Three Brief Thoughts On The Prisoner

SPOILERS so those of you who haven't seen it (HA! Like anyone reads this thing) stop reading right now, I am not even kidding a little. If you haven't seen the whole series, I don't want to be the one responsible for giving stuff away. SPOILERS, I say!

1) I don't buy into the whole "Number Six is John Drake" thing for several reasons. The main one is simply because I want them to be separate characters. And that's a good enough reason because the show leaves a lot open for interpretation. The second reason is because Patrick McGoohan said he isn't and, in spite of what George Markstein, ITC promotional materials and pulp novels based on the show said, I'm inclined to believe him because he is my favorite.
I'm a big fan of the not knowing who Number Six is and one of the many things about the remake I found royally stupid was that they gave him a name, and a lazy name, at that. Michael? Seriously? How long did it take you to come up with that gem? ... Sorry, sorry. I'm not really bitter, I swear. And I have nothing against the name Michael, but ... well, my friend Mike has a joke that goes: "Like most people, my name is Mike." That pretty much sums up my frustration. Of course, I hated Number Six in the remake ("Hey, you know that classic television character everybody loves because he's a hero? How about we make him smarmy and whiny and thoroughly impossible to care about?" "Brilliant!"), so what should I care if they put no effort into naming him? ... I'm getting off topic, aren't I?
Long story short (too late) I'm not terribly concerned about who Number Six is. I do have two theories:
One is that he really is Peter Smith. He wasn't lying to Mrs. Butterworth, he was just so used to not trusting people and not telling anybody his name (or anything else) that it sounded like he was making it up.
The other is that he's Patrick McGoohan, but an alternate universe Patrick McGoohan who became a spy instead of an actor. I base that one solely on the whole birthday thing.
I'm sure both of these theories have already been analyzed to death by fans I just haven't happened to meet. So, on to thought two (the next two are where the spoilers come in).

2) It's funny that the identity of Number One comes as a shock considering we've already seen an entire episode about Number Six having an evil (or, at the very least, a working-for-The-Village) doppelganger.
The Schizoid Man is one of my favorite episodes (and it confused the hell out of me the first time I saw it; I understood it a lot better the second time, after Scott explained to me that black jacket Number Six is our Number Six) but that didn't stop the face under the monkey mask from blowing my little twelve year old mind.
Fifteen years later it's still a freaky and impressive scene, and it didn't occur to me until just this morning that we've seen it before in the series (just with way less crazy and over a longer period of time).

3) Another theory I'm sure has already been discussed in conversations not had by me:
Number Six escaped The Village in the sense that he got back to London, but didn't escape in the sense that he brought The Village with him.
Literally, in the sense that he brought The Butler home with him, but there's also the whole figurative thing. He was there for more than a year, I don't care how much he resisted and fought, he's going to have enough of The Village left in him to mess with how he lives the rest of his life in Not The Village.
And, also, apparently doors open by themselves now. Not that he was around to notice.
In one of my books about The Prisoner it mentions something about the door to his house in London opening by itself at the end of the series and that "He makes no notice and even seems to expect it," or something along those lines.
No, book, he doesn't. You know why? He isn't there! He already drove away! He didn't see the door open at all! The Butler seemed to expect it to open for him, but he's The Butler. For all we know he'd never been outside The Village ever, in which case he wouldn't know doors to work any other way.
Or maybe The Butler is the force that makes the doors open by themselves. Maybe everything within a mile or so radius of The Butler happens automatically. He's a magic butler (or Magneto or something), which helps him do his job more easily.
The Butler: secret wizard among the muggles of The Village. Awesome!

Be seeing you.
-Sally