The Smiley Creature is one of the mysterious Creatures that haunt the inhabitants of the Town, killing any that they can get their hands on. The Smiley Creature takes the appearance of a young man dressed in 1960s attire who is always grinning.
Biography[]
Background[]
In the late 1970s/early 1980s, Miranda Kavanaugh tried to reach the Bottle Tree in order to save the children and free the people trapped in the Township. However, before she could reach it she was attacked by Smiley.[1]
Season 1[]
Smiley is one of several creatures who are seen approaching the Matthews family's overturned RV as night falls.[2] After Sara Myers murders Tobey McCray and leaves the door to the Clinic open, Smiley and the Bookworm enter, who are immediately discovered by Gina before she runs back into the basement to try and help Bing-Qian hide from them. However, the Creatures attack, killing both of them.[3]
After the Creature going by Jasmine convinces the lonely Kevin to let her into Colony House, she kills him and lets Smiley and several other Creatures in. They then lure Trudy into a bedroom and kill her. Smiley then looks down from the balcony onto the floors below, and the blood dripping from him is noticed by Dale, who raises the alarm. Smiley and the other Creatures attack, and chaos ensues. As Smiley walks through the house looking for more victims, Ellis tries to evade him but is caught. Ellis breaks a window and jumps off the porch roof to escape. Before daybreak, the Creatures manage to kill 14 residents of Colony House.[4]
Season 2[]
As the Creatures hunt the bus passengers caught out in the open, Smiley enters the bus and sits in the driver’s seat. He mimes driving the bus and turns the lights on, and sees two people duck behind the seats in the back. He heads towards them, and finds an elderly couple hiding in the back. They are relieved to see him at first, thinking that he is another person. The Creature tells them that they picked a bad spot and attacks them.[5]
Boyd exits the Clinic and calls out to the Creatures, and the Smiley Creature comes. Boyd invites him to come get him as more Creatures arrive. Boyd then cuts his palm and walks over to Smiley and cuts his throat. Smiley continues grinning, and Boyd then presses his wound to Smiley’s, telling him that "my blood is your blood now." Boyd painfully feels the worms leave his body, while a unfazed Smiley says he likes this game. He and the other Creatures advance on Boyd, but Smiley begins to writhe and howl in pain as his human appearance disappears, revealing his true monster face. The other Creatures inspect what is happening to Smiley and leave Boyd alone, allowing him to run back to the Clinic. The Creatures then disperse. The next morning, Boyd and Kenny stare at Smiley’s body, wondering if he really is dead.[6]
After talking it over, Boyd and Kristi decide to bring Smiley’s body into the Clinic for an autopsy, despite Kenny’s opposition. Kristi performs the autopsy, and discovers that Smiley’s insides are the same as a human’s, albeit shriveled and devoid of any fluid. After stabbing at his body randomly in frustration, Kenny notices an orange liquid and Kristi says it is bile, which they then gather into a beaker. Meanwhile in the throes of withdrawal, Marielle has a nightmare where she goes down to the boiler room and finds it empty. As she searches for Kristi, she finds Boyd, before they see Smiley walking towards them. Boyd tells Marielle to run as he begins firing. Marielle, frozen by fear, notices a music box playing nearby. As Smiley is upon her, she wakes up gasping for breath.[7]
Kristi and Marielle inform Boyd and Kenny that sounds were coming from the boiler room where Smiley’s body is being kept. Boyd and Kenny go down to investigate, telling Kristi and Marielle to run if things go bad. They carefully advance on the door and find hundreds of cicadas crawling all over Smiley’s corpse. Boyd later shows Donna Raines the body, but the cicadas are gone. Donna is shocked by the body, while Boyd is worried about the disappearance of the cicadas. Donna says they probably scattered, and that they need to burn the body. Boyd and Kenny cart the body away, and Donna tells them to burn the body far away so people don’t get curious. They take it deep into the forest and burn it.[8]
Season 3[]
Fatima Hassan gives birth to a fleshy pod, which the Kimono Woman takes with her down the hatch in the Root Cellar to a cavern where the Creatures have gathered. Smiley then emerges from the pod, reborn and grinning.[9]
Appearances[]
Season 1[]
- Long Day's Journey Into Night (uncredited)
- The Way Things Are Now (uncredited)
- All Good Things... (uncredited)
Season 2[]
- The Kindness of Strangers
- Pas de Deux
- Belly of the Beast (corpse/dream)
- Forest for the Trees (corpse, uncredited)
Season 3[]
- Revelations: Chapter One (flashback)
- Revelations: Chapter Two