You won’t get it!
By hook or by crook, we will!
A lot of people were originally upset about the way The Prisoner ended, but as Patrick McGoohan himself said, it’s not to be taken literally. Some lords of the Occult Underground have taken this interpretation a step further, saying that there was either somebody in the Occult Underground on the production staff, or somebody in the Invisible Clergy was sending a message.
The first interpretation suggests that Number Six begins in the real world, and is thrust into the Village which symbolically represents the path to the Invisible Clergy. In The Prisoner, he is attacked by ideological nemeses trying to cause him to misstep. Number Six remains resolute and maintains his identity (and archetype, possibly being something like the Masterless Man or the Rebel). At the end, when he is finally granted station and control in the Village — the final test before Ascension — he rebels and destroys the Village and its handlers, thusly maintaining his connection to the archetype and ascending as shown in his escape from the Village to the larger world and the open sky.
The second interpretation is that the Village is not the road to the Statosphere; it is the Statosphere. Number Six is some ascended archetype going through his own business and attempting to defend his seat in the Invisible Clergy. Devotees of this explanation claim that the four major symbols representing the Statosphere appear in the show — the chessboard, the palace (Number Two’s home with its stately dome and internal command center), the sky (also represented by the domed command centers which oversee all of the Village), and the ocean off the island’s coast — while additionally claiming other clues noted in the show. Those who support this theory claim that the show ends with Number Six’s ejection from the Statosphere, his trip to the House of Renunciation in Fall Out, and his return to Earth at the very end.
I like these interpretations. Finally, the most bizarre moment of the ending might make sense. Spoilers:If Number 6 is an avatar or archetype, it makes sense that his greatest enemy – Number 1 – has his face. They look the same because, metaphorically, they are the same concept, competing for expression.
Other bizarre aspects of the series begin to make sense, as well. In the final episode, the other persons put on trial are even presented as archetypes. All told, both of these interpretations work nicely. Personally, I’m inclined to think that the series takes place in the “real world”, while the finale is Ascension or the Statosphere itself. It’s weird sometimes how neatly things fit into UA. Thanks for this post!
– F.A.R. out
Patrick McGoohan claimed he had to move after the last episode because people kept harassing him over ending the series on such a weird note.
What do you want to bet it was really the Sleepers he was running from?
When I was vacationing in Brisbane, I ran into some duke who swore up and down that Pat McGoohan devised the whole series as a metaphor for Ascension to help his own plans for the Clergy.
Remaking the series, particularly after his death, was just an effort on somebody’s part to break his spine.