors finally gotten what they've wanted? Guess you'll just have to keep watching.

Until next time

Be seeing you!