Television Review: A Change of Mind (The Prisoner, S1X12, 1967)

A Change of Mind (S01E12)

Airdate: December 15th 1967

Written by: Robert Parks
Directed by: Patrick McGoohan

Running Time: 50 minutes

Throughout its enigmatic run, The Prisoner often presented its fictional dystopia, the Village, as an allegorical stand-in for the more problematic aspects of the contemporary real world, particularly its politics. Episodes where this metaphor was rendered with a heavy-handed lack of subtlety often ranked among the series’ weaker instalments; Patrick McGoohan’s direct attempt at political satire in A Free for All, for instance, was nearly ruined by its obviousness. A Change of Mind, a later episode, adopts a more effectively dystopian approach. While still drawing clear inspiration from real-world mechanisms of control, it shifts its satirical attack from narrow party politics to a broader critique of societal conformism and complicity, framing these as the primary tools for the oppression of the individual.

The narrative begins with a characteristically defiant Number Six engaged in solitary exercise in the woods. This mundane act of independence is immediately pathologised by two Village thugs who accuse him of being “anti-social” for eschewing the communal gym. The physical altercation that ensues—easily won by Six—is the catalyst for a insidious social campaign. The incident is leveraged to brand him a potential “unmutual,” a label for a rebellious renegade who must be forced to conform. The Village’s methods for achieving this “instant social conversion” are explicitly extreme, encompassing psychological “aversion therapy” and the ultimate threat of lobotomy. After a warning from the current Number Two (John Sharp) and witnessing the process underway in the Hospital, Six finds himself officially declared an “unmutual” in the Village newspaper, Tally Ho. This results in his total social ostracism, a potent form of psychological torture where every Villager pointedly shuns him. The climax of this pressure arrives with a televised “lobotomy” via laser, a chilling spectacle supervised by the attractive and clinically detached Number Eighty-Six (Angela Browne) and broadcast to the entire, compliant community.

The subsequent twist is where the episode elevates itself from a dark parable of conformity into a clever psychological thriller. The “cured” Six is returned to his home, where Number Eighty-Six tends to him with a cup of tea. His sharp perception, however, catches her attempting to drug his drink, revealing the entire lobotomy to be an elaborate, drug-induced charade. Recognising that the information he possesses is too valuable to risk with genuine brain damage, Six turns the Village’s own deception against it. He skilfully administers the same drug to Eighty-Six and, exploiting her suggestible state, hypnotises her into publicly denouncing Number Two as the true “unmutual.” This act of psychological judo brilliantly weaponises the Village’s own mob mentality, transforming the obedient citizens into a lynch mob that chases Number Two from the Village in disgrace.

Within the series’ notoriously loose continuity—where episode order was often shuffled—A Change of Mind unmistakably belongs to its later, more intense phase. This period saw the Village escalating its methods beyond mere confinement and interrogation toward more overtly brutal forms of coercion. The episode synthesises these tactics: physical intimidation, the psychological devastation of communal shunning, and the ever-present, grim threat of surgical mutilation. This escalation reflects a narrative where Six establishes a more solid streak of victories, thereby forcing the authorities into increasingly desperate and extreme measures.

The script by Roger Parkes is conceptually strong, though it suffers from a notable structural flaw. The first half plays as a broad, dark satire, depicting Six persecuted by his fellow citizens. These Villagers, dressed in jarring 1960s psychedelic attire, behave with a bizarre, witch-hunting malevolence that constitutes the most unsympathetic portrayal of the common Villagers in the series. It is only in the second half, when Six employs his formidable intellect to orchestrate a counter-scheme, that the episode finds its more sophisticated and compelling tone, representing The Prisoner at its cerebral best.

Parkes and McGoohan’s inspirations are transparently rooted in the authoritarian horrors of their era. The episode channels the brainwashing techniques exposed during the Korean War, the notorious abuse of psychiatry for political repression in the Soviet Union, and most explicitly, the “struggle sessions” of China’s Cultural Revolution. The latter is directly referenced through a young Chinese man (Michael Chow) who denounces Six as “reactionary,” the precise term used by Mao’s Red Guards. Furthermore, the episode taps into the iconoclastic spirit of the 1960s, aligning with the contemporary anti-psychiatry movement. Its dystopian visuals and themes of behavioural conditioning through extreme aversion therapy prefigure, albeit in a more condensed television format, the bleak vision of societal control Stanley Kubrick would explore in A Clockwork Orange several years later.

Directed by McGoohan himself, the episode’s tonal shifts—from satirical broadness to tense thriller—may be attributed to his hands-on involvement. A significant weakness, however, lies in the casting of John Sharp as Number Two; his performance is unremarkable and lacks the menacing or charismatic authority that more memorable incumbents brought to the role. In contrast, Angela Browne is far more effective as Number Eighty-Six. Her initial, robot-like delivery of the televised lobotomy commentary, perhaps a swipe at the sterile tone of BBC announcers, borders on caricature. Yet, her role deepens considerably. McGoohan cleverly utilises her attractiveness to introduce a layer of sexual tension, suggesting Six might let his guard down. This proves to be a feint, revealing itself as just another ploy in the unwavering Number Six’s strategic arsenal, ultimately allowing him to manipulate her completely.

In the end, A Change of Mind is a flawed but fascinating episode. Its first act is undermined by a lack of subtlety in its depiction of communal tyranny, but it redeems itself through a brilliantly executed second act that showcases the series’ core theme: the resilience of individual will against systemic oppression. By focusing on the mechanics of social conformity and the hypocrisy of institutionalised “therapy,” it delivers a potent, if uneven, critique that remains disturbingly relevant.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

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