The Night of the Puppeteer - Recap

Jim comes to visit Supreme Court Judge Vincent Chayne, who is in his parlor while his wife holds a party for their grandson. The agent notes that two of Chayne's colleagues have died recently under mysterious circumstances, but Chayne dismisses them as accidents. Jim notes that both men died precisely at 2 p.m., and both received small model caskets delivered through the mail. The judge dismisses it as melodramatic nonsense, but admits that he received a casket as well. However, he refuses to have a bodyguard. The clock chimes 2 p.m. and Chayne insists that he's fine.

Jim reluctantly starts to leave, but overhears Mrs. Chayne ask her husband where he hired the puppeteer for the party, and he has no idea what she's talking about. They go in to see the show, which features a courtroom and a puppet judge that looks just like Chayne. A puppet defendant ant comes out and the judge sentences it to hanging at 2 o'clock. As the defendant puppet pulls out a blunderbuss, the puppeteer fires a gun at Chayne. Jim gets the judge out of the way just in time. The defendant puppet addresses Jim by name and shoots him with the blunderbuss as Jim fires back at it, "killing" it.



Later, Artie and Dr. Lake arrive. Lake tends to Jim's wound, and explains he was shot with an anesthetic dart. The puppeteer is long gone. Artie takes the dart to the lab for an examination, while Chayne thanks Jim for saving him. They realize the puppet that shot Jim is gone, and Jim figures the puppeteer considered the puppet a part of himself. He notes that the killer was arrogant to leave behind several clues, including a puppet modeled on Chayne. Also, the defendant puppet represented the killer himself. Chayne says there was a man, a sculptor convicted of murder who took his case to the Supreme Court. They unanimously refused to hear the case, but the man jumped from the prison train at high speed. The body was never found, but he was presumed dead. The murderer's name was Zachariah Skull. Jim examines the puppets left behind and realizes that each one is deformed in some manner, except for a ballerina puppet. Around its neck is a small medallion with the name of a dockside tavern, Triton's Locker. And Triton was a deformed Greek sea god. Jim leaves for the tavern, figuring that Skull is waiting for him.



At the tavern, everyone briefly goes silent when Jim arrives. He orders a drink and notices that a puppet is watching him from the stage. When she comes back, the waitress spills Jim's drink on him and whispers for him to get out while he can. Once she goes, several of the locals move to cut off his escape. Jim launches an attack and runs backstage. He ducks down a hallway and tries to get out the back door, but a panel closes him off. The elevator chamber starts descending at high speed, the sudden change in pressure driving Jim to the ground in pain.



Once the elevator stops, Jim emerges and finds himself in a vast unlit underground chamber. A single highlight outlines the suave, debonair Skull, sitting at a dining table. He invites Jim to join him and the agent notes that he's under arrest for the murder of two judges. Skull points out that he's detaining Jim. A life-sized one-eyed butler puppet descends and pours wine, and Skull explains that the wires conceal a steam line that drives the puppet, and Skull controls the movements through a keyboard. Jim admits that he's impressed and comments on the eyepatch, and the other deformed puppets. Skull admits that the puppets are mutilated, and art imitates life. However, he says that he has one puppet that isn't, and brings forth a ballerina puppet, Vivid. She dances out of the darkness at Skull's command, and Jim is surprised to learn that she's a puppet. Skull invites Jim to dance with the puppet and the agent agrees. Swept up in the moment, Jim finally remembers that it's a puppet and releases Vivid.



Skull sends the puppet away and informs Jim that he will dispose of all nine Supreme Court judges to clear his honor. After that, he demonstrates how he'll kill President Grant with a rigged musical archer, in revenge for Grant not granting him a pardon. When Jim goes after Skull, the puppeteer brings in armed puppet soldiers to defend himself.

Artie talks to Chayne and tries to figure out where Jim went. Chayne shows him the disk and notes that it referred to a deformed Greek sea god. Artie goes to the riverfront and soon finds Triton's Locker.

Jim is finally released from is cage and brought to a courtroom presided over by Judge Skull. Jim asks for a trial, and Skull explains that it was conducted in his absence, and he was convicted of killing a puppet. Jim asks for a trial by jury, and Skull reveals boxes filled with puppet jurors. He tells Jim that he has been sentenced to death, and Jim asks to address the jury. Skull allows him to do so, and Jim tries to make a break for it. Puppet soldiers cut off his escape, and he returns to telling the jury that Skull plans multiple murders.



Artie goes to the tavern and feigns drunkenness, and the waitress approaches him. Artie covertly asks her if she's seen Jim, and she realizes that he isn't drunk. She tells Artie that Jim ran down the hallway behind the stage and never came back. Artie asks her to punch him for being fresh. He then gets up on the stage, makes a brief speech, and then ducks in back.



Skull concludes Jim's address and tells him that the sentence still holds. However, he offers him a trial of skill and courage, and sends a caveman puppet to attack the agent. Someone slides a knife to Jim out of the darkness, and he uses it to cut the puppet's control lines. Skull compliments him and then summons a harlequin puppet with a whip that disarms Jim. Jim manages to disarm it, and Skull reveals that it's face beneath the mask is Jim's own. Skull then asks the jury to cast a new vote. All of them give a thumbs down except for Vivid, which remains motionless. A squad of puppet soldiers marches out of the darkness to execute Jim.



Artie examines the hallway and finds the elevator chamber.

Skull interrupts the execution to inform Jim that Artie has arrived. Artie emerges from the shadows and Jim punches him, saying he messed up the entire plan. Artie punches him back and they fight briefly before running off into the darkness past the puppet soldiers. They set out to find the main source of the steam and the main cutoff valves. They turn off the steam, shutting off the puppet soldiers as they charge. Jim takes one of their rifles and they run back to the courtroom. Jim leaps up onto the judge's bench, only to discover that Skull is also a puppet. Vivid emerges from the shadows, and she explains that she's not a puppet. She explains that Skull promised that if she went along with the masquerade, he wouldn't kill anyone. However, when she heard Jim's description of Skull's crimes, she realized that she couldn't go through with it. She tells them that the real Skull is in a control center high above the floor, and tells them to leave while they can.



The agents refuse to leave and ascend a staircase to the control center. At the center of the web of wires is the real Skull: a man disfigured by a fall from a train. Skull says that he jumped because he was condemned by a blind verdict for a crime he didn't commit. He suffered irreparable damage to his metabolism, leaving him a bloated wreck. When Jim moves in to arrest him, Skull grabs a gun and holds them off, and then opens the sea cocks. When the water hits the boilers, they'll explode. Vivid runs up and tells Skull to let them go. When he refuses, she draws a gun and Skull wonders what she'll do. He reminds her that he healed her back to health and taught her to dance after her limbs were broken in an accident. He shoots at her and misses, she shoots back, and the bullet grazes the pipe. Skull is enveloped in scalding steam and killed. The agents get Vivid out and go back to the elevator. Upstairs, they watch as the water bubbles up as Skull's underground kingdom is destroyed.



Later, Chayne keeps the casket as a memento and thanks the agents for their help. They go to the party where a new puppeteer is performing. Chayne assures Jim that the puppeteer is safe and invites Jim to check. The agent goes behind the stage and a minute later, the judge puppet gives the ballerina puppet a kiss. The show ends and Artie goes backstage to check. He finds Jim kissing Vivid, and Vivid has her ballerina puppet close the curtain on him.



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