Spoiler Slayer

Pandora, over at the Mythical Boards, has posted a full summary of 'Smile Time'. Remember that in order to access the Spoiler section, you have to be registered member. As usual, I will hit the highlights below. For the full summary and discussion, be sure to check out the Mythical Boards.

Highlights of 'Smile Time'

As mentioned earlier, the episode does revolve around evil puppets stealing the life essence from children via their television show. Nina, the werewolf, also makes a return in this episode.

- Nina arrives for her monthly stay, and makes it clear that she's interested in Angel as more than just a friend.

- Angel is worried to take a chance on a relationship again, Wes thinks that he should.

- Fred comes to Angel about an illness that has affected a number of children, Lorne figures out that it might be connected to the TV show - 'Smile Time'.

- Angel goes to the studio to investigate and encounters a man (Gregor Framkin) in a hidden room.

- Angel is hit by a blast of light from some equipment in the room, and is turned into a puppet.

- At the office, Puppet-Angel tries to avoid Nina while the others investigate Framkin.

- The Fang Gang discovers that Framkin is also a puppet, being controlled by the show's puppets.

- Led by Polo, the show puppets decide that instead of taking one life essence at a time. They will drain the entire viewing audience.

- Puppet-Angel reveals what has happened to him to Nina, who promptly turns into a werewolf and gains a new chew toy.

- We also discover that Gunn's mental acumen is only temporary, the Doctor offers to make it permanent for a price.

- A rescued Angel and newly-charged Gunn, gather the others and go after the puppets.

- After they defeat the puppets and save the children, Angel tells Nina that he'll have breakfast with her.

- Fred is also feeling romantic, and shows Wesley how she feels about him by kissing him.

Much like 'The Cautionary Tale...', this is going to be an interesting stand-alone episode that will have more than a few repercussions down the road. The fact that Gunn will be pulled in deeper is definitely new, as is the rebirth of the Wesley/Fred romance. As first mentioned here, Angel does get puppetized in this episode. Though it appears that instead of being torn apart in battle, Nina's the one doing the tearing at Wolfram and Hart. It will be interesting to see how they pull off Puppet-Angel, hopefully we'll get some promo photos soon.