History Main / AloneWithPrisonerPloy

* At the beginning of ''{{Half-Life}} 2'', Barney is working undercover for the resistance as a Combine soldier. When he comes across Gordon, he justifies wanting to be alone with Gordon by implying to another (real) Combine guard he's going to beat/torture him. Then when the guard leaves Barney and Gordon alone, Barney clues Gordon in with exposition and then sends him in the right direction.

[[folder:Film]]

* In ''WatershipDown'', Bigwig shows an interest in Hyzanthlay and asks about her, but is told "I'd look elsewhere if I were you, she's a trouble-maker." Hyzanthlay was never imprisoned though, Efrafa was enough to a prison camp anyway to make the point moot. Keeping prisoners isn't in Woundwort's nature anyway.
** Furthermore in the original novel, Bigwig takes advantage of the fact that his position as Owsla gives him freedom of sex, so when he asks for her to be brought to his burrow everyone merely assumes he meant to mate.
** Played straight with Bigwig convincing Blackavar that they are planning a breakout.

[[folder: Anime & Manga ]]

[[folder: Comics ]]

[[folder: Fan Fic ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* In ''{{Gladiator}}'', when Lucilla arrives at Maximus' cell, she tells him "rich matrons pay well to be pleasured by the bravest champions". He has been chained up in preparation for her visit. In fact she's there to tell him there is a growing conspiracy against Commodus, and to ask him to meet a politician who's involved.
* Pre-arranged in ''OceansEleven'', when the guy sent in to torture Danny Ocean was [[KansasCityShuffle set up all along by Danny]] to show up and pretend to torture him so that he could escape.

* Textbook example in ''The Green Zone'', though it turns out the target prisoner is beaten up pretty badly and the conversation doesn't go as planned.

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* GeorgeWashington pulled this on a double spy. He had the guards leave him and John Honeyman. Washington then used this opportunity to have Honeyman give false information to Col. Rall and give Honeyman a key so that he could escape from the Guardhouse. Honeyman went to Rall, gave him the false information and that is how George Washington won the Battle of Trenton in 1776.

[[folder: Theatre ]]

* In the ''Theatre/HunchbackOfNotreDame'' stage musical (that's only been performed in Germany), Phoebus does this with Esmeralda when he allows her to escape.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* At the beginning of ''{{Half-Life}} 2'', Barney is working undercover for the resistance as a Combine soldier. When he comes across Gordon, he justifies wanting to be alone with Gordon by implying to another (real) Combine guard he's going to beat/torture him. Then when the guard leaves Barney and Gordon alone, Barney clues Gordon in with exposition and then sends him in the right direction.
* ''BlackSigil'' uses this one and twists it just a tad. After being separated from the rest of the group, Aurora and Nephi are alone in Drakus Tat. Nephi (the local King) has to extract information from his loyal subjects (and Aurora is a known enemy of their master, [[BigBad Forbidden]]), so he declares Aurora his slave and brings her to the dungeon to "break her in". He then calls in one of his minions to lure out the necessary intel in what the minions believe is his "interrogation" of Aurora.
* Near the end of MetalGearSolid2, there is a torture sequence reminiscent of the first game that ends with Raiden being released by Olga Gurlukovich. She reveals that she was only helping the Patriots because they were holding her son hostage, and that she was the mysterious "Deepthroat" that assisted Raiden at several points in the story.

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[[folder: Western Animation ]]

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* GeorgeWashington pulled this on a double spy. He had the guards leave him and John Honeyman. Washington then used this oportunity to have Honeyman give false information to Col. Rall and give Honeyman a key so that he could escape from the Guardhouse. Honeyman went to Rall, gave him the false information and that is how George Washington won the Battle of Trenton in 1776.

[[IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused]] with the similar, but entirely distinct, TrojanPrisoner Ploy. That's when the heroes try to infiltrate a compound by [[WookieeGambit pretending]] to be a prisoner.

Once Bob manages to convince Alice that he was trying to fool the guards, ([[FriendOrFoe though maybe only after recovering from a vase to the head she was going to use on the real guard to try to escape]]) he can finally get that information to her, possibly even help her escape somehow.

Bob has infiltrated [[BigBad Emperor Evulz]]'s side or is possibly undergoing a HeelFaceTurn or similar alliance-shifting move. Alice happens to be a prisoner of Evulz. Bob must somehow convey to Alice that he's there, or that he's changed sides, or some other information. However, he can't just go talk to her, because the guards would get suspicious.

