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The Prisoner
"A. B. and C."
TV episode
Written by Anthony Skene
Directed by Pat Jackson
Original air date: October 13, 1967 |
Number 2, under extreme pressure to break Number 6, begins to
manipulate Number 6's dreams for information.
Read the complete story summary at Wikipedia
Notes from the Prisoner chronology
This episode would seem to take place after
"The General", with
Colin Gordon’s Number 2 returning, seemingly more timid and weak
after his previous attempt to conquer Number 6's will. Notice in
this episode he’s not referred to as the “new” Number 2 as he
was in
"The General"
(and as the Number 2's in all previous episodes have been).
Didja Know?
This is the second appearance of Colin Gordon as Number 2. In a
rare instance of a repeated Number 2 in the series, he also
appeared as the character in
"The General".
Actress Sheila Allen (Number 14) also appeared with Patrick
McGoohan in an episode of Danger Man, "Don't Nail Him Yet".
Didja Notice?
Number 2 picks up a larger than usual phone in his office in
this episode. Perhaps it is meant to suggest his feelings of
the overwhelming task of bringing Number 6 to heel considering
he recent failure in
"The General".

The current Number 2 drinks milk at the beginning of his mission
against Number 6, just as he did in
"The General".
After speaking to his superior (Number 1?) on the phone about
Number 6, Number 2 calls up Number 14, a female doctor who has a
new procedure to try out on Number 6. In
"Checkmate", a male Number 14 was seen as the chess champion
of the Village. And Number 6
himself states in this very episode, "Last week, Number 14 was
an old lady in a wheelchair."
Seemingly the same Number 14 returns in the novels
I Am Not a Number! and, possibly,
The Prisoner's Dilemma.
When Number 14's device turns Number 6's unconscious thoughts
into pictures, the images are of his resignation from the
agency, as seen in "Arrival" and the
opening titles of the series.
Number 14 states that Number 6 is not conventional and Number 2
responds, "I sometimes think he's not human."
When the film of Madame Engadine's last party is presented on
the lab's television monitor, notice that a double exposure of
the film over the TV is used...a misaligned outline of the TV
and an unusual, enveloping coloration is seen.
The exterior shots of Madame
Engadine's party in Paris appear to have been shot on the same set as the
Professor's garden in the Village in
"The General"!
Number 6 sips some wine at Madame Engadine's party, saying her
wine is always excellent. In
"Dance of
the Dead", he tells Number 2 he rarely drinks. I guess
Madame Engadine's parties are among those rare occasions!
The car in which A whisks Number 6 away appears
to be a
Citroën DS, a French automobile model.
When the car arrives at a fancy residence,
A states, "Well, you're in my country
now." It doesn't seem they could have driven far, so they should
still be in France, suggesting that
A works for France. But would a French
agent be trying such dirty tricks to get a British agent to
divulge information? Although the two countries have an
occasionally contentious relationship, they are allies, so
Number 6's treatment by
A seems odd, even if it is a dream.
Even though Number 6 is in a dream, with no apparent memory of
ever having been in the Village, after dispatching
A and his henchmen he says, "Be seeing
you."
When Number 6 awakens in his bedroom after the A
dream, a book is seen open on the end table next to his bed.
Presumably, it is a book he was reading before going to sleep
the night before. I wonder what kinds of books are permitted in
the Village?
Number 6 doesn't seem to notice them, but there are dirty
shoeprints on his carpet leading into his bedroom when he
emerges after the night of the A dream.
The Tally Ho newspaper being read by Number 14 at 16:28
on the DVD has the headline "Is No. 2 Fit For Further Term?" Is
this a reference to the current Number 2's failure to break
Number 6 in
"The General"?
On his Prisoner blog,
David Stimpson suggests it may be a reference to his health;
after all, he is seen to have a compunction for drinking milk in
both episodes, known to soothe an ulcer. Then again, it could
just be a fairly typical "political" headline for a newspaper;
after all, Number 1 or others of the powers-that-be above Number
2 could have had the headline placed to put further pressure on
the man to succeed this time.
The maid who brings Number 6 his hot chocolate the second night
appears to be Number 40. In
"Dance of
the Dead", Number 40 was a male scientist.
As Number 14 feeds lines to B inside the dream,
we can see at 26:43 on the Blu-ray that 14 says, "I do", yet we
don't hear her voice.
B does say the words in the dream
though. Maybe Number 14's voice was muted there because the
producers decided it was better to let the dream character of
B react as Number 6's mind would expect instead of just
as a puppet.
During their conversation,
B says to Number 6, "We all make mistakes.
Sometimes we have to." Number 14 said these same words to him
during their encounter on the lawn in the Village earlier.
Number 6 then angrily asks her, "Who are you?!" These are
indications that he is beginning to realize the party is not
what it appears.
At 44:18 on the Blu-ray,
Madame Engadine and Number 6 are seen driving away from the Arc
de Triomphe, surrounded by scaffolding. The Arc de Triomphe is a
monument in Paris, France that stands 160 feet in height, 148
feet in width. It was surrounded by scaffolding as depicted here
from 1965-66 for cleaning.
At 44:24 on the Blu-ray,
Madame Engadine and Number 6 are seen driving past the offices
of
Publicis, an advertising and public relations company based
in Paris. Seconds later, they pass
Air France
offices.
I was not able to identify the make and model of
Madame Engadine's car, license plate number BE-72618, but
PopApostle reader Arno B. wrote in that it's a 1966
Alfa
Romeo Giulia 1600. Thanks, Arno! (Also, be sure to
check out Arno's Prisoner website,
Nummer6-ThePrisoner,
with many articles in English and German.) |
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Madame Engadine's car |
1966
Alfa Romeo Giulia 1600 (photo from
conceptcarz.com) |
The exterior of Engadine's meeting place for the handover at
44:53 on the Blu-ray is the same set as the exterior recreation hall
in the Village, simply redressed!
The tourist brochures found in Number 6's envelope suggest he
was planning a holiday after his resignation to the following
places: the scenic commune of
Amalfi, Italy on the Bay of Salerno; the Palace Hotel in
Caserta,
Italy (the hotel itself fictitious as far as I can tell);
Greece, possibly to visit ancient Byzantine sites; and Bretagne,
possibly the commune Bretagne, Indre in France.
Near the end of the episode, Number 6 unmasks the mystery man in
his dream scenario as actually being Number 2, remarking, "We
mustn't disappoint them...the people who are watching!" In the
story, he is referring to the real Number 2 and Number 14 who
are observing 6's dream on a wall screen, but, in a
meta-context, it may be a foreshadowing to the television
viewers that Number 1 will turn out to Number 6 himself, as
suggested in the final episode of the TV series,
"Fall Out".