I am very good at Mathematics
This is the excuse that Number 6 gives Number 2 when he is trying to explain how he ended up where he was. I've always liked it, because numbers are at the heart of the meaning of the Prisoner.
The purpose of this page (and you thought you were getting to the good stuff already) is just to outline my interest in the Prisoner. I first saw it in the spring of 1985-- my sophmore year in college it was being shown by one of the Yale film societies on the big screen. I was very taken with it-- as were many of my friends. However, I became increasingly convinced that there was a mystery to solve. Especially when I saw the underground chamber in Free for All, together with the last episode, it was clear there was a mystery here. Together, me and my friend "TZ" set out to solve it.
That the mystery would have "a" solution (By the way, completely off topic, a FANTASTIC book of Lit Crit called "The Mystery to a Solution" was written by a JHU professor, John Irwin. The answer to his book is a sinlge number, and in fact one very important to the Prisoner. Of course, like Borges, he puts his key in the index.) -- and that the solution would have the precision of a chemical molecule, was completely unexpected.
I'm going to give in to the temptation of giving that "chemical molecule" description without a lot of messy elaboration. However, please take our key and unlock the mystery of one of the best and most complex works of art written in the 20th centruy.