The Prisoner: Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling

December 8th, 2007

Episode 13

The Prisoner is a 1967 British television series, starring Patrick McGoohan as “Number 6,” a top-level government agent who resigns his post. As a result, he’s kidnapped and imprisoned in “The Village”, where his captors hope to interrogate him for “information.” The series documents Number 6’s repeated escape attempts and the progressively more extreme methods employed by his captors to break his will.

Synopsis

This episode is unique as Patrick McGoohan barely appears. We begin during a slide show presentation to the Colonel, a blond, nondescript man. They’re looking in vain through a series of slide show images for a secret message pointing to the location of “Seltzman”.

Back at The Village, Number 2, explains to the Colonel that professor Seltzman developed a “thought transfer” technique: transferring the mind of one man into another using an electronic device. Seltzman is missing, and the last contact was Number 6.

Number 2 takes the Colonel into the hospital and shows him an amnesia machine and a Seltzman device. Meanwhile, Number 6 is dragged out of his apartment and brought to the hospital.

Next is an amusing point of view scene where Number 6 wakes up and looks in the mirror, only to see the face of a complete stranger. His mind is in the body of the Colonel, and he’s no longer in the Village. He’s instructed to locate Saltzman, the only person who can return him to his original self.

We briefly meet Janice, a dark haired woman who was Number 6’s fiance. She’s the daughter of Sir Charles Portland, a higher-up at Number 6’s previous employer.

Number 6 / The Colonel visits to the same office where he resigned and demands to see Sir Charles Portland, presumably for help in finding Seltzman. Number 6 / The Colonel tries to gain Portland’s confidence by conveying personal details. Portland is still skeptical, and says he’ll watch and follow Number 6 / The Colonel wherever he goes.

Number 6 / The Colonel retrieves a set of slides from a photography shop that he visited before his imprisonment. Using a coded, several step process, four slides are isolated. When viewed in overlay atop one another, the words Kandersfeld, Austria appear.

After a long car ride, he locates Seltzman, an elderly man posing as a barber. Number 6 / The Colonel uses his handwriting to prove his true identity. But just as Seltzman confirms a reversal process, agents break in. Seltzman and Number 6 / The Colonel are captured and taken to the Village.

Number 2 demands that Number 6 be returned to his original body that still has the Colonel’s mind contained within. For the reversal process, Salzman connects a wire between Number 6’s and the Colonel’s body and places himself within, acting as a conduit.

After the transference, Seltzman collapses and dies — the strain of the transference was too much. The Colonel bids farewell and leaves via helicopter.

A final twist is revealed — Seltzman’s mind is now in the body of the Colonel, and the Colonel who was sent to Salzman’s body is now dead. Number 6 is in his original body. The Village has once again accomplished nothing, due to the subversive antics of Number 6.

Thoughts

The episode’s biggest weakness is watching another actor (Nigel Stock) play Number 6 in a different body. Stock doesn’t have the gruff attitude or charisma of Patrick McGoohan.

As for the plot, it seems a bit odd that the Village would place Number 6 back into public where he could escape. In previous episodes, he has broken through the Village’s brainwashing. The Village trusts that Number 6 would want to return to his own body back at The Village, which only Seltzman can do, but it still seems quite reckless.

Minor plot quibbles aside, this episode really exists because Patrick MacGoohan was predisposed filming Ice Station Zebra. Overall, the writing of the episode was fine, and the final twist was definitely cool. I just wish a more charismatic actor was cast as the Colonel.

Next Episode: Living In Harmony
Previous Episode: Hammer Into Anvil

IMDB: Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling
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The Prisoner Online: Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling
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iTunes Store Link: Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling — The Prisoner (Classic)