Smile Time
| "Smile Time" | |
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| Angel episode | |
Puppet Angel
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| Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 14 |
| Directed by | Ben Edlund |
| Story by | Ben Edlund Joss Whedon |
| Teleplay by | Ben Edlund |
| Production code | 5ADH14 |
| Original air date | February 18, 2004 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"Smile Time" is episode 14 of season 5 in the television show Angel. Written and directed by Ben Edlund, with story by series creator Joss Whedon, it was originally broadcast on February 18, 2004 on the WB network. It was nominated for and won several honors and spawned its own toy line.
In "Smile Time", Angel goes to the studio of a popular show after learning they are stealing the life forces of children, where he triggers a spell that transforms him into a puppet. While Angel and company try to reverse the spell and save the lives of hundreds of children, werewolf Nina declares her romantic intentions towards Angel and Gunn discovers his given knowledge of the law leaving his mind.
As a little boy watches a TV show called Smile Time, featuring puppets singing songs about learning, one of the puppets, Polo, tells the boy to put his hands on the TV. The boy's mother enters the room, horrified to see that the life has been drained out of the boy and his face is frozen in a rictus smile. In the science lab at Wolfram & Hart, Knox brings Fred files on children who have been hospitalized in the same condition as the little boy. Knox also gives Fred a valentine and tries to get her to discuss their potential relationship, but she gently declines his advances. When Harmony tells Gunn he filed the wrong papers, he tries to hide how worried he is about his mistake. Werewolf Nina arrives for her three nights of the full moon in the firm. She flirts with Angel as he leads her to her cell, and uncomfortable, Angel leaves. He heads up to Wesley's office, saying he's not sure how he feels about their platonic friendship turning into something else. Wesley tells him that Nina has been sending him signals, and Angel is apparently the only person in the entire firm who hasn't noticed them. When Angel says that he can't pursue a relationship because he'll achieve pure happiness and turn back into evil, soulless Angelus, Wesley says most people have to settle for acceptable happiness, and there is no reason Angel can't do the same.
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