It makes sense that the Prisoner could be manipulated when it comes to the safety and security of others because his fight is personal–so long as he is the object of the system, he will not be manipulated. His entire existence in the Village revolves around this defense and protection of SELF. This leaves him vulnerable to being manipulated as a pawn in a game that truly revolves around someone else. So this episode is crucial in that it reveals one of The Prisoner’s major character flaws: when he is the prime target, he cannot be hit, but when he is not the target, he can be.

However, I still have some big problems…

1. Nowhere in the episode is it revealed that the young 2 wants the Prisoner to join the manipulators.

This is a huge fault of the episode (if that were the idea). For all we know, the young 2 creates the tape knowing full well that the Prisoner will be made aware of it and because The Prisoner is so focused on avoiding the manipulation of SELF, will do whatever is necessary to make the old 2 realize that he is being tricked (because the Prisoner himself will not be a tool to be manipulated).

In that case, the young 2’s plan is to get The Prisoner to join with the old 2. And since the only way to really do that is to make a real scenario that is truly focused on someone else, he must really get the watchmaker to really try to blow up the old 2. His nervousness when he wears the medallion is easily explained as uncertainty that the Prisoner will be able to stop his own scenario from happening in time. After all, even the Prisoner is human and capable of failure.

In the case I have presented, the point would be not just to show US the Prisoner’s weakness, but also to show HIM: he can be manipulated to serve a means that doesn’t involve him. And by doing so, the Village asserts it superiority over his individuality. And thus he is really a prisoner, not because he has lost the defense and protection of self, but because he will do anything to maintain it.

The episode gives us no reason to reject this view.

2. Surely the manipulation of a tape is a facile thing for the system and anyone who is part of the system should know that.

Including the young 2. Even if the old 2 has reason to believe that The Prisoner is like one of these Jammers, it is improbable to believe that someone who rises to the position of 2 could be so careless as to not investigate things involving him/herself. And the young 2 should know that as well. Young 2 should expect, therefore, that even if the old 2 disbelieves The Prisoner, that the old 2 would look into it.

3. If my scenario is correct, this means The Prisoner has not found a weakness in the system (the internal conflict of his enemies). Surely he knows that there is conflict in the system (otherwise there would not be a new 2 all the time), but that weakness would reside between 2 and 1, not between The Prisoner and 2.

4. Without understanding how Kosho is played (other than one person putting the other into water), we have no conception of how it relates to the game being played between The Prisoner and the system. If it does not relate, it should not consume such a significant amount of screen time. This is visual storytelling 101.

If peapod22 is correct, then what we have is the case of a brilliant episode that didn’t work. It didn’t communicate the intent of the system, it didn’t communicate The Prisoner’s triumph over the system’s weakness (ending with the bars slamming over the Prisoner’s face also negates this), and it means the top dogs that are supposed to be running this incredibly manipulative system are ignorant of its manipulative effect on themselves and how others in their position would and should respond. Yet I am also hesitant to say my scenario is correct because we do not see a clear triumph of the young 2 over The Prisoner at the end (although the helicopter swerving back instead of flying away is a visual hint that the old 2 was never meant to get away because it was all part of the plan from the beginning).

In Episode 10 he finds out that a system that manipulates the prisoners is not immune from manipulation among the power elite themselves — and a flaw in the power structure becomes evident to No 6. No 6 sides against those who would manipulate (the younger No 2) rather than join the manipulators (which was the younger No 2’s intent).

It is a cautionary tale to remain true to your principles (murder is wrong, even if it could damage your enemies — you may suffer reprisals, are manipulated in the process and lose your individuality of choice), and his discovery that his enemies are not omnipotent and have internal conflicts among themselves that could be exploited.

thoughts?

Of course we are getting to the point in the series where Number 6 has likely decided he’d like to destroy the Village from the inside, and, everything anybody says can’t be taken at face value