Six, give no clue as to any person's status within the Village, whether as prisoners or warders. Potential escapees, therefore, have no idea whom they can and cannot trust. The protagonist is assigned Number Six, but he repeatedly refuses the pretence of his new identity. Number Six is monitored heavily by the constantly changing Number Two, the Village administrator, who acts as an agent for the unseen Number One. Several techniques are used by Number Two to try to extract information from Number Six, including hallucinogenic drugs, identity theft, mind control, dream manipulation and forms of social indoctrination and physical coercion. All of these are employed not only to find out why Number Six resigned as an agent, but also to elicit other information he gained as a spy. The position of Number Two is assigned to a different person in each episode, with two making repeat appearances. This is assumed to be part of a larger plan to disorient Number Six, but sometimes the change of personnel seems to be the result of the failure of the previous incumbent, whose fate is unknown. Number Six, distrustful of everyone in the Village, refuses to co-operate or provide the answers they seek. He struggles, usually alone, with various goals, such as determining for which side of the Iron Curtain the Village functions, if either; remaining defiant to its imposed authority; concocting his own plans for escape; learning all he can about the Village; and subverting its operation. His schemes lead to the dismissals of the incumbent Number Two on several occasions (including one, played by Patrick Cargill, who is driven to paranoia and a near nervous breakdown). Despite foiling the system, however, Number Six never manages to escape successfully. By the end of the series, the administration, becoming desperate for Number Six's knowledge, as well as fearful of his growing influence in the Village, takes drastic measures that threaten the lives of Number Six, Number Two, and, indeed, the entire Village. A major theme of the series is individualism, as represented by Number Six, versus collectivism, as represented by Number Two and the others in the Village. McGoohan stated that the series aimed to demonstrate a balance between the two points. The Village Number Six wakes up in the mysterious coastal location known to "residents" as the Village. Most of the "residents" are prisoners, with others embedded as spies or guards.