We're making the same point, right? Although where I see episodes 1-16 as more straightforward with a side of metaphor, I look at Fall Out as having the metaphor as the main dish and the plot as a side item. (I'm hungry; I need a snack.)

It's late at night so forgive me if none of the following makes any sense but...

... 'Fall Out' is chaotic in places. It leaves more questions than answers. Previous Nos. who were killed off (i.e., the McKern No. 2 and Kanner's No. 48) and then resuscitated without due explanation of the methods involved (cryogenics, perhaps?). Just what was No. 6 saying in his unheard speech?

These and other factors, however, is what makes the ending what it is. The ending is stunning - visually, emotionally and intellectually. It wasn't the clear-cut ending that we are all used to and what's more, a clear-cut ending would have defeated the objective of McGoohan's labours.

As Double 06 said earlier, McGoohan wanted us to reach our own conclusions. The fact that we are all so enthusiastic in our discussions about his televisual masterpiece 40 years on is testimony to its timelessness. People have watched re-runs and debate it with their parents who watched The Prisoner during its original run.

McGoohan got us all thinking - he achieved his goal.



Miss W

Hi Miss Willow, Good to see you again! Yes, you made perfect sense.

Sometimes I like to think of Fall Out as being a poem, rather than a narrative as the other episodes were. A poem is often filled with oblique references, images, metaphors, and emotion, rather than straight-line plot/character/setting. If you tried to analyze a poem as you would a short story, the beauty, power, and meaning would be lost. Better to let the whole of it wash over you and absorb it all at once than to fret over the details.

Or maybe it's like a mystical vision. Fall Out references Ezekiel's vision, so that's a possibility. In a vision, it's most often nearly impossible to make any logical sense of the details, but the meaning and power of the whole is easy to understand.

I watched Fall Out this evening since we have been discussing it lately. I can't help but be in awe at the power of the episode, and the points that McGoohan was making come through loud and clear. But it does have some wild and strange moments!

Hi Jan

Aww.. thank you

I agree with everything you say. 'Fall Out' is, indeed, a very powerful episode. I am still blown away whenever I watch it. It's the visual and intellectual equivalent of stepping out from an industrial-sized fridge into the blistering heat of a high summer's day... takes your breath away and quite uncomfortable for a while.

It is uncomfortable viewing in places - as mentioned, the resurrections of Nos. 2 and 48 from apparent deaths, having to face torment from this malevolent authority, not being allowed to rest in peace. This discomfort is down to the fact that we are having to face some unpalatable truths and it is making us think about matters that, quite frankly, scare the life out of us.

McGoohan was a visionary, that's for certain. How much of what was depicted in 'Fall Out' has just become commonplace today?

I feel that 'Fall Out' has a greater sense of tragic irony than the other episodes - No. 6's realisation that he isn't a free man after all. He has his flat back, his car, his passport, etc.. but when that door swings shut on its own, you just know that this will be his life for the rest of his days. He will always be watched, would always be looking over his shoulder for that hearse, always be wondering if he is going to end up back in the Village.. interestingly, Old Man of Prisoner 2009 implies that this was most likely the case.

All the different parts make the whole indeed - and that is the beauty of 'Fall Out', why the episode is perfect the way it is.

Hope this makes sense too


Miss W

I doodled some *alternative* scripts a couple of years ago. I found where I'd left the idea I used for my final episode and have uploaded it to another blog. I was rather fond of it, and still think it is fun. I daresay there would have been rather more phone-calls if Patrick had gone down this pearticular dead-end though....

On the other hand it would have been a much cheaper production....

I wonder how Angelo would have coped with dialogue

numberschizx.blogspot.com/

That was a fun ending, Moor. For some reason, the Butler's dialog sounded like Lorienne from Babylon 5. But I liked it.