* In the ''HunchbackOfNotreDame'' stage musical (that's only been performed in Germany), Phoebus does this with Esmeralda when he allows her to escape.

* [[spoiler: Xanth]], from ''Literature/TheEdgeChronicles'' does this for [[spoiler: Magda, when she is captured by the Guardians of Night]]. Slight variation; instead of pretending to be evil for the guards, he just pulls rank on them.

* [[spoiler: Xanth]], from ''{{The Edge Chronicles}}'' does this for [[spoiler: Magda, when she is captured by the Guardians of Night]]. Slight variation; instead of pretending to be evil for the guards, he just pulls rank on them.

* Colonel Mitchell has to pretend to attack (and then pretend to torture) a captured Teal'c so they can plan their escape in an episode of StargateSG1.

* {{Subverted}} in season 4 of ''{{Babylon 5}}'': [[spoiler:Garibaldi]] successfully uses this excuse to get past the ''first'' set of guards around [[spoiler:Captain Sheridan]], but the ones directly outside the cell demand to see authorization, so the rescuers just knock them out. Turns out that was actually the plan all along; asking to get inside was just a ploy to make one of the guards think of the door code so that their telepath could pick it out of his mind.

* In ''TimeScout'', one of the characters has been imprisoned for witchcraft, so her rescuers show up pretending to be priests so they'll have an excuse to go interrogate her.

* {{Subverted}} in season 4 of ''Babylon5'': [[spoiler:Garibaldi]] successfully uses this excuse to get past the ''first'' set of guards around [[spoiler:Captain Sheridan]], but the ones directly outside the cell demand to see authorization, so the rescuers just knock them out. Turns out that was actually the plan all along; asking to get inside was just a ploy to make one of the guards think of the door code so that their telepath could pick it out of his mind.

** The sad irony here was that Michael ''was'' trying to frame the guy he thought was a CompleteMonster as an undercover cop to his crime boss. Realizing he has condemned a good man to death, Michael is determined to make sure the cop lives to go back to his wife and kids.

Bob has infiltrated [[BigBad Emperor Evulz]]'s side or is possibly undergoing a HeelFaceTurn or similar alliance-shifting move. Alice happens to be a prisoner of Evulz. Bob must somehow convey to Alice that he's there, or that he's changed sides, or some other information. However, he can't just go talk to her, because the guards would get suspicious.

Therefore, he makes the guards believe that he wants a few minutes ''alone'' with the prisoner, perhaps she needs to be "[[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique interrogated]]". The guards let him into Alice's cell and leave them to it, chortling at the evilness of their buddy's intentions.

[[AC:{{Anime}} & {{Manga}}]]

[[AC:{{Comics}}]]
* In the ''BlakeAndMortimer'' book ''The Voronov Plot'', Blake, posing as a Soviet officer, tries to pull this in order to contact an imprisoned British spy. Unfortunately, he is interrupted by Captain [[SignificantAnagram Ilkor]]...

[[AC:FanFic]]
* This can be subverted if someone sticks around to watch or if the act must be performed in public. There was a scene from the end of a [[Literature/HarryPotter Snapefic]] in which a Heroic!Snape was trying to save the kids while pretending he was about to kill them, as part of a celebration held by the Death Eaters. So he's acting all crazy and forcing Hermione to kiss him (no, no such Ship in this fic) so he could get close enough to hand her a vial of antidote and whisper some instructions.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* In ''{{Gladiator}}'', when Lucilla arrives at Maximus' cell, she tells him "rich matrons pay well to be pleasured by the bravest champions". He has been chained up in preparation for her visit. In fact she's there to tell him there is a growing conspiracy against Commodus, and to ask him to meet a politician who's involved.
* Pre-arranged in ''OceansEleven'', when the guy sent in to torture Danny Ocean was [[KansasCityShuffle set up all along by Danny]] to show up and pretend to torture him so that he could escape.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* [[spoiler: Xanth]], from ''{{The Edge Chronicles}}'' does this for [[spoiler: Magda, when she is captured by the Guardians of Night]]. Slight variation; instead of pretending to be evil for the guards, he just pulls rank on them.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* Sawyer uses this to talk to Sayid in season 5 of ''Series/{{Lost}}''.

