Original Air Date: December 22 1967
TV Airing Order: 12
KTEH Airing Order: 13
Summary - Deprived of his memory and placed in another man's body, Number Six travels back to England to seek a missing scientist.
Another episode that opens with a slightly different intro. But no matter, as there's no telling what they'll do next time. This episode happens to be the one I read about earlier, in which Patrick McGoohan was almost entirely unavailable for filming, and so they had to make a story that has almost no need for him. The writers chose body swapping, another classic trope that gets a Prisoner twist.
It turns out that the Village wants a certain scientist who mastered the ability to swap two minds. Only problem is that he went into hiding before he could master the reversal process, or so they think. They also know that Number Six knew him before being captured, so they his mind into another body and send him back to London, knowing that he will track down his old friend in hopes of setting things straight. A few twists occur, and the ending results in another small victory for Six.
As an episode that is almost entirely devoid of McGoohan, this ended up being a more traditional spy thriller. Not too bad considering the circumstances, though again it feels rushed. The victory at the end is achieved only thanks to a plot hole that past episodes would have refuted, and a potentially powerful revelation - Number Six was engaged before being captured - is barely covered and will likely never be followed. This could have been an interesting character piece, but the opportunity is squandered. Still, as a standalone thriller it works well enough. We're getting close to the end, with only three more filler episodes left, so at this point I am willing to put my mind on cruise control and see where the ending takes me.
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