Sonia (The Prisoner)

Sonia was the antagonist in the 1968 episode "The Girl Who Was Death" in the TV series, "The Prisoner". Sonia was portrayed by British actress Justine Lord.

Sonia played the sadistic daughter of an insane father who is a scientist. She called herself "Death" in the episode, and nowhere but the credits of the episode is she referred to as Sonia.

We first see her sitting in a lawn chair watching a cricket match. She was wearing a long white dress and has a white lace umbrella to keep the sun away. The cricket ball is hit into the woods and replaced with another one. When the ball is retrieved it was relayed back into play. When the ball was hit it blows up and kills Col. Hawke, one day short of his 100th birthday.

The main character, Number Six (Patrick McGoohan), received his mission the following day. Sonia is seen as a mannequin in a store window dressed in the same white dress. Number Six's first mission is to go to a malt shop and put on a record in a small booth. The record tells him of his mission, which is to find Dr. Schnipps and destroy his rocket.

Number Six attempts to find out how Col. Hawke had been assassinated in a previous cricket match. He dons a fake mustache and passes for a participant in the cricket game. Sonia was seated just as before on the sideline under her umbrella sitting in her lawn chair. Her long legs created a distraction for Number Six, who is attempting to hit. The same thing happened, the ball was hit into the woods and exchanged when/where no one can see it. However, this time Number Six successfully avoided being blown up by throwing the cricket ball back into the woods before it could cause damage. Number Six received a note to meet a mysterious person at a local pub.

While at the Pub, he got a drink from the barmaid Doris (Sheena Marshe). When he finished the drink he saw a message at the bottom of the glass that told him he had just been poisoned. He drank numerous drinks to try to self induce vomit to get rid of the poison. When he went to enter the restroom Sonia exited wearing a sexy white raincoat holding a long ladies cigarette holder. Inside the restroom he got another message to go to Benny's Turkish Baths.

While Six was relaxing in the enclosed steam box, Sonia opened an adjoining steam closet and all we see is her sexy legs wearing white boots and a white towel. She came out of the box and cautiously walked over to Number Six, sliding a broom shaft through the handles of the door and covering up his head with a plastic dome. After escaping the box, Number Six gets another message written in red lipstick that told him to go to the carnival and specifically Barney's Boxing Booth.

Number Six is next seen dressed up like Sherlock Holmes, and was picked at the fight scene to be the next opponent. Sitting at ringside we saw Sonia dressed in a black robe with hood. She peered out of the hood as the fight was about to begin, and whispers in his ear "Good Luck Young Man". As the fight began, we now see Sonia dressed in her white dress in the audience. While fighting he is told by his opponent that he is to go to the tunnel of love.

Number Six begins to hear the voice of Sonia, which was a recording in his boat that is rigged with explosives. Sonia was waiting around the corner as he floated by, and she was still wearing the sheer white shawl over a white mini skirt. She told him that she had been looking for a worthy opponent, and that he had passed her first test brilliantly. He picked up the speaker which now echoed Sonia's sadistic laugh, and tossed it into the water just as it blew up.

Sonia allowed herself to be seen and Six followed her onto the Roller Coaster. As he rode it alone, he spotted her on the side watching him. When he got off the ride, she was on the carousel riding a black horse. But when he followed her back to the roller coaster it was a different woman.

Six tracked the seductive Sonia who left the amusement park in a white Jaguar sports car. Sonia put on a white trench coat, white driving gloves, and white motorcycle helmet. A chase scene took place. While driving, Sonia began talking into a mic, which mysteriously was being broadcast through Six's radio. No matter how frantically he attempted to change the station, her voice was all he heard. She told him how much she loved him. She followed this up, that he would make a beautiful corpse. Sonia used her finger to make his car roll, as if she were a witch. This took place right before Six entered the village of "Witchwood", where Six later found the businesses of the Butcher, the Baker, and the Candlestick Maker. This abandoned village is where he first learned of Sonia's name being "Death". Her voice was again transmitted through speakers throughout the village, and he was instructed to enter a building. He was greeted by an automatic machine gun that was triggered when he opened a door. He was able to disarm the trigger and utilize the gun for his own purposes. Entering the next room, he fell through a trap door and used the gun to keep him from falling onto spikes at the bottom of the pit.