[[AC:RealLife]]
* GeorgeWashington pulled this on a double spy. He had the guards leave him and John Honeyman. Washington then used this oportunity to have Honeyman give false information to Col. Rall and give Honeyman a key so that he could escape from the Guardhouse. Honeyman went to Rall, gave him the false information and that is how George Washington won the Battle of Trenton in 1776.

[[AC:{{Theatre}}]]
* In the ''HunchbackOfNotreDame'' stage musical (that's only been performed in Germany), Phoebus does this with Esmeralda when he allows her to escape.

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* At the beginning of ''{{Half-Life}} 2'', Barney is working undercover for the resistance as a Combine soldier. When he comes across Gordon, he justifies wanting to be alone with Gordon by implying to another (real) Combine guard he's going to beat/torture him. Then when the guard leaves Barney and Gordon alone, Barney clues Gordon in with exposition and then sends him in the right direction.
* ''BlackSigil'' uses this one and twists it just a tad. After being separated from the rest of the group, Aurora and Nephi are alone in Drakus Tat. Nephi (the local King) has to extract information from his loyal subjects (and Aurora is a known enemy of their master, [[BigBad Forbidden]]), so he declares Aurora his slave and brings her to the dungeon to "break her in". He then calls in one of his minions to lure out the necessary intel in what the minions believe is his "interrogation" of Aurora.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* In ''WatershipDown'', Bigwig shows an interest in Hyzanthlay and asks about her, but is told "I'd look elsewhere if I were you, she's a trouble-maker." Hyzanthlay was never imprisoned though, Efrafa was enough to a prison camp anyway to make the point moot. Keeping prisoners isn't in Woundwort's nature anyway.

<<|EspionageTropes|>>
<<|XanatosPlannedThisIndex|>>

* In MobileSuitGundamUnicorn [[spoiler:Riddhe]] visits [[spoiler:Audrey]]'s cell twice, first to interrogate [[spoiler:her]] and later to help [[spoiler:her]] escape to Earth with [[spoiler:him]]. Subverted in that the Federation is not the bad guy ([[GrayAndGrayMorality we think]]) and [[spoiler:Riddhe]] wasn't trying to fool the guard (just knocking the guard out instead).

* Textbook example in TheGreenZone, though it turns out the target prisoner is beaten up pretty badly and the conversation doesn't go as planned.

Bob has infiltrated the Villain's side, or possibly is undergoing a HeelFaceTurn or similar alliance-shifting move. Alice happens to be a prisoner of the Villain. Bob must somehow convey to Alice that he's there, or that he's changed sides, or some other information. However, he can't just go talk to her, because the guards would get suspicious.

Therefore, he makes the guards believe that he wants a few minutes ''alone'' with the prisoner, perhaps she needs to be "[[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique interrogated]]" or "[[IHaveYouNowMyPretty taught a lesson]]". The guards let him into Alice's cell and leave them to it, chortling at the evilness of their buddy's intentions.

Of course, Bob could be the MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter or other female henchwoman doing a HighHeelFaceTurn. If the audience has been unaware of Bob's alignment up to that point, this can be the way the ReverseMole is revealed. It's also highly likely that Bob/Bridget has been putting in place TheInfiltration or acted as the FakeDefector.

* This can be subverted if someone sticks around to watch, or if the act must be performed in public. There was a scene from the end of a [[Literature/HarryPotter Snapefic]] in which a Heroic!Snape was trying to save the kids while pretending he was about to kill them, as part of a celebration held by the Death Eaters. So he's acting all crazy and forcing Hermione to kiss him (no, no such Ship in this fic) so he could get close enough to hand her a vial of antidote and whisper some instructions.
** More fetish-oriented fics glee at Snape having to completely go through with sexual torture on a captive Hermione/Harry/Whoever because Lucius/Voldemort is watching. Then ''maybe'' hand over the tools necessary for escape afterwards, if they can be bothered to continue the rest of the story!

* Textbook example in The Green Zone (but no sexual innuendo), though it turns out the target prisoner is beaten up pretty badly and the conversation doesn't go as planned.

* {{George Washington}} pulled this on a double spy. He had the guards leave him and John Honeyman. Washington then used this oportunity to have Honeyman give false information to Col. Rall and give Honeyman a key so that he could escape from the Guardhouse. Honeyman went to Rall, gave him the false information and that is how George Washington won the Battle of Trenton in 1776.

* In the ''Hunchback of Notre Dame'' stage musical (that's only been performed in Germany) Phoebus does this with Esmeralda when he allows her to escape.

