The Prisoner - Free For All

Episode Name: Free For All
Original Air Date: October 20 1967
TV Airing Order: 4
KTEH Airing Order: 5
Summary - Presented with the opportunity, Number Six runs for election to the post of Number Two.

Interestingly enough, every single ordering of the show I found other than the KTEH order have Free for All appearing earlier in the list. I can see why this is the case. The episode features both a mention of non alcoholic alcohol (as seen in Chimes) as well as Six intention to discern who is a captive and who is a Guardian (which he does in Checkmate). Still, I have an idea as to why it is slotted here, as we will get into shortly.

This episode was written by Patrick McGoohan under a pen name, and leave it to him to give his show a kick in another direction, at least for a brief duration. Number Six learns that it is time for the Village to hold its democratic elections, and that if he wants to, he can try to run for the office of Number Two. In fact, he pretty much has to, as there is no opponent to Two, and everyone thinks he would be an ideal candidate. This puts the character between a rock and a hard place. Six knows that the role of Two changes constantly, and that any election that the Village would hold would be a farce. It would seem silly to try and play along, but he knows that they would make him do so anyway, and perhaps he feels there is a chance he could indirectly sway the Villagers toward his cause.

During the initial phases of the campaign, Six learns just how much of a joke the election is. He is bombarded by reporters who create their own news when he refuses to comment (and put down no comment when he has something to say). This information is in turn printed immediately into the newspaper. We know the Village has complete control over every aspect of life, but here we see it in action.

It doesn't last too long, however, because Six eventually plays into the trap that was set for him all along. After a tense and disturbing scene, he is brainwashed into approaching the election with the utmost seriousness, promising the citizens things that he would never agree to in his normal state of mind, and quickly becoming the favorite candidate. Throughout this time, he occasionally snaps out of it, and during these bouts of fear and confusion we see him try and fight back. These attempts are futile, and by the end of the show the replacement Number Two has him carted away like a looney. The ending of the episode was fairly clear - the election was held solely to remind Six of just how much power they have over him, and that in the end, they can make him do whatever they want, short of extracting his secrets. If he doesn't want to experience something like this again, he will need to talk.

The Village has never been this rough on him mentally, and it is almost painful to watch. McGoohan does a fantastic job of making it appear that Six's mind is a mess of thoughts and emotions, and while there are two clear moments when he breaks free of the brainwashing, there are other times when it is not so obvious, where it looks like his true feelings are coming out while under the spell. If this is the case, however, who is to say that this is not going on when he is towing the party line? This is why I think the episode works well in the five slot. At the end of Chimes, Six narrowly avoids falling into a trap, and walks away defiantly. In this context, the events of Free for All act as a sort of revenge from the Village, to remind him who is really in control here.

All in all, Free for All has so much going on. We get commentary on voters, candidates, the absurdity of elections, and the power of government. Most importantly, we get a lot of psychological trauma that I found to be down right scary. In a way, this has everything you could want from The Prisoner, save for the spy games and action of other episodes, but in another way I feel this is the make or break episode. After both Free for All and Chimes, there is danger that a modern viewer may give up. If you watch these two episodes with a desire for every scene to have a logical explanation, you will be beyond frustrated.

This is where one must realize that The Prisoner is not about logic. Not everything will fit together neatly. Perhaps this is due to production issues, or the difficulty of creating a show that was so unique for its time. But in the end, much of it is intentional. It isn't that The Prisoner wants to confuse you - in fact, I would say the intent is quite the opposite. It simply assumes that the viewer has enough intelligence to understand what is important and what is not. For example, the question of why Number Six would choose to run for office is not important. We know as well as he does that there is little choice in the matter, or if you chose to watch Free for All earlier, you might assume that he does so out of naivety. Either answer works. The important thing is what happens later, what it means for Six, and what greater points about society the show wants to impart on the viewer.

This is why The Prisoner is so brilliant. Depending on what order you watch it, and what you bring to it, there are many bits and pieces that can be interpreted and analyzed however you wish. They can have different meanings for different people. But there are certain big picture concepts that each episode aims to tackle, and each of these different paths winds up at the same place at the end. The show is saying "you can deal with these parts however you want, but I expect you are smart enough to figure out the main thrust." It doesn't matter what the answer to any given question is in the end. If you walk away from Free for All feeling a bit more depressed about the nature of government, if you feel the same sense of dread as Number Six, if you are on the edge of your seat waiting to see when the Village might push him a little farther, then you have "gotten" the episode. And if you ask me, it was an episode worth "getting".