He entered the candlestick makers shop which had candles that admitted cyanide gas in their wax. Sonia continued to speak to Six using the piped in loudspeakers, and she always seemed to know what he had done, so she must have had visual on him with hidden cameras. She used this commentary as Six moved through the traps she had set up.

Sonia told Six that she was sorry that her father could not be present because he was working on his rocket. "...besides he did not wish to play gooseberry." To play gooseberry, is a British term for a third person playing the odd one out while accompanying two others who are romantically involved.

Number Six successfully avoided several additional traps and ran out into the street, only to be attacked by Sonia who was holed up in a bell tower with a large machine gun. Sonia was wearing a white jump suit with a white German "pickelhaub" spiked helmet. She talked about how much she loved Six while also describing how she would kill him.

Number Six found his way into a shed to avoid the gunfire. He then rode out of the shed in a bulldozer with the bucket shielding himself from the fire. Sonia reverted to throwing mortars which she threw at the bulldozer, and then used a bazooka to take out the bulldozer. Sonia believed she has successfully killed Number Six. She put the guns away, took off her military helmet and applied make up to her face. She then departed the bell tower and headed out of the village. We then learn that Six has hid under a manhole cover near the bulldozer and avoided the explosion.

Sonia walked confidently to a field and piloted a white helicopter. Six ran and climbed onto the back of the helicopter as it took off. Sonia was unaware that Six was on the plane, and when it landed, he ran to the woods.

Number Six tracked Sonia to a cave near the sea, which had a giant computer bunker. Here he located some portraits of Napoleon and Josephine which puzzled him. Over the top of the cave was a white lighthouse where Schnipps (Kenneth Griffith) was dressed up as Napoleon. He was there with his associates serving as his lieutenants, who were dressed in French military uniforms. They were representing an apparently anti-London alliance composed of Scottish, Welsh, Irish, and Northern marshals. Sonia was dressed up as Napoleon's wife Josephine in a long flowing gown and powdered wig.

The lieutenants made a bumbling mess of things as they attempted to thwart Six. They fell like a comedic dominoes. Number Six sabotaged their firearms and hand grenades, rigging them to backfire or malfunction.

Number Six was then discovered and captured by Sonia who was now wearing a white button up sweater and pants. He was tied up and left inside the lighthouse (which is revealed to be a rocket). As it was about to launch, he escaped and boarded a boat tied up below. When the rocket detonated Sonia and Schnipps were still inside. Sonia had that moment of impending doom on her face, as she realized she was about to die.

At the end of the show we found out that this had all been a dream, as Number Six was telling a bedtime story entitled, "The Village Story Book" to some children in the Village nursery. We then saw Number Two, his partner (who looks like Schnipps from the episode), and his assistant (who looks like Sonia) are in a room. Sonia was now dressed in all black with a black officers hat. At the end of the show after putting the children to bed, Number Six turns to the hidden camera and wishes, "Good night, children...everywhere."

Quotes[]

"You'll make a beautiful corpse. I’m going to do you the honor of letting you die superbly."

"This is to be our love tryst."

"I'm sorry my father could not be here to greet you, but he's busy with his rocket. Besides, he did not wish to play gooseberry."

“You are a born survivor, I'm a born killer. We were made for each other. But I fear this is where it must end. Your reflexes cannot save you now. It will come swiftly, suddenly, when your luck runs out. With my love.”

"“Is your heart pounding? Your hand shaking? That’s love, my darling.”

(Before triggering a mechanism which raises a platform with electrified spikes below the suspended hero):

"Nice of you to drop in. I can see you're having a swinging time. But that's not quite what I had in mind. Hope this will help."

(Implying that she has already killed many less talented people with these same traps):

"Ingenious! Nobody’s ever thought of that before. You really are the most entertaining lover I ever had!"
“Interesting. I’ve noticed mice get irrational in just the same way when they know they’re going to die."

(Before blasting the immobilized hero with a panzerschrek):

“Bye-bye, lover.”

(After having tied him up to a chair inside the nosecone of a rocket which is about to be launched to destroy London):

"Mountaineering rope . . . but holds an elephant."
-I must remember that next time I go climbing with on.
-Mmmh I'm afraid that there won't be a next time, darling. I'm gonna give you the most original death in history. You're going grow rocket ride."