Angel Review – “Smile Time”

Episode 102 of 110 just aired.

Cast and Crew

David
Boreanaz
as
Angel

Alexis
Denisof
as
Wesley Wyndham-Pryce

J.
August Richards

as Charles Gunn

Amy
Acker
as Fred
Burkle

Andy
Hallett
as
Lorne

James
Marsters
as
Spike

Written by Ben Edlund (with story help from Joss
Whedon)

Directed by Ben Edlund

Past TV reviews can be found here.

Original Airdate

Smile Time originally aired on Wednesday,
February 18, 2004.

Synopsis

Angel opposes some angry puppets.

High Point

Gunn visits the doctor.

Low Point

If things have been obvious for months, shouldn’t we
have seen some of
the intervening meetings? Admittedly, it was pretty
clear the first
time, but a one or two minute scene along the way
would have been
nice. It’s a nitpick, I know, but it was
consistently written enough
to make it hard to pick one moment that stands out as
the worst.

The Review

Getting turned into a puppet strikes me as
original. Yes,
there was a character on “The Puppet Show” back in
the first season of
Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but the
circumstances were rather
different. I give it 5 out of 6.

The effects were well done, making the
puppets move like
puppets, but still seem autonomous. The full frame
shots were usually
well done, although it looked like Angel’s heels were
extra-cropped at
the end of the second act. I give it 4 out of 6.

The story was put together fairly well,
giving an amusing
main arc while filling out some entertaining pieces
of the characters’
respective private lives. I give it 5 out of 6.

The acting was quite good, especially when
playing against a
puppet. The puppets themselves had a fair amount of
flexibility and
expression available to them. Things are really
starting to come
together for all players involved (which makes next
week’s trailer
that much more plausible; we know Whedon hates a
comfort zone.) I
give it 5 out of 6.

The emotional response was fairly strong,
with interesting
moments and hilarious moments. Any scene with the
puppet Angel
holding a sword, for example, just made me laugh out
loud,
particularly the end of the third act. I give it 5
out of 6.

The production was very well done. The
framing and panning
shots were perfect for really drawing out the
absurdity of the
situation. I give it 5 out of 6.

Overall, it was a highly amusing episode,
with some serious
implications for the future. I give it 5 out of 6.

In total, Smile Time receives 34 out of 42.

15 replies on “Angel Review – “Smile Time””

  1. best episode this season

    Absofrigginlutely hilarious. I think I laughed almost non-stop once Angel was puppetified (puppetized?). The only time I didn’t laugh was during the “Gunn at the doctor” scene, because I think that whole storyline is just stupid.

    “I’m gonna tear you a new puppethole, bitch!” is my favorite line of the week. “You’re a wee little puppet-man!” is second.

    Loved puppet-Angel’s overhanging brow and scrunched up scowl.

    • Re: best episode this season
      I absolutely adore vampire-puppet-Angel’s fangs. They’re so cute!!

      • Re: best episode this season

        I was really hoping we’d get to see him vamp out as a puppet. Those fangs were really cute!

        I totally forgot to mention that I would love to see a spin-off with these puppets. Too bad they’re all dead now. But I guess they could be put back together. Ratio Hornblower kicks ass.

        Question: The guy with the towel over his head in the egg room, was that the puppeteer? Were the puppets storing him in the egg room when they didn’t need him?

        • Re: best episode this season

          Question: The guy with the towel over his head in the egg room, was that the puppeteer? Were the puppets storing him in the egg room when they didn’t need him?

          That’s the impression I got. He was the right size and there were no other notable humans in that place. I do wish they had been clearer on that. (I’ll have to watch it again and see if there are any throw-away lines regarding that guy that I missed.

          The puppeteer, incidentally, was played by David Fury. (Didn’t see that mentioned in the review.) Maybe I am too much of a Mutant Enemy fan boy, as I recognized him immediately…

          • Re: best episode this season

            The puppeteer, incidentally, was played by David Fury. (Didn’t see that mentioned in the review.) Maybe I am too much of a Mutant Enemy fan boy, as I recognized him immediately…

            As soon as I saw his face, I knew it. Fury is a pretty damn good writer; didn’t he do the 100th Ep? Look on the bright side, at least you’re not the only ME fan here ;) (though I wouldn’t recognize Ultimate Drew if he tried to stake me…)

    • Re: best episode this season

      Absofrigginlutely hilarious. I think I laughed almost non-stop once Angel was puppetified (puppetized?).

      Loved puppet-Angel’s overhanging brow and scrunched up scowl.

      I even started laughing at Angel being so clueless about Nina. Sure, the humor was hit-on-the-head obvious but Boreanaz actually carried it off well.

      Those puppets were so amazingly expressive! The brow and scowl were superb but the hair was hysterical, too. Interesting that the Angel puppet was able to be so much more communicative with its expressions than Angel himself, during the last scene with Nina, with those downright hurt puppy and then hopeful puppy looks.

      The comic timing of the fight with Spike was classic as well. Again, you knew exactly what was going to happen but it was well-executed.

      I’d go so far as to say one of the best episodes of the series.

