History Recap / TalesFromTheCryptS4E12StrungAlong

* {{Balloonacy}}: Koko introduces himself to Rick/David by blowing up a balloon by himself.

* {{Homage}}: The episode is one to 1950s and 60s puppet shows like ''Series/HowdyDoody'', ''WesternAnimation/BeanyAndCecil'', ''Series/TopoGigio'', and several others.

* {{Pun}}: Koko was known crack many puns on his old show, to the amusement of the child audience.

* TheShutIn: Donald became an elderly shut-in after a heart attack, usually staying in his workshop and talking to Koko.

* NamesTheSame: Koko the Clown shares the same name as the eponymous character from the old ''WesternAnimation/OutOfTheInkwell'' shorts from the 20s.

* {{Pun}}: Koko was known crack may puns on his old show, to the amusement of the child audience.

[[caption-width-right:350:There's a twisted tune out there to sing; who's the puppet on the strings?]]

In the 1950s, puppeteer Joseph Renfield and his signature character Koko the Clown were huge stars on children's television. However, changing times and a heart attack have left him a has-been who stays at home and makes new puppets all day, occasionally hearing Koko's voice in his head. His wife Ellen's attempts to find friends outside the house keep running afoul of his jealousy; her only real social outlet is a weekly acting class. One day, Joseph receives an invitation to participate in a program dedicated to the golden age of television and becomes excited, thinking that it might lead to a comeback for him. Ellen suggests that he take on a partner, in order to lighten the workload on himself, and offers to ask around in her class.

Soon, a young man named David comes to visit Joseph. Though his experience is in animatronics rather than classic string-operated marionettes, Joseph agrees to teach him the act after seeing his admiration of the craft. The two get along well, with David even suggesting updates to the material, but Ellen thinks he is trying to ruin the act. At the same time, Joseph begins to suspect that Ellen is cheating on him with someone named Rick, having overheard her on the phone, and learns from David that she has been missing acting class for months. Joseph overhears David accusing Ellen of having an affair, finds a stash of love letters written by Rick, and flees to his workshop, where he passes out after a bout of drinking and listening to Koko's voice telling him to take matters into his own hands.

When Joseph wakes up, he is horrified to find that Koko's strings have been cut and the puppet is missing. Hearing a scream from Ellen, he rushes up to the bedroom and finds Koko stabbing her repeatedly with a knife. The shock causes him to suffer a second heart attack and collapse - and then David enters the room, remote in hand. He is actually Rick, and he and Ellen staged the murder using an animatronic double of Koko in order to scare Joseph to death.

As Ellen leaves the room to call an ambulance, the real Koko attacks Rick with a knife under his own power. By the time Ellen returns, Rick's dead body has been strung up like a marionette, the knife in one hand, and Koko manipulates him to kill Ellen as well. When the police arrive, called by the paramedics, they find both lovers strung up from the room's canopy bed. The strings are in Koko's hands, with his face now resembling Joseph's and frozen in an ear-to-ear grin as he rests on top of the canopy.


----

* BaitAndSwitch: At first, the episode seems to be hinting that Koko is the villain of the episode, culminating with the scene where Joseph sees him stabbing Ellen. It then turns out that the real villains were Ellen and her lover, who deliberately cause Joseph to have a fatal heart attack, with Koko killing them in return to avenge Joseph.
* CreepyCircusMusic: Koko's Main/{{Leitmotif}}, a jolly carnival/circus riff which is [[RecurringRiff repurposed with different instruments]] throughout the episode depending on the mood. It gets truly creepy in the final shot of Rick and Ellen's stringed up corpses and the Joseph-faced Koko while the clown music is heard, eerily slowed down.
* DemonicPossession: Joseph's spirit controls the clown puppet as his way of getting revenge on the young couple who caused his heart attack.
* EverybodyDiesEnding: None of the main characters are alive by the end of the episode.
* EvilPuppeteer: Probably a rare case where the puppeteer in question is sympathetic and plays that trope completely straight only after being wronged by two unfaithful AssholeVictims.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: After realizing Ellen ''is'' cheating on him, Joseph [[DrowningMySorrows drowns his sorrows]] and asks Koko what he should do. Koko then asks "You mean if you were you, or you were ''me''?"

* GoneHorriblyRight: Ellen and Rick wanted to convince Joseph that his puppet, Koko the Clown, become alive and become a [[SerialKiller Serial Killer]]. Joseph possesses the Koko puppet and kills the pair.

