Fall Out (The Prisoner) - Plot Summary

Plot Summary

After breaking Number Two's will from "Once Upon a Time", Number Six asks The Supervisor to "meet Number One". After being allowed to change into his own clothes, Number Six is led to a cavernous chamber bearing resemblance to a British courtroom, including a presiding judge and a large assembly, its members wearing masks and robes; The Supervisor joins its ranks after directing Number Six to his seat. The room also contains a large cylindrical object with a mechanical eye watching the room, and is labeled "1". The judge announces that Number Six has passed the ultimate test and won the right to be an individual, and with that occasion, there are many matters of ceremony to be completed in the "transfer of ultimate power".

The caged room from "Once Upon a Time" is lowered into the chamber and Number Two's body is taken into a laboratory in the chamber. His body is revived, and he is given a make-over. Both he and Number 48, a young modishly-dressed man, are seemingly put on trial. Number 48 refuses to conform, and causes a ruckus in the chamber by causing the assembly to sing along to "Dem Bones" before he is restrained, while Number 2 questions why he was revived and defies the authority of the process. Both are taken away.

The judge shows Number Six that his home is being prepared for his return, and gives him a large sum of money in traveller's cheques, his passport, the keys to his London home and his car, and a purse of petty cash. The judge then offers Number Six to address the assembly, but Number Six can only utter "I feel..." before the assembly rambunctiously drowns him out by shouting the word "I", clapping and pounding on their desks. Number Six is then given the opportunity to meet Number One by ascending in the metal structure after seeing 48 and 2 held in tubes labeled "orbit 48" and "orbit 2" next to an empty tube labeled ominously "orbit" with no number (noteworthy as 6 had been told he's no longer to be referred "a number of any kind"). Number Six sees the hooded figure of Number One watching surveillance videos of Number Six; Number Six tries to unmask the figure, first revealing a chimpanzee mask, then an image of his own face, before Number One leads Number Six on a chase. Number Six eventually locks Number One in a room above the surveillance floor. As he leaves the metal cylinder Number Six realizes it is a rocket and starts its launch sequence, sending the assembly and the Village into a panic and mass evacuation.

As Number Six leaves, he helps to free Numbers Two and 48, and along with the Butler they successfully engage in a gun battle with the armed guards, killing several of the guards in the process. Number Six and his three confederates then make their escape in the caged room, revealed to be on the back of a Scammell Highwayman low loader. As they leave the Village, the rocket launches overhead. The last shot of the village in the series shows it completely evacuated, except for Rover which is destroyed upon activation by the flames of the rocket. As the escapees drive along the A20 road towards London, Number 48 gets off and proceeds to hitch-hike. The remaining three stop outside of the Palace of Westminster; Number Two thanks Number Six and enters the building via the peers' entrance, while Number Six and the Butler return to Six's former home and find The Prisoner's car. As he drives off, the door to his home opens for the Butler in the same electronic/automatic manner as the doors in the Village. The number on the door is 1. (This was also the case in the standard opening sequence when Number Six returns to his home just prior to being gassed into unconsciousness, and in "Many Happy Returns", when Number Six was temporarily allowed to "escape" from the Village.)

The final moments repeat the show's normal opening sequence without the music (or the cloudy sky shot), showing Number Six driving in his Lotus 7 car towards the camera.