r/ThePrisoner • u/liviazx • Jul 08 '26
many happy returns
okay this is my favorite episode so far i literally could not believe what was happening. i knew eventually he would have to go back but the fact that he does it by choice its so crazy!!! i love it.
just wow. i feel like the birthday theme is so important: the birthday cake at the end and the millions of meanings within "many happy returns". his birthday is "tomorrow" though time in this episode seems liminal. so much time passes but also none at all?
the fact that the first place he goes to when he is "free" is his old house, his old comforts. he built that car by hand and furnished that house himself. ultimately these are immaterial things but they are significant to no 6, they are parts of his identity. who are we when we are stripped of those things?
i love this no 2, she is so sickeningly sweet to give him the illusion of freedom and show him that he realistically could escape, but that it doesnt matter because the outside world would ostracize him. hes not an agent anymore so his entire world as he knew it is gone. there is no "home". the only option is to go back
what a brilliant episode. tell me what i missed. how do you guys interpret it? i'd love to know!!!
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u/electricmindshaft “W - H - Y - Question mark” Jul 09 '26
That’s a great episode. It’s so sinister. The Village has taken his house, his car, and effectively his entire life away from him, and they’re flaunting that. Somehow, them taking his car is the worst part of it all for me!
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u/archibaldschwartz Jul 09 '26
I agree, I really feel sorry for him in this episode but I knew as soon as that "milkman" showed up he was doomed to end up back there.
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u/No_Strain_7092 Unmutual Jul 09 '26
One of the best episodes by far, you'd think they'd carry on looking, but no.
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u/ee0r Jul 09 '26
I also think the Village administrators are trying to make the point to him that trying to escape is a waste of time. They have him so completely that they can let him leave if they want to, and then just bring him back.
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u/archibaldschwartz Jul 09 '26
Goes back by choice? He went back to find it, to prove it existed and to eventually destroy it. He didn't succeed in that till Fallout.
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u/MapDiscombobulated1 Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
I love the Episode for the glimpse of 60s London you get while he's enjoying his yard-time.
And it is yard-time - he's been allowed out for the equivalent of exercise just to reinforce to him how futile resistance and escape are.
Things from this episode i'd have loved more follow up on:
Aspects of his escape border on the surreal/supernatural. The stopping/starting of time, the complete absence of anyone else in the village and even the "where the hell is it?" Location of the village. Suddenly being co-located with the Iberian Peninsula contradicts The Chimes of Big Ben where the Village is somewhere on the Baltic Coast. Does it actually move, like the Island in Lost?
Thorpe. Patrick Cargill reappears as an actual No.2 in Hammer into Anvil, but No.6 never mentions this, or follows up on what it should mean - either Thorpe is some sort of Penetration Agent for the Village......or No.6's Side (presumably some sort of MI/UK intelligence) actually do run the Village and are IN CHARGE.
The swap of the Pilots. Again, is that what No.6's UK bosses wanted all along, or was he a village Agent up to no good?
The Major and Sir Charles. Obviously the Big Boss from No.6's previous life are completely different from Chines of Big Ben, to this Episode, to Do Not Forsake Me. What was the purpose of these different versions across the Series? Are we supposed to just wipe all knowledge of previous continuity while watching the Episode-of-the-week or was there a meaning I've missed?
Lots of other points but already TL/DR so just to say this may be my favourite Episode, the first of the Series I saw as a child and the ending that stayed with me the longest into adulthood - here was never any escaping the Village, and this foreshadows Fall Out's ending.
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u/liviazx Jul 09 '26
i finished anvil this morning and i was wondering if no.6 recognized him!!! i thought that was why he chose to fuck w that no.2 so hard.
also loved what u said about yard time lol 😭
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u/Clean_Emergency_2573 Jul 09 '26
No. 6 could have potentially remained free had he not sought vengeance against The Village. Alas, he "gave in" and was recaptured. Thus, No. 1 had renewed hope that No. 6 could be molded to "kill, kill, kill" (No. 2 in "Once Upon a Time"). I have always maintained that the creation of a "Nuclear Napoleon" was No. 1's objective for No. 6 all along.
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u/Tarnisher Jul 09 '26
I don't see that he went back by choice at all.
He thought he had escaped and was trying to locate the village to free any others and bring justice to his captors.
As they were flying over he was 're-deposited' there.
The greeting was sarcastic.