Episode 17 -   Fall Out

The recap below contains plot spoilers about Episode 17, "Fall Out." If you haven't seen "Fall Out" yet, you can watch the full episode online.

The Prisoner comes to the end of his nightmarish adventure in which all members of The Village must stand trial and receive the President's verdict.

This is the hidden, mysterious world beneath the surface. The trial is being held in a vast, rocky cavern. The session has been called in a matter of democratic crisis, and the delegates in attendance represent the old folk, the youngsters, the activists, pacifists, and every other shade of opinion and activity in The Village. The President (Kenneth Griffith) announces that the community is at stake: "And we have the means to protect it."

No. 6 (Patrick McGoohan) faces the court. He has survived the ultimate test, and he must no longer be referred to as No. 6 or a number of any kind. "He has," the President announces, "gloriously vindicated the right of the individual to be individual."

The dead No. 2 (Leo McKern), the man who made the most desperate and final efforts to break the Prisoner, moves out of death into life. And other forms of revolt have to be judged -- youth, with its enthusiasms that endanger the function of society, as exemplified by No. 48 (Alexis Kanner). His attitude causes consternation but gains the understanding of No. 6.

The next is the resuscitated No. 2, brought to court to face the man who defeated him. No. 6 has one vital question to ask him: "Did you ever meet No. 1?" The answer is a surprise...

And now the President pays tribute to No. 6, the man who has revolted, resisted, fought, held fast, maintained, destroyed resistance, overcome coercion, and has gained the right to be an individual. The president faces him with his final challenge: As "a man significantly equipped to lead us, lead us or go!"

What will he do? Freedom beckons. But freedom is not only a physical thing. It lies within man himself.