(by a_l_i_e_n on 11 October 2006)

A spy who looks a lot like Number Six (Patrick MaGoohan) is assigned "Mission Impossible"-style to look into the murder of a British scientist. Soon he finds himself the next target of a comely assassin named "Death" (played Justin Lord with a touch too much eye makeup). Among the unkind things she does to him, Lady Death locks the spy in a steam bath, leaves him dangling over a bed of spikes, and traps him in a room full of poison-emitting candles which will explode if he blows them out.
As a framing device, each step in this "trail of Death" is illustrated in a children's storybook with the tale eventually leading to a madman with a Napolean complex plotting to destroy London.
In the final moments of the episode, the mad genius and his daughter, Death, are blown to bits by the heroic spy. Then we discover this has all been an elaborate bedtime story told by Number Six to a roomful of little children. We also see that the would-be Napolean and Lady Death are actually Number 2 and his assistant. As they spy on Number Six from the control room of The Village, the two grumble about the failure of this latest plan, for even among a group of innocent children Number Six will not let his guard down.
This one is considered something of an oddity because it spends so little time within the mysterious Village. It's also far less dramatic in tone than other episodes, and though "The Girl Who Was Death" is essentially played as a spoof, it does feature some very exciting action sequences with MaGoohan cleverly getting himself out of one tight scrape after another.
While it may not be completely in keeping with the approach of most episodes of "The Prisoner", it seems acceptable to have such a change-of-pace entry in what was essentially a very experimental series.
Plus, it also nicely showcases star Patrick MaGoohan's abilities, both as an action star as well as a comedic actor. You can definitely see here why he was the original choice of producers to play James Bond and how tremendous he would have been in that role.