** Joseph teaches Rick (who uses his alias "David") about his craft in string puppetry. Rick uses the knowledge he gains from Joseph to his own advantage when he concocts his scheme to shock Joseph into a fatal heart attack.
** Joseph lets Ellen join a weekly acting class. Unfortunately, she becomes good enough in acting that she manages to help Rick scheme to get Joseph killed by his own heart attack. Worse still, it was in said acting class that Ellen met Rick/David.
** Part of the scheme concocted by Rick and Ellen involves cutting Koko's strings loose to make it appear to have come alive. This comes back to bite Rick and Ellen big time after Joseph dies, once [[PerversePuppet Koko starts moving on its own]].
* MalMariee: Ellen finds new love through Rick/David when her relationship with Joseph, who's much older than Ellen, has hit a rut. Worse yet, Ellen's attempts at socialization outside her house are often met with Joseph's jealousy, with her weekly acting class being the sole exception.
* MarionetteMotion: How Rick's dead body moves when it's under [[PerversePuppet Koko]]'s control.
* MurderTheHypotenuse: Rick and Ellen's scheme is to fake out Joseph enough to cause him to suffer a fatal heart attack.
* PerversePuppet / MonsterClown: Koko turns out to be this. Not only does it communicate with Joseph, it also kills Rick and manipulates his dead body to kill Ellen as well.
* WhamShot: In the ending, Koko's face has transformed into Joseph's.

* KillEmAll: None of the main characters are alive by the end of the episode.

* GoneHorriblyRight: Ellen and Rick wanted to convince Joseph that his puppet, Koko the Clown, become alive and become a [[SerialKiller Serial Killer]]. Koko believes himself and kills the pair.

* CreepyCircusMusic: Koko's Main/{{Leitmotif}}, a jolly carnival/circus riff which is repurposed in different instruments throughout the episode depending on the mood. It gets truly creepy in the final shot of Rick and Ellen's stringed up corpses and the Joseph-faced Koko while the clown music is heard, eerily slowed down.

* GoneHorryblyRight: Ellen and Rick wanted to convince Joseph that his puppet, Koko the Clown, become alive and become a [[SerialKiller]]. Koko believes himself and kills the pair.

* PerversePuppet: Koko turns out to be this. Not only does it communicate with Joseph, it also kills Rick and manipulates his dead body to kill Ellen as well.

* EvilPuppetteer: Probably a rare case where the puppeteer in question is sympathetic and plays that trope completely straight only after being wronged by two unfaithful AssholeVictims.

* KillEmAll: None of the main characters is alive by the end of the episode.

* PerversePuppet: Koko turns out to be this. Not only does it communicate with Joseph, it also kills Rick and manipulates his dead body to kill Ellen as well.

As Ellen leaves the room to call an ambulance, the real Koko attacks Rick with a knife under his own power. By the time Ellen returns, Rick's dead body has been strung up like a marionette, the knife in one hand, and Koko manipulates him to kill Ellen as well. When the police arrive, called by the paramedics, they find both lovers strung up from the room's canopy bed. The strings are in Joseph's hands, his body dressed in a full-size version of Koko's clown suit and wig and his face frozen in an ear-to-ear grin as he rests on top of the canopy.

* MalMariée: Ellen finds new love through Rick/David when her relationship with Joseph, who's much older than Ellen, has hit a rut. Worse yet, Ellen's attempts at socialization outside her house are often met with Joseph's jealousy, with her weekly acting class being the sole exception.

** Joseph lets Ellen join a weekly acting class. Unfortunately, she becomes good enough in acting that she manages to help Rick scheme to get Joseph killed by his own heart attack.

* PerversePuppet: Koko turns out to be this. Not only does it communicate with Joseph, it also kills Rick and manipulates his dead body to kill Ellen as well.
* YourCheatingHeart: Ellen finds new love through Rick/David when her relationship with Joseph has hit a rut.

** Part of the scheme concocted by Rick and Ellen involves cutting Koko's strings loose to make it appear to have come alive. This comes back to bite Rick and Ellen big time after Joseph dies, once Koko starts moving on its own.

* MarionetteMotion: How Koko controls Rick's dead body.

** Joseph teaches Rick (who uses his alias "David") about his craft in string puppetry. Rick uses the knowledge he gains from Joseph to his own advantage when he concocts his scheme to cause Joseph to have a fatal heart attack.

As Ellen leaves the room to call an ambulance, the real Koko attacks Rick with a knife under his own power. By the time Ellen returns, Rick's dead body has been strung up like a marionette, the knife in one hand, and Koko manipulates him to kill Ellen as well. When the police arrive, called by the paramedics, they find both lovers strung up from the room's canopy bed. The strings are in Joseph's hands, his body dressed in a full-size version of Koko's clown suit and wig and his face frozen in an ear-to-ear grin as he rests on top of the canopy.

As Ellen leaves the room to call an ambulance, the real Koko attacks Rick with a knife under his own power. By the time Ellen returns, Rick's dead body has been strung up like a marionette, the knife in one hand, and Koko manipulates him to kill Ellen as well. When the police arrive, called by the paramedics, they find both bodies strung up from the room's canopy bed. The strings are in Joseph's hands, his body dressed in a full-size version of Koko's clown suit and wig and his face frozen in an ear-to-ear grin as he rests on top of the canopy.