The Prisoner/Fall Out

Fall Out
Season 1, Episode 17
Airdate	February 4, 1968
Written by	Patrick McGoohan
Directed by	Patrick McGoohan
← 1x16 Once Upon a Time	— N/A
The Prisoner — Season One

Fall Out is the seventeenth episode of the first season of The Prisoner. In the final episode of the series, Number Six is brought before a court in order to honor his constant dedication to individualism.

Starring: Patrick McGoohan (Number Six)

Guest Stars: Leo McKern (Number Two), Kenneth Griffith (The President), Alexis Kanner (Number Forty Eight)

with Angelo Muscat (The Butler), Peter Swanwick (The Supervisor), Michael Miller (The Delegate)

Plot Overview

Continuing directly from the events of "Once Upon a Time," the supervisor is taking Number Six to see Number One as per Number Six's request. He's taken down into a system of caves that's lined with jukeboxes playing "All You Need Is Love" by The Beatles. He arrives in open cave filled with hooded men sitting behind tables with placards stating their position. The supervisor dons a robe and sits behind the identification card, others around him include "defectors", "therapy", "reactionaries" and "nationalists." A judge calls the masked men to order and is presented Number Six, but the judge prefers that he not go by a number anymore because of his surviving the final test. He bids Number Six to take a seat in the chair of honor in the middle of the room, so that he can be comfortable during the transfer of power ceremony.

After Six takes a seat, the large jail cell from the embryo room descends into the cave and opens. They load Number Two onto a stretcher and roll him to a small medical outpost in the cave, where a team of surgeons work to resuscitate him. While they apply their bizarre medical technique, Number 48 is brought to plead his case before the court but 48 is clearly quite mad. He draws the jury into a fury until the judge allows him to be released from his bonds. Although he seems to calm down, he suddenly creates more chaos until Number Six stops him. Number 48 and the judge get into a heated verbal exchange that ends with the entire room dancing and singing "Dem Bones" with the exception of Number Six and the butler instead of 48 confessing to his crime. At the end of it all, Number 48 is found guilty and charged with defying society and starting a revolt. He's removed by a couple of the village soldiers and held in prison until Number Six's inauguration.

After the man has been taken away, Number Two is now rehabilitated, alive and well. Number Two expresses his glee over feeling like a new man and delivers a speech to the jury about his life before being dragged to the village. He thanks them for placing him in a position of power and recognizing his abilities as a statesman, but demands to know how they managed to resurrect him even though he had died. They refuse to answer and he similarly refuses to answer Number Six's question as to if he had met Number One face to face. Number Two throws his badge at the base of the Number One cylinder and spits in the green eye. Number Two is also secured in one of the tubes and held until inauguration.

Although the previous two men were considered enemies of the state for being against the status quo, Number Six is applauded for being a "revolutionary of different calibre." They consider him to be a man who is magnificently equipped to lead them, but they also offer him the possibility of going home or anywhere he pleases. They present him with a key to his house, passport, traveler's checks and petty cash. Because Number Six has become such an inspiration them, he is offered to make a statement to the audience. But, when he attempts to deliver his statement from the podium, he is drowned out by a monotonous chant of "I" from the crowd. This causes something of a nervous breakdown in Number Six, but despite his message not getting across, he's allowed to meet Number One now.

Number Six is put into one of the elevator tubes, but it occurs to him that this whole accolade scheme may very well just be another attempt to break him. The butler shows him to a spiral staircase which leads to a room with several globes and a hooded man. He's given a crystal ball by the man who is supposedly Number One but it falls to the crash and breaks into pieces. He pulls the masks off of Number One and chases the maniac around the room until Number One escapes through a hole in the roof. Number Six takes a fire extinguisher out of the room and uses it to attack the hooded men, along with the butler. He also frees both Numbers 48 and Two so that they can aid him in disposing of the guards. Once they're done, Number Six overloads the Number One mechanical eye and sends the people from the jury into a flurry of panic. He and his allies take advantage of the madness to lay siege to the room, firing on everyone in the room with the guns they took off of the guards.

Meanwhile, above ground, the village is evacuated and the four escape in the jail cell room, which is connected to a truck as if it were a freight trailer. Helicopters fly off the island in massive flocks and a rocket is launched from the core of the cave room. The flight of this rocket also apparently causes the melting of Rover, thereby destroying their last bit of opposition. Finally free of the village, the butler drives the three men in the direction of London. Number 48 is allowed to leave to hitchhike his way to his destination, Number Two wanders in the direction of Big Ben and Number Six is questioned by a police officer, although what exactly is said is unknown. After the conversation, Number Six and the butler catch a bus and ride off to Number Six's home. Number Six gets into his car and drives off while the butler enters the home.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• The Village: The village is evacuated and perhaps irreparably destroyed when Number Six sets off the rocket. However, because the Butler is able to drive the truck directly to London, the previous insinuations that the village is on an island are discredited. It also says that the entire process may have been a ruse by the British government to be absolutely sure that their spies wouldn't give up secrets after retiring.

Characters

• Number Six: Number Six finally escapes the village for good, allowing him to return to his life in London. However, the underlying message of the episode states that although Number Six has returned home, he is now in the same prison as he was before. The sound effect of his door is much like that of his flat and his last act before the end of the episode shows him driving just as he was before, trapped in his own mundane life.

Trivia

Behind the Scenes

• Cancellation: Patrick McGoohan found out that the series was cancelled shortly after "The Girl Who Was Death", forcing him to write and shoot the final episode of the series in a very short time. Because of this, he asked that guest star Alex Kinner write his own dialogue.

• Controversy: The last act of this episode was considered so confusing and open to interpretation that the mass of phone calls literally blew out the switchboard. McGoohan was forced to go into hiding because irate fans were staked out at his home, demanding to know what the ending meant.

• Original Ending: Series co-creator George Markstein had mapped out a definite conclusion for the series that was eventually discarded after he had a falling out with Patrick McGoohan, according to author James Follett. Originally, Markstein's concept was that Number Six had once submitted a proposal for how to remove retired secret agents from danger and prevent state secrets from leaking out, by way of a retirement center where they would be surveilled unintrusively. Years later, Six would discover that his idea had been put into action in the form of the Village."

  Markstein suggested that Six deliberately attempt to get sent to the Village so that he could find a way to destroy it from the inside, but found himself unsure of which nation's Village he was in, his own or his enemy's. With this in mind, Six being declared Number One makes more sense. However, because of the creators' falling out, Markstein's intentions for Six were discarded entirely.

  Markstein later said about his original ending, "would always be a prisoner. By that I don't mean he would always go back to the Village. He would always be a prisoner of his circumstances, his situation, his secret, his background… and 'they' would always be there to ensure that his captivity continues."