Smile 2 may follow a slightly different story than the original film, and its roster of characters is almost entirely new, but there are still plenty of connections to the first installment of this terrifying horror sequel, including Joel. The film centers around a famous singer named Skye Riley, who witnesses the violent death of her friend, causing a supernatural demon to latch onto her and haunt her with frightening visions of her deepest traumas. Smile 2 is filled with haunting scenes that propel this story forward while also paying homage to the entry that came before it.
The most obvious connection between Smile 2 and its predecessor is the inclusion of Kyle Gallner’s character Joelwho played a major role in the first film and indirectly passed the curse on to Skye Riley in the sequel. At the end of 2022 SmileSosie Bacon’s protagonist, Rose, is unable to defeat the supernatural creature and falls victim to its torture, killing herself in front of Joel and passing the curse on to him. This is where Smile 2 continues, with Joel carrying out his dangerous plan to get rid of the curse once and for all.
Joel’s plan to pass on the curse and survive goes horribly wrong
Smile 2 opens with a direct continuation of the first film
Smile 2 begins with Joel’s attempt to pass the curse onto someone else, and the character chooses a violent criminal as his target, presumably convincing himself that he doesn’t deserve life anyway. In the scene, Joel stabs one of the criminals in front of his associatewhich theoretically should pass the curse on to whoever witnessed the death. This is what Joel learned alongside Rose in the first film, and based on all the evidence from both films, it appears to be an accurate description of how the curse works.
However, Joel’s plan quickly goes awry when another group of criminals appear at the house and begin shooting at Joel, forcing him to flee. Amidst the chaos, Joel runs onto the road and is struck by a speeding vehicle, killing him instantly. Joel’s death happens at the beginning Smile 2 and it immediately sets the tone for the rest of the film, but complicates the chain of the curse a bit.
Smile 2 uses Lewis to confirm that the curse continued
Lewis’ character serves as confirmation that the entity survived
It’s not exactly clear whether Joel’s attempt to pass on the curse was successful, as he dies shortly after committing the crime – which is why Lewis Frigoli is so important in the story. Smile 2narrative. Once the story shifts to Skye Riley, she visits Lewis’ apartment to get some painkillers for his injured back. When she’s there, it is revealed that Lewis somehow contracted Joel’s curseand your time is running out dangerously. Eventually, he takes his own life in front of Skye and passes the curse onto her.
The fact that Lewis is cursed apparently confirms that Joel’s plan was successfuland he managed to get rid of the demon before he was killed. This would establish a clear chain of events, with the curse passing from Lewis to Skye before the singer passes it on to (seemingly) thousands of people at the end of Smile 2. Maintaining a clear order of victims for this supernatural entity is crucial to the Smile success of the franchise, as the story simply doesn’t work if the audience doesn’t know who is cursed and how they contracted it.
Was Lewis cursed by seeing the criminals die or by seeing Joel’s death?
This is where the chain gets murky
It’s confirmed that the curse passes from Joel to Lewis, but what’s not immediately clear is which death Lewis witnessed. The most obvious explanation is that Lewis was a bystander to the car accident that killed Joel, but this implies that Joel was still cursed when he died, making the entire prologue pretty pointless. The other option is that Joel managed to pass the curse directly to Lewis by killing the criminals.suggesting he was off-screen somewhere watching the incident. This makes sense, but it’s not clear why Smile 2 I wouldn’t show Lewis at the scene if that were true.
Neglecting to show Lewis at Joel’s crime scene makes it difficult for the audience to figure out how he was cursed, and we are left speculating about the details.
The details of this chain get quite confusing Smile 2prologuewhich immediately leaves the film on a somewhat confusing note. Neglecting to show Lewis at Joel’s crime scene makes it difficult for the audience to figure out how he was cursed, and we are left speculating about the details. However, the decision has some benefits as it contributes to the mysterious nature of the curse. Smile 2 refuses to fully explain the curse, and while this may seem frustrating at first glance, it makes perfect sense when you consider how unpredictable and incomprehensible the curse is. Smile the curse of the entity really is.
Joel’s death in Smile 2 suggests the plan worked
It is important to note that Joel’s death appears to have been an accident
While Smile 2 never explicitly states this, there is a detail in Joel’s death that implies he was not cursed at the time he was killed: his death was an accident, and not his fault. For all other victims of SmileDespite the curse, their deaths were intentional and self-inflicted, as the demon tortured them and finished feeding on their trauma. Rose sets herself on fire at the end of the first film, Lewis breaks her skull with a weight, and Skye kills herself with a microphone. Joel’s death is not suicideimplying that he successfully transmitted the curse.
If this is true, Joel’s death is made all the more tragic by the fact that it was nothing more than a freak accident. He came so close to defeating the entity for good, even going so far as to commit murder to save himself, but his actions proved futile anyway. The demon continued to feed on Lewis, and Joel didn’t even get to live the rest of his life.
This conclusion is somehow even more depressing than the idea that Joel’s plan was unsuccessful, which really drives home just how tragic and ruthless the plot was. Smile movies can be. Killing off one of the main characters from the original film in the sequel’s prologue for no apparent reason is a perfect demonstration of the brutal and pessimistic themes of Smile 2which very rarely gives its characters a break.