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Smiling Friends S1E8 "Charlie Dies and Doesn't Come Back" - TV Tropes

  • ️Wed Feb 23 2022

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/SmilingFriendsS1E8CharlieDiesAndDoesntComeBack

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Charlie Dies and Doesn't Come Back

Smiling Friends S1E8 "Charlie Dies and Doesn't Come Back" Recap

Air date: January 10th, 2022 (produced in 2021)

When Charlie accidentally gets crushed to death by a tree he was chopping down to use as a Christmas tree for due to being distracted by conversing with Pim and the rest of his friends about his cynical nature, the li'l critter finds himself in the bowels of Hell, only to further find out from one of the local imps there that Satan himself is in a depressive funk, causing Hell to literally freeze over.

This episode was Gilbert Gottfried's final voice acting role before his death on April 12, 2022.

Tropes featured in "Charlie Dies and Doesn't Come Back" include:

  • Animation Bump: Jeremy goes from only having 2 frames of animation, except for his tongue, to a smooth and fluid animation when Charlie punches him in the solar plexus after he "entertains" him again.
  • Attending Your Own Funeral: Charlie rematerializes at his own funeral.
  • Big Damn Heroes: God pops out of nowhere at the end of the episode to rescue Charlie from Satan the moment He deems that the critter's learned his lesson.
  • Brick Joke: Let the record show that, if nothing else, Charlie is a man of his word. He threatens to punch Jeremy if the latter "entertains" the former again. Sure enough, near the end of Charlie's journey, Jeremy pops up out of nowhere to "entertain" Charlie, causing Charlie to punch Jeremy right in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of the latter.

    Charlie: Dude, I warned ya! I said I was gonna do that if you did that again!

    • Jeremy returns the favor by punching Charlie in the face while he's being tortured by Satan's minions.
  • The Cameo:
  • Can't Take Criticism: When Charlie gives Satan some advice on why he might be in a rut, Satan immediately takes offence, believing he's being talked down to.
  • Character Death: Charlie, as the Spoiler Title says. He does come back, though.
  • Continuity Nod: Pim brings up Desmond as an example of Charlie's negative attitude during their argument. Later in the episode, Dave, the creator of Daveland, can be seen at Charlie's funeral.
  • Crossthrough: On April 1st, 2022, a special version of the episode featuring characters from Pibby edited into the episode was aired as part of an April Fools' Day joke by [adult swim].
  • Deal with the Devil: Charlie makes a deal with Satan that if he can get the Prince of Darkness out of his depression, then Satan will send him back to Earth. Satan initially seems willing to uphold at least until Charlie starts pointing out his flaws, which he takes badly.
  • The Dog Bites Back: Jeremy returns once more near the end to deck Charlie in the face as payback for getting decked in the solar plexus earlier.
  • Easy Road to Hell: Charlie's Grandma apparently got sent to hell for cursing and saying "damn" when she saw her husband get shot by a burglar. In 1958. Charlie also winds up getting sent to Hell for his cynical and lazy nature.
  • Funny Background Event: One of the sights in Charlie's trip to Satan's living space are a pair of giant demons having a snowball fight with sinners instead of snow.
  • Funny Foreigner: Downplayed. The delivery guy is clearly Indian, complete with a thick accent, but aside from the fact that he literally managed to somehow reach Hell of all places to deliver food for Satan himself and treating it like it's just another job, as well as some of his interactions with Satan, there isn't that much comedy to him.
  • Gross-Up Close-Up: The Imp who introduces Charlie to hell gets a lovely close-up when he welcomes him to hell.
  • Incredibly Lame Fun: Jeremy, Charlie's only form of hellish entertainment. He "entertains" Charlie by rapidly throwing his hands at him while making high-pitched babbling noises, which realistically just annoys Charlie.
  • Made of Plasticine: Charlie dies by way of a relatively small pine tree falling on him, which causes his entire body to practically explode into a pile of gore.
  • Mythology Gag: The Indian delivery guy is basically the same character as the Indian cashier from Rick and Morty: Bushworld Adventures which was directed by Michael Cusack.
  • Naked on Revival: Charlie appears naked when he's revived, a result of God literally throwing him back to Earth.
  • Never Trust a Title: Charlie comes back to life by the end of the episode.
  • Oh, and X Dies: The title gives Charlie's demise away upfront. He does come back though.
  • Rule of Three: The imp that introduces Charlie to hell shows him his new "Hell Mattress", his "Hell Toilet", and Jeremy, his only form of hellish entertainment. Jeremy himself also makes three whole appearances through out the episode, with the 1st being his introduction, the 2nd being his surprise appearance to "entertain" Charlie out of nowhere, and his 3rd, and final one having him appear to punch Charlie as payback for punching him in the solar plexus earlier.
  • Seven Deadly Sins: Satan himself embodies most of these, fittingly enough.
    • Pride: Satan gets incredibly offended when Charlie tries to offer him sincere criticism on his character, even though he asked for it, accusing him of talking down to him.
    • Wrath: He flies into a state of fury just because Charlie offers him advice that he didn't take, and he also refuses to hold up his deal with Charlie just because he got him mad in the first place.
    • Lust: Satan has become addicted to multiple vices, such as gaming, junk food, vaping, and, if the box of tissues in the trash pile surrounding him is any indication, masturbation.
    • Gluttony: His aformentioned junk food addiction.
    • Sloth: He is introduced sitting in a gaming chair, talking to Charlie about how his problem is that he has lost all motivation in ruling Hell and has pretty much given up at doing so. He is very lazy in general, given that he doesn't even bother cleaning up the trash pile around him.
  • Shout-Out:
    • One of the demons that Charlie encounters in Hell is the spitting image of a Cacodemon.
    • The hell mattress bears a striking resemblance to the Colonials from All Tomorrows.
    • A frozen lake with damned souls entombed within it at the bottom of Hell is a massive one to Dante's Inferno.
  • Stealth Pun: Gilbert Gottfried as God, given that the "Gott" in his surname literally means God.
In Loving Memory
Lieutenant Damien Xavier Cowap
1969 - 2025note