The discoveries of a radio and of an old friend give Number Six new hope of escaping the Village.
This episode provides examples of:
- Actor Allusion: Mary Morris' Number Two dresses as Peter Pan for the Masquerade Ball—a reference to Morris' portrayal of Pan earlier in her career.
- Affably Evil: This Number Two, played by Mary Morris. She's unfailingly polite, even as she threatens Number Six with "death" and a mock trial to demonstrate how powerless he is.
- Anachronic Order: Was originally aired eighth in order, but was one of the first four scripts commissioned after the pilot episode, and Patrick McGoohan himself placed it second in his "correct" chronology of the important episodes.
- This episode strives to establish a lot of the rules of how the Village operates, and the limits the wardens have imposed on themselves - they can't brainwash Number Six with harsher techniques (yet) - when dealing with the Prisoner.
- Number Six acts angry, hostile, and uncooperative throughout the episode. He warns one of his guards that "he's just arrived here" and has yet to figure out some of the social customs of the other Villagers.
- Badass Boast: Number Two coldly and confidently asserts to Number Six that "This is your world now. I am your world now."
- Driven to Suicide: The (apparent) fate of Six's friend. During the fake trial at the end, Number Six discovers that his friend is catatonic and likely lobotomized.
- Face–Heel Turn: Six's friend defects to the side of the Village. But only because they broke him.
- Judicial Wig: Number Two dons a woolen wig to preside at the bizarre trial of Number Six. The charges are bogus, but it's all done to compel Six to reveal why he resigned from the Intelligence Service. Or kill him, either will do for Two's purposes.
- Kangaroo Court: Number Two tries Number Six on a minor offense - possession of a radio that can only receive messages from the outside - rather than try him on the more serious offense of trying to sneak information out on a dead body. Number Six is found guilty and sentenced to death. Number Two then tells Number Six in private that they will alter the already dead man to look like Number Six, to trick the outer world into thinking that he died.
- Lobotomy: Number Six's former colleague Dutton ends up lobotomized for real.
- Masquerade Ball: The Village is prepping for one during the episode and everyone's invited (even Number Six, who doesn't want to go). The costumes take on symbolic significance: Number Six is forced to wear a tuxedo similar to what James Bond wears (inferring his background as a spy, and hinting at the Actor Allusion of MacGoohan once being offered the role of Bond), his handler Number 240 is dressed as Little Bo Peep (her role in the Village as a herder of docile prisoners), and Number Two as Peter Pan (androgynous ruler of a hidden neverland).
