Episode 4 -   Free for All

The recap below contains plot spoilers about Episode 4, "Free for All." If you haven't seen "Free for All" yet, you can watch the full episode online.

The Prisoner stands for election as the new No. 2 but finds that even a candidate for this top position has no freedom of speech.

Is it a genuine democratic election, as is claimed, or just another trick? The Prisoner (Patrick McGoohan) views it all with a satirical amusement when the election for a new No. 2 is announced, and the present No. 2 suggests he should stand as a candidate.

He accepts the challenge, however, and No. 2 (Eric Portman) is one of the most enthusiastic among those applauding him when he makes his first election speech.

The election campaign is pursued with all the accepted trappings of brass bands, rosettes, speeches, interviews, meetings—but one thing he cannot learn is to what country the successful candidate would owe allegiance. He is warned not go get too curious or too personal.

Carried away by his own enthusiasm, he makes a speech that, No. 2 tells him, is a breach of etiquette: He must now undergo the Test.

It is a truth test, operated by an electronic machine. By the time he emerges, he realizes that he has been the subject of exhaustive brainwashing, but he is still master of his own mind to the extent that he makes a desperate effort to escape from The Village. He even gets out to sea in a speedboat, but an aquatic Rover foils him.

Back again in The Village, he is in the midst of the campaign. He finds himself saying just the things expected of him…eventually gaining an overwhelming victory in the election. Now he has control. He can free his fellow prisoners. But his captors are not ready for defeat yet…