Recap / Empath: The Luckiest Smurf - Empath's Wedding

The Wedding Episode of the series, which connects with the epilogue of the novel. Empath and Smurfette finally tie the knot, and the Smurfs pull out all the stops to make this the happiest wedding for the couple. However, Hefty is jealous because he isn't the one who is marrying Smurfette, and Chlorhydris decides to ruin it by stealing Smurfette away on the day of the wedding and rendering her completely heartless.

Its immediate sequel is "Empath's Honeymoon".

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This story provides the following examples of:

• Big Damn Heroes: Sir Johan and Peewit show up during Empath's confrontation with Chlorhydris to duel with the evil witch in the latter half of the story.
• Big "YES!": Snappy when he first hears that Empath and Smurfette are going to be married.
• Bouquet Toss: Copied straight from the novel, the bouquet toss is combined with the garter toss, and while Sassette gets the bouquet that Smurfette tosses, Snappy gets the garter (which he calls a "slingshot") that Empath tosses. Nat points that the one who catches the "slingshot" must marry the one who catches the bouquet, and both Snappy and Sassette stick out their tongues at the horrid thought that they must someday marry each other.
• The Cameo: Would you believe there's a Snork that attended Empath's wedding?
• Drowning My Sorrows: Hefty sits alone in Tapper's Tavern with a single glass of sarsaparilla ale on the night before the wedding, wondering why Smurfette won't marry him and realizing that he just couldn't compete against Empath. By morning, it is clear that Hefty is hung over just from that single glass.
• Dull Surprise: Smurfette reacts to Empath and his friends coming to her rescue at Chlorhydris' observatory with this kind of reaction — a sign that something isn't right with her.
• Flash Sideways: Empath has one right after he rescues the Smurflings, that he has performed the same rescue, but with Nat, Snappy, and Slouchy being adult Smurfs instead of Smurflings, recalling an event that happened parallel to this story's events, but was more disastrous, involving an infinite number of Smurfs appearing in the Smurf Village. Empath immediately dismisses it by telling the Smurflings that he was just imagining what the Smurflings would look like as older Smurfs.
• Gayngst: Clumsy tells Pansy that not only is he attracted to Brainy, but also that Brainy doesn't reciprocate the same feelings back to him, and he doesn't know what to do considering that Smurf culture considers same-sex relationships a taboo thing.
• Heart Trauma: Chlorhydris abducts Smurfette on the day of the wedding and removes her heart so that she wouldn't feel anything for any Smurf, including Empath. Empath decides that he's going to give Smurfette his heart to make her feel love again when Hefty, who originally wanted to marry Smurfette himself, decides to do the honors and give his heart to her. This in turn makes Hefty feel no love for anybody, so Empath gives his heart to Hefty and thus he ends up feeling no love for anybody. Hefty and Smurfette end up bickering with each other over who's going to give their heart to Empath when Johan and Peewit crash the proceedings and force Chlorhydris to restore things to normal, which she does.
• Heel Realization: Hefty during his lonely night at Tapper's Tavern during Empath's batchelor party comes to the realization that he has been a jerk to Empath, Smurfette, and his fellow Smurfs for years and that he deserves what they all thought of him.
• Interspecies Romance:
  • Flowerbell the woodnymph is in a relationship with a head-for-a-body-type monster named Glonk.
  • Marina the mermaid with a male Snork. At least Handy admits that it works, since they are both aquatic beings.
• Meaningful Rename: Peewit, who is now an older and taller person, was given the new name William.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Narrator in this story recites a modified version of his Gargamel battle sequence speech from The Smurfs movie during a similar one in the Imaginarium, with Grouchy reacting the same way.
    Narrator: There comes a time when every Smurf must stand up for what is good and cute and blue in the world. And on this very night before Empath and Smurfette's wedding, that time is now!
    Grouchy: Hey, seriously?
    Narrator: Sorry, it's kind of what I do.
