The comic book sequel mini-series Shattered Visage (1988) opens with the text of a classified intelligence report on the Village. It describes the events of this episode and the previous as "a theatrical tour-de-force involving actors as well as hallucinogenic drugs," organised by Leo McKern's Number Two, in which Two "staged his own death and resurrection." Further explanation of this episode is suggested when Number Two narrates the life of Number Six and recounts how a psychologically broken Six was convinced to choose a number - Number One. The comic suggests that the final sequences of this episode, from the gun battle to Six driving his Lotus Seven, represent a skewed perception of actual events.
Shattered Visage interprets the inauguration of Number Six in this episode as psychologically entrapping him. Where before the Village sought to crush any sense of free will Number Six possessed, here its administration claims to respect his self-identity and offers him the reward of leadership. This position, however, requires that Number Six accept that he is a number - Number One. According to the comic, Six's acceptance of the number and abhorrence for being a number breaks his mind. It is implied that all this is initiated by the Degree Absolute interrogation process of the previous episode.
Read more about this topic: Fall Out (The Prisoner)
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