Strung Along story
Retired puppeteer Joseph Renfield, who used to make children laugh with his signature character Koko the Clown, is offered a chance to revive his act for a tribute to the golden age of television. Due to his age, his young and dominant wife, Ellen, suggests that Joseph hire someone to help with the performance. Ellen introduces Joseph to her friend David, an animatronic puppeteer, as his new assistant. However, a game of deception soon begins when love letters are found in Ellen's dresser, leading Joseph to question if Ellen is unfaithful to him. Directed by: Kevin Yagher. Story by: Yale Udoff.
18 total · 10 major · 8 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| anthropomorphic object come to life | major | The sinister Koko the Clown marionette was telling the aged puppeteer Joseph what to do. In the end, Koko brutally murdered Joseph's wife and her lover to avenge their taking of Joseph's life. |
| coping with having a chronic condition | major | The aged puppeteer Joseph Renfield had a weak ticker. |
| extramarital affair | major | Ellen conspired with her lover, David, to dispatch her aged husband in a way that made it look like he died of natural causes. |
| husband and wife | major | The story turns on Joseph falling victim to his wife Ellen and her lover's plot to eliminate him and make it look like he died of natural causes. |
| mentor and protégé | major | The retired puppeteer Joseph Renfield took on the up-and-coming animatronic puppeteer David as his apprentice, not knowing David was his wife's lover. |
| performance art | major | The retired puppeteer Joseph Renfield was eagerly preparing to perform his act on a tribute show to the golden age of television. |
| poetic justice | major | Ellen and David plotted to stage the killing of Ellen by the puppet Koko the Clown come to life in order to scare Joseph to death, and indeed they succeeded in doing so. But then the real Koko came to life and killed Ellen and David in the very way in which they had staged her murder in the first way. |
| spouse murder | major | Ellen conspired with her lover, David, to dispatch her aged husband in a way that made it look like he died of natural causes. |
| the desire for vengeance | major | Koko preached vengeance to Joseph when they were discussing what to do about Ellen's assumed infidelity. Koko seemingly came alive in order to avenge its fallen master, in the end. |
| young and old romance | major | The plot turns on an aged puppeteer with a heart condition, named Joseph, falling victim to a plot by his conspicuously younger wife, Ellen, and her lover to eliminate him and make it look like he died of natural causes. |