  2. Can you say Bert!
    The one thing that kept going throught my head was how much
    Angel (puppet) looked like Bert! Head shape, Mouth, If evil
    Big Bird had shown up I wouldn’t have been suprised.

    The
    real question is: Did the idea come first, or did someone make a puppet and give it to JW?

    • Re: Can you say Bert!

      The one thing that kept going throught my head was how much
      Angel (puppet) looked like Bert! Head shape, Mouth, If evil
      Big Bird had shown up I wouldn’t have been suprised.

      All the puppets looked like a puppet-ish character from another show/creative talent. Angel!Puppet looked like Bert, but vamped out he also bore a striking resemblence to the Count. And Horatio (it *was* Horatio, right?) Hornblower was like Grimace (McD’s) meets that funky bird-thing with a horn for its nose (I think it’s a baseball mascot?).

      GREAT episode. This just makes The End that much worse =(

      • Re: Can you say Bert!

        The one thing that kept going throught my head was how much
        Angel (puppet) looked like Bert! Head shape, Mouth, If evil
        Big Bird had shown up I wouldn’t have been suprised.

        All the puppets looked like a puppet-ish character from another show/creative talent. Angel!Puppet looked like Bert, but vamped out he also bore a striking resemblence to the Count. And Horatio (it *was* Horatio, right?) Hornblower was like Grimace (McD’s) meets that funky bird-thing with a horn for its nose (I think it’s a baseball mascot?).

        GREAT episode. This just makes The End that much worse =(

        Ratio Hornblower was the dog, “Groupus” was the Grimace-looking thing.

        • Re: Can you say Bert!

          Ratio Hornblower was the dog, “Groupus” was the
          Grimace-looking thing.

          No, that’s backwards. Ratio Hornblower was definitely
          the purple thing. We know from the puppet meeting
          that his name is “Ratio” and he communicates by
          honking a horn, but I didn’t put together the (Horatio
          Hornblower) pun until they spelled it out by giving his
          full name. I’m just glad I was drinking water during this
          episode rather than Coke!

  3. low point
    I agree that there should have been more lead-up to this, but weren’t there one or two hints along the way? Didn’t Fred try to comfort Wes at the end of the episode where his “father” showed up? I recall getting the vibe then that she was into him again.

    -cb

    • Re: low point

      I agree that there should have been more lead-up to this, but weren’t there one or two hints along the way? Didn’t Fred try to comfort Wes at the end of the episode where his “father” showed up? I recall getting the vibe then that she was into him again.

      -cb

      I thought he was talking about the “Nina likes Angel” thing, not the Fred/Wesley thing.

      • Re: low point

        I thought he was talking about the “Nina likes Angel” thing, not the Fred/Wesley thing.

        I agree with your assessment here (especially since the low point specifically says “Admittedly, it was pretty clear the first time…” and that points much closer to the nina/angel thing then the wesley/fred thing).

        After the episode was over the feeling I had on this point is that the writers wanted to put in a scene where Wes was pointing out how dense some guy was for not noticing that a girl was interested in him, just so the irony was there at the end of the episode.

        My guess is that the writers searched around for who could be the guy that Wes points this out to, and Nina/Angel was the best they could come up with without being too “out of the blue” with it. Which is probably why there was no hint of Nina/Angel in intervening episodes. It wasn’t something that they had planned on doing. But they had planned on Fred and Wes getting together, and they really liked the scene of Wes pointing out the obvious while missing the obvious.

        Just my theory…

        • Re: low point
          Oh. Duh. Nina/Angel. That makes more sense. Maybe I didn’t think that because I missed the first episode with Nina. My wife saw it though and at the time she said it would be really pointless if they didn’t bring her back. It seems fair to wonder if they were planning to at the time.

          -cb

        • Re: low point

          I thought he was talking about the “Nina likes Angel”
          thing, not the Fred/Wesley thing.

          I agree with your assessment here (especially since the
          low point specifically says “Admittedly, it was pretty
          clear the first time…” and that points much closer to
          the nina/angel thing then the wesley/fred thing).

          After the episode was over the feeling I had on this point
          is that the writers wanted to put in a scene where Wes was
          pointing out how dense some guy was for not noticing that
          a girl was interested in him, just so the irony was there
          at the end of the episode.

          My guess is that the writers searched around for who could
          be the guy that Wes points this out to, and Nina/Angel was
          the best they could come up with without being too “out of
          the blue” with it. Which is probably why there was no hint
          of Nina/Angel in intervening episodes. It wasn’t something
          that they had planned on doing. But they had planned on
          Fred and Wes getting together, and they really liked the
          scene of Wes pointing out the obvious while missing the
          obvious.

          Just my theory…

          I saw them hinting at the Fred/Wes thing for most of the
          season. Wes would grit his teeth every time he saw Knox
          hitting on Fred. Maybe I was seeing things but she has
          been holding eye contact with him longer than with other
          characters.

          As far as the whole Angel/Nina thing… It
          could have been with a smidgen more finess. Perhaps
          Harmony could have mentioned that Nina was coming in later
          that night when she was reading Angel’s appoints for the
          day. But watch the first ep with Nina when it comes on
          reruns. There was plenty of awkward chemistry going
          on.

          Okay, I’ll stop talking… for now.

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