Hammer into Anvil
| "Hammer Into Anvil" | |
|---|---|
| The Prisoner episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 10 |
| Directed by | Pat Jackson |
| Written by | Roger Woddis |
| Original air date | 1 December 1967 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
|
Number Two: Patrick Cargill |
|
Number Two: Patrick Cargill
"Hammer into Anvil" is a television episode of the British science fiction-allegorical series, The Prisoner. It was first broadcast on 1 December 1967. It is one of a minority of episodes in which Number Six makes no escape attempt and in which the Village authorities make no significant attempt to coerce him into revealing information.
The central themes of this episode are insecurity, paranoia, and conspiracy thinking in a leader.
Number Two interrogates a stubborn female prisoner, Number Seventy-Three, in the Village Hospital. Frustrated, he attacks her, she screams, and Number Six rushes to her aid. The commotion allows her to leap from her bed and kill herself by jumping out the first-floor window. Number Six swears to Number Two that he will pay for his cruelty.
Number Two forcibly has Number Six brought to the Green Dome and the two begin a war of nerves. Number Two quotes Goethe: Du mußt Amboß oder Hammer sein ("You must be Anvil or Hammer"). "And you see me as the anvil?" asks Number Six, to which Number Two answers "Precisely. I am going to hammer you." Already aware that he is being watched by the Village's hidden camera and spies at every turn, Number Six proceeds to act in a highly suspicious manner, as if he were some sort of spy or double agent. He takes six copies of the same record of Bizet's L'Arlésienne suite at the music store and plays them, eyeing his watch. He then writes out a message, that Number Fourteen retrieves a copy of, which claims to be from "D-6" to "XO4." Number Two is convinced that Number Six is a plant.
Number Two and Number Fourteen follow Number Six to where he drops a document in the cabin of the stone boat. They retrieve it, but the pages are all blank. After having them tested, Two suspects the technician of working with Number Six. Number Six then goes to place an ad (a quotation from Don Quixote) in the next issue of the Tally Ho. He then calls the head of Psychiatrics, posing as a superior who wants a report on Number Two's mental state. Two monitors the call and starts to become more paranoid at the behavior of Number Six and those around him. Later, Six asks the town band to play the Farandole from the same Bizet piece. He leaves a fake message in a dead drop that is from a deceased person, wishing him a happy birthday.
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