* ''BlackSigil'' uses this one and twists it just a tad. After being separated from the rest of the group, Aurora and Nephi are alone in Drakus Tat. Nephi (the local King) has to extract information from his loyal subjects (and Aurora is a known enemy of their master, BigBad Forbidden), so he declares Aurora his slave and brings her to the dungeon to "break her in". He then calls in one of his minions to lure out the necessary intel in what the minions believe is his "interrogation" of Aurora.
* Near the end of {{Metal Gear Solid 2}}, there is a torture sequence reminiscent of the first game that ends with Raiden being released by Olga Gurlukovich. She reveals that she was only helping the Patriots because they were holding her son hostage, and that she was the mysterious "Deepthroat" that assisted Raiden at several points in the story.

* In ''WatershipDown'', Bigwig shows an interest in Hyzanthlay and asks about her... but is told "I'd look elsewhere if I were you, she's a trouble-maker." Hyzanthlay was never imprisoned though, Efrafa was enough to a prison camp anyway to make the point moot. Keeping prisoners is not in Woundwort's nature anyway.

** Played straight with Bigwig convincing Blackavar that they are planning a breakout.
* Sokka tried to do this in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', when he was deep undercover. Most of the plan was not well thought out, so why start now?
** And she only ended up hitting him when he made to kiss her ''before'' revealing his identity (he was actually hoping to reveal himself ''with'' the kiss as a CallBack to something she had done), which she doesn't react well to, [[PrisonRape for obvious reasons]].
** He also tried this with Zuko, whispering some information to him while pretending to beat him up.

* Sam and Dean use this in conjunction with the ''TrojanPrisoner'' in a season two episode of ''Series/Supernatural''. Infiltrating a prison to deal with a ghost that has been killing inmates, the Winchesters escape when warden gets them alone after a staged brawl, drops the act that the three of them have been playing all along, and lets the brothers leave through the ventilation system (after a real-fake punch to the jaw from Dean).

* This can be subverted if someone sticks around to watch, or if the act must be performed in public. There was a scene from the end of a [[Literature/HarryPotter Snapefic]] in which a Heroic!Snape was trying to save the kids while pretending he was about to kill them, as part of a celebration held by the Death Eaters. So he's acting all crazy and even forcing Hermione to kiss him (no, no such Ship in this fic) so he could get close enough to hand her a vial of antidote and whisper some instructions.

* {{Subverted}} in the fourth season of ''Babylon5'': [[spoiler:Garibaldi]] successfully uses this excuse to get past the ''first'' set of guards around [[spoiler:Captain Sheridan]], but the ones directly outside the cell demand to see authorization, so the rescuers just knock them out. Turns out that was actually the plan all along; asking to get inside was just a ploy to make one of the guards think of the door code so that their telepath could pick it out of his mind.
** Played straight in the fifth season, when Londo uses it to break [[spoiler:Na'Toth]] out of the Imperial dungeons.

* Sokka tried to do this in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', when he was deep undercover. Of course, most of the plan was not well thought out, so why start now?

* Used in the two-part premiere of the sixth series of new ''DoctorWho''. While the Doctor is imprisoned, Canton has body bags brought in containing Amy and Rory, presumably to taunt the Doctor, then has the guards exit so he can interrogate him. Once the door closes, Canton reveals that Amy and Rory are alive, and the group go off to fight the Silence in the cloaked TARDIS.

* Pre-arranged in ''[=~Ocean's Eleven~=]'', when the guy sent in to torture Danny Ocean was [[KansasCityShuffle set up all along by Danny]] to show up and pretend to torture him so that he could escape.

* Sokka tried to do this in ''[=~Avatar: The Last Airbender~=]'', when he was deep undercover. Of course, most of the plan was not well thought out, so why start now?

* In the anime, [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist Edward Elric]] pulls a hilarious version when trying to contact the fake Elric brothers.

* Near the end of {{Metal Gear Solid 2}}, there is a torture sequence reminiscent of the first game that ends with Raiden being released by Olga Gurlukovich after revealing that she was only helping the Patriots because they were holding her son hostage.

Of course, Bob could be the MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter or other female henchwoman doing a HighHeelFaceTurn (More likely to be a [[DroppedABridgetOnHim Bridget in that case]]). If the audience has been unaware of Bob's alignment up to that point, this can be the way the ReverseMole is revealed. It's also highly likely that Bob/Bridget has been putting in place TheInfiltration or acted as the FakeDefector.