Angel

In this episode, Angel and company battle evil puppets, characters on a popular children’s show. The puppets hypnotize the children through their TV’s and either drain their essence or take over their bodies.

Angel Episode 14 - ’Smile Time’

The episode opens on a young boy watching television. The show is your standard PBS children’s television, with an exotic set populated with a variety of puppets and cheery songs. As the boy is entranced by the audio and visuals, his mother wanders in and out, talking to her mother. The young boy has a cold/fever, and it appears that she wants her mother to watch him when she goes to work.

When his mother leaves the room again, one of the puppets (Polo), looks out of the TV and talks directly to the young boy. Polo encourages him to touch the screen. As the boy does, the TV seems to drain the energy out of him. His mother returns to find him apparently dead on the floor in front of the TV, with a smile on his face.

Later, a young girl is being drained. But as this is happening, Gunn and Angel are battling the puppets (we see this on the TV). The TV flashes a bright light and the girl is saved. That’s it. Very little to go on, but it appears to be shaping up to be a ’fun’ episode. Which isn’t that big of a surprise, as Mutant Enemy usually likes to throw a little lightness into Sweeps, before they continue on with the final seasonal arc. Though, the arc is certainly not as in the forefront this season, as it has been in the past.

ATS: More ’Smile Time’, Episode 14-15 Info

I know it’s been quiet for a while, but I do have a bit of info on ’Smile Time’ that I can pass along. It’s certainly shaping up to be an interesting episode. According to reports, as expected, the puppets will play an integral part of the show. This is causing a lot of work on the sets, as they have to be modified to fit both regular actors, the puppeteers, and the puppets. The actual puppets could almost be called ’muppets’, as it appears that the work will have a connection to Henson’s Production company. My own speculation is that the work may be done by Henson’s Creature Shop, which worked on series like ’Farscape’.

Not a great deal more info on the plot, but a source also mentions that at some point Angel will be turned into a puppet. As a puppet, he may be actually be torn apart, and have to be ’put back’ together again back at Wolfram and Hart.

As for episode 15, just more confirmation that Joss will be both writing and directing the episode. It’s possible that more info may break next week, but it’s going to be hard to tell (I have a feeling Joss is going to work hard on blocking info on this episode) Which may tie in with some info posted by SpoilerFix.com yesterday. They are reporting that one of the characters in the episode will be named Scott. He will be young, 17-19 years old, and appears in a club-scene with a bouncer and other young adults. This has led to ’speculation’ (and I stress speculation), that Scott could be Connor. To be honest, I have absolutely no information that would indicate that Connor would be returning in this episode. I don’t doubt the report itself that a character that fits this description will be in the episode, but it’s still to early to know anything for certain.