On 8/21/19 11:56 PM, Razer wrote: [...]
You'll note the one recurring theme throughout the whole series. There was NO ONE #6 could trust. Ever. On reading Steve's details I've seen slightly different show creation narratives but one thing I know... McGoohan was DRIVEN to do this. He was willing to fund it out of his own pocket if necessary. Whatever that 'argument with the chief' was about in the last episode (all you hear is thunder) was in some way, irl, connected to his drive to get the prisoner on the air.
During production of the Danger Man series, McGoohan demanded and got a lot of creative control. Drake's failure to adhere to prevailing stereotypes was largely McGoohan's doing, as was the general trend toward realism in Danger Man scripts, relative to other popular spy fiction. McGoohan avoided personal publicity and his private life was anything but an open book; but what he did say when he spoke as himself indicated anarchist or at least libertarian leanings. As a consummate professional McGoohan no doubt did his homework, learning as much as he could about how real intelligence services do their business. He obviously did not like what he saw. I view The Prisoner in part as a report on what MeGoohan learned about the spy business and its role in society, and in part as anti-recruiting propaganda targeting that industry. My take-away from The Prisoner? Cooperate with any intelligence service and: 1) You will not know who your real employers are. 2) You will not know your employers real intentions. 3) Your contributions will always and only do harm. 4) They will dispose of you when your usefulness to them ends. The above may not apply so much to people from the "best families" who serve managerial roles (back during WWII the initials 'OSS' were sometimes said to stand for 'Oh So Social'), but rank and file intelligence officers and agents (i.e. intelligence professionals and witting or witless dupes under their direction) present as cheap, expendable supply items. Why did the closing credits of Fallout, the last Prisoner episode, indicate that Number Six was played by The Prisoner? Maybe just that the series was a difficult and demanding project, and McGoohan felt like celebrating getting it done and over with. :o)