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"Hearts 'N' Smurfs" is a Season 9 episode from the 1980s Smurfs cartoon show.

Characters

Synopsis

Hefty, Clumsy, and Brainy try to help Cupid spread love, but Brainy is captured by Van Garg and starts spreading nastiness instead.

Plot Summary

It is Holland, the land of windmills and canals, and Cupid is busy in that part of the world making feuding animals fall in love with each other -- a sight which sickens Gargamel's Dutch counterpart Van Garg as he spies the winged love god at work through his telescope. He plots to stop Cupid once and for all by disguising himself as a dog and then chasing his cat all around, which he hopes will bring Cupid to him. Sure enough, it attracts Cupid's attention, and as they hide out inside a barrel, he lands near it only for the evil Van Garg to snag him in a net. The wizard carries off Cupid in his net with the plan of putting an end to love in the world forever.

Soon, the time whirlwind appears in Holland, dumping some of its time-lost Smurf passengers into a canal and dropping others right on top of Van Garg and his cat, who is ready to send Cupid on a one-way cruise down the canal. While Van Garg and his cat get caught in the "spin cycle" of a windmill, the Smurfs notice that Cupid appears younger than when they last saw him, which means they must be at least a few hundred years prior to the present time.

Sometime later in a makeshift village camp, Papa Smurf tends to Cupid's wing injuries, telling him that it may make some time for his wounds to heal. Clumsy then wonders who's going to take care of Cupid's job of spreading love around while he's mending. Cupid says that it will take a creature of great sensitivity, strength, courage, and daring to do that. This makes both Hefty and Brainy feud with each other over who's more worthy to take on the job, which Papa Smurf mediates by saying that perhaps Cupid can use more than one Smurf. Cupid then takes out an arrow and transforms Brainy, Hefty, and Clumsy into his little army of cupids, armed with their own love arrows and bows and bearing wings to travel. Brainy is ready to show Hefty and Clumsy how to spread love around, but Cupid stops Brainy from taking off too soon by saying they're going to need some basic training if they're going to be his love soldiers.

To start off, Cupid gives his troopers flying lessons, which they are so much in need of since none of them can fly straight. Their next lesson is targeting practice, with Painter providing Cupid's army with targets for their suction cup arrows to hit. Brainy and Hefty hit their targets with no problem, but Clumsy only manages to hit Cupid's forehead. Soon they are as ready as Cupid thinks they will ever be, but before they are sent off to do their job, Papa Smurf warns them to stay away from the evil wizard Van Garg. Cupid sends his army off with a song of encouragement: "Cupid, draw back your bow, and let your arrow go..."

Clumsy spots two feuding goats in a nearby human village and so takes aim with his love arrow, but his arrow hits the wrong target: a frog who starts getting too friendly with one of the goats, who then kicks the frog away, with the other one chasing after Clumsy. Brainy sees two feuding rabbits, but instead of using his arrows, he chooses to give them a bit of counseling, which is rewarded only by him being catapulted near Van Garg's lair. Brainy then sees Hefty coming nearby and hides himself behind a barrel, overhearing the tattooed Smurf talking about turning Van Garg so that every Smurf will have to admit that he's the best cupid Smurf. Brainy decides that he will try to get to Van Garg first before Hefty does, but Hefty is already at the evil wizard's windowsill, ready to take aim. As Brainy hovers in midair over Van Garg's hovel, a passing bird bumps the bespectacled Smurf down to the ground, landing right on top of Hefty and causing his arrow to strike Van Garg's cat. The wizard spots Brainy trying to creep his way out of the lair and captures him, using his wand to turn Brainy into a bat-winged spreader of hate.

Hefty, after watching Brainy fly off, heads for the Smurf camp to warn Cupid and Papa Smurf, but he sees that Brainy has beaten him there and now has an army of bat-winged hate-spreaders on his side -- including Cupid and Papa Smurf. Hefty's attempt to reason with Papa Smurf falls on deaf ears, and soon they give chase to the only cupid Smurf left who can spread any love. Van Garg watches the chase with pleasure even as he sees a storm cloud brewing overhead. Soon, Hefty's flight of escape ends as he hits a wall that knocks him to the ground. With his last love arrow left in his quiver, Hefty attempts to aim it at Van Garg as he gathers with the bat-winged Smurfs in cornering their prey. Instead, the arrow flies up into the sky, and as Van Garg now has Hefty in his grasp, the dark storm cloud strangely turns reddish and starts raining down hearts all over, changing the wicked bat-winged Smurfs back into good cupid Smurfs. It also changes Van Garg's heart from thoughts of wickedness to thoughts of doing good and noble deeds. Cupid watches, noticing that one of his cupid Smurfs has succeeded where he has failed with the once evil wizard.

Back at the Smurf camp, Papa Smurf has arranged the crystals in a new configuration and is ready to activate the time whirlwind once again in the hopes of his little Smurfs finally reaching home. As they are carried away, Cupid fires a love arrow at the whirlwind, saying that this will put "a little joy in their journey".

Trivia

  • This is one of the final episodes of the series to air on NBC before its cancellation in 1990.
  • Although Smurfette and Greedy make some on-screen cameos, they don't have speaking lines anywhere in the episode.
  • Grandpa Smurf, Baby Smurf, Grouchy, Lazy, Vanity, Jokey, Wild, Sassette, Snappy, and Smoogle do not appear in this episode.
    • Handy also doesn't appear in this episode but he can be heard offscreen saying goodbye to Cupid.
  • This episode marks the third and final time that a Smurf commented that a man resembles Gargamel. The first time was in "Mummy Dearest" and the second was "Hefty Sees A Serpent".
  • This episode is the only time where copyrighted music with vocals is used in the cartoon show, as Cupid sings the first few words of Sam Cooke's song, "Cupid". Instrumental music for "Cupid" was also played.
  • The run-down home that Van Garg lives in closely resembles Gargamel's hovel.

Goofs

  • When Hefty covers Brainy's mouth, Brainy's glasses disappear.
  • When Van Garg catches Cupid in his net, he incorrectly calls Cupid a "sickening seraphim". Cupid is actually a cherub, not a seraphim, as he does not have six wings, but two.
  • When the cupid Smurfs become good again, Brainy is animated saying "What happened?" in Handy's voice.
    • Handy is also heard saying "Goodbye!" to Cupid near the end of the episode. Despite being heard, Handy never appears in this episode.
  • The raincloud changes Greedy, Painter, and Papa Smurf from evil cupids into normal Smurfs, but changes Brainy and Clumsy from evil cupids into normal cupids.

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