  • Peewit is renamed William, which is the character's name from the United Kingdom English dub of The Smurfs and the Magic Flute.
• The Power of Love: When Chlorhydris takes Smurfette's heart out of her, causing her to feel no more love for anybody, even Empath, Hefty decides that he would give his heart to Smurfette in order to restore her love, though when he does, he no longer feels any love for anybody. Empath decides that Hefty deserves to love Smurfette more than he does, so he gives his own heart to Hefty, causing Hefty to feel love again and Empath to no longer feel love. As Hefty and Smurfette bicker with each other over who's going to give their heart to Empath, Chlorhydris deals with Sir Johan and Peewit interrupting the proceedings and forcing her to surrender, causing her to restore all three Smurfs and their ability to love each other.
• Runaway Bride: Empath assumes that this is what happened to Smurfette at his wedding day in the story when he enters her house and sees that his hat (which is what she's supposed to wear to signify who she's marrying) lying on the floor, until Smurfette's companion and wedding guest Blue Eyes points out that she's been magically transported by someone...and Empath correctly assumes that it's Chlorhydris, who's getting even for her ruined wedding night by ruining Empath's wedding.
• Silver Fox: Flowerbell still comments on Papa Smurf's looks as him being this.
• Smurf In A Kilt: While Duncan McSmurf and Tapper both show up at the wedding wears kilts, Empath appears dressed in a kilt during his groom suit fitting in the Imaginarium. Empath looks a bit miffed at Smurfette for even suggesting that he would show up at the wedding wearing that as his groom suit.
• Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: Empath's rival Hefty wants the opportunity to tell Smurfette how much he loves her and that he wants to marry her, and Papa Smurf tells him that he will have that opportunity at the wedding ceremony when Papa as the minister of the wedding says this line. After an incident involving Smurfette being kidnapped by Chlorhydris and her, Hefty, and Empath swapping hearts with each other to show how much they care for each other, Hefty doesn't take the bait at the ceremony...though Grouchy does, as he starts to say "I hate..." but out of nervousness he ends up saying "I would hate that Empath and Smurfette would not be smurfed together as a married couple for all time!" When the ceremony proceeds onward, Grouchy mutters under his breath, "But I hate that it couldn't have been me with Smurfette."
• Stag Party: A G-rated version of this appears here, where it starts off as the Smurfs' one last adventure with Gargamel in an Imaginarium fantasy setting, and then it turns into a beach dance party that most of Empath's fellow Smurfs (except for Tapper and Hefty) attend.
• Take That!: Empath briefly appearing in a kilt during his groom suit fitting and not liking wanting to attend his own wedding wearing one is a friendly jab at Hero Smurf wearing a kilt at his own wedding in the Hero: The Guardian Smurf story "Hero's Wedding".
• Tears of Joy: Empath cries these when he meets Smurfette at the altar and Smurfette wonders what's wrong, saying he looks like he hasn't seen her in years. In fact, he is recalling the loneliness he felt in losing Smurfette during the time-traveling adventures of the Lost Year.
• Wedding Episode: This story is about Empath and Smurfette getting married. It takes place at the end of the novel, but the story itself chronicles how it gets to the ceremony part, with the evil witch Chlorhydris crashing it by stealing Smurfette and taking away her heart so that she wouldn't feel any love for Empath. Hefty, the jealous rival who wants to be the one to marry Smurfette, purposely gives his own heart to Smurfette so that she would be able to feel love again.
• Wedding Smashers: Chlorhydris. Instead of appearing at the wedding, though, she transports Smurfette out of the village before the wedding starts, forcing Empath and some of his guests to join in finding and rescuing her.
• You Can See That, Right?: Smurfette's Invisible to Normals horse friend Blue Eyes shows up as one of the wedding guests, and Brainy (who in the cartoon series writes Smurfette's friend off as being imaginary) asks Empath if he's seeing the same horse with wings that talks as he is, and Empath confirms that he is seeing it as well.