In "Fall Out", when Number Six defeats Number Two, every time he tries to speak, he's drowned out by a chorus of "I, I, I,..." Represents the result if everyone follows his lead and cares only for their own individual expression. - Jove Hack
And you notice what a difference a comma makes when almost every episode begins with 'Who is Number 1?' 'You are Number 6.' and you realize it could easily be 'Who is Number 1?' 'You are, Number 6.' - Garrison Skunk
And, of course, "I" is also a Roman numeral...
...chanted six times whenever he mentions the word.
Many times in the show they reference the saying "Six of one, half a dozen of the other", often just as "Six of one..."
"Hammer Into Anvil" gets deeply philosophical. Number Two quotes Goethe ("You must be Hammer or Anvil"), identifying himself as the Hammer who is going to pound on Number Six until he breaks. Number Two apparently never studied his George Orwell; Orwell pointed out that the Anvil is actually stronger than the Hammer. You can whack an Anvil with a Hammer all day and never break it; in fact, you might just break your Hammer in the process. This is exactly what happens to Number Two over the course of the episode: he becomes the Hammer, and shatters on the indestructible Anvil that is Number Six. Number Two was a poor student of philosophy. And blacksmithing.
At the end of the episode, Number Six has utterly broken Number Two, who has alienated every subordinate and left the entire Village leaderless and defenseless. Yet at no time does Number Six even attempt an escape or trick Number Two into letting him go. It would have ruined the Paranoia Gambit.
In the title sequence, on his way to resign Number Six leaves the parking garage through doors labelled "way out".
The intro also takes its time recounting the opening to the series, seemingly ending when Number Six wakes up in the Village, only to continue on, symbolically showing it's not over when we expect it to be.
"Many Happy Returns" seems odd because the Village willingly lets Number Six escape back to England, revealing their very existence to people that could well help Number Six exact revenge. But it makes perfect sense with the final scene of Number Two showing up at Number Six's apartment with a birthday cake. The entire incident wasn't just to demonstrate that the controllers of The Village didn't care if Number Six revealed them or tried to wipe them out, and it wasn't just to make Number Six despair. It's worse: The whole thing was a birthday present.
This was a series that raised many questions and stubbornly refused to answer any of them. Why? Because questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself.
One strange yet oddly consistent thing about the episode titles - they don't always map to the one you'd think they are. Even the episode titles are trying to gaslight you!
The episode where Number Two promotes social harmony in order to ostracise the Prisoner? "A Change Of Mind", not "Living In Harmony".
It's just a comedy framing device for a particularly extreme Bizarro Episode, but the revelation at the end of "The Girl Who Was Death" that there are young children in the Village is stuffed with so much Fridge Horror about why they might be there and what might be happening to them that it's best just to forget about it.
Well, they were clearly brought there to get Six to lower his guard a bit in what's probably the lamest attempt to get Six to confess yet. There's never any sign of children otherwise in the Village.
Note that there's no "School" listed among the Village points-of-interest and civil service centers at the "Free Information" stand.
We don't know how long the Village has been up and running, but it has inmates and guards of both genders. What else to do with children born in the Village?
It is strongly implied that the maid in “Arrival” has been there since she was a child, along with her parents.
It is common for fans to speculate about why Rover malfunctioned and killed Curtis in “The Schizoid Man.” Then you realize that there is no onscreen evidence of any such malfunction. The most straightforward explanation is that Rover did what it was supposed to, rendering Curtis unconscious, then 6 finished him off and blamed Rover so he could take his place.
