Season Review: Happy Season One

Syfy’s newest creation is a sight to behold. Make sure the kids aren’t in the room, though.

Happy!, an adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name, has quite a bit to prove for itself. Its one of the new wave of original Syfy shows, and easily one of the most ambitious ones to show up on the network’s fledgling roster. I’m happy to say that it doesn’t live off of ambition alone.

The premise follows the curious tale of Nick Sax, played by Christopher Meloni of “Law and Order” fame. He’s an ex-detective in dire straights, but “down on his luck” doesn’t really cut it. He’s a hopeless drug addict and professional alcoholic, who spends what little money he has on Chinese food and strip clubs. It doesn’t seem like anything will change for Nick Sax, until he meets a flying blue unicorn, Happy, with the voice of the great Patton Oswalt. Happy is the imaginary friend of a girl named Hailey, who, after getting kidnapped by an insanely creepy Santa Claus, sent Happy to find help, landing this cute, obsessively wholesome unicorn in the midst of New York’s underbelly. The two form a buddy cop duo and try to track down Hailey, running into a cast of eccentric characters in Nick Sax’s life, and getting into many, many brutal fistfights in the process.

Its a solid idea from a solid graphic novel and the show doesn’t fail to deliver on the promises of over-the-top violence and glorious bloodshed it offers. Each episode is jam-packed with creative fight scenes, witty one-liners, and brutal executions. You can tell the showrunners did their damnedest to make sure no fight is similar to the one before it; such a labor of love is a hard thing to find on TV shows.  Furthermore, the hard contrast of hyperviolence with childish imagery (Especially Christmas imagery) cements Happy!’s powerful aesthetic appeal. It’s grotesque, horrible and amazing all at the same time. Nothing is sacred, everything is permitted, and with the abilities of its talented cast, Happy! strives to make each episode memorable.

That’s not to say that aesthetic is the only thing this show has going for it. The writing is solid, the characters feel natural and believable, and its fun to see Happy and Nick grow with each other as the series goes on. As the cast gets bigger with each episode, it sometimes feels a bit scattered, but this show understands the importance of good character growth even in a totally wacky premise like this, and that is a wonderful thing. By the end of the season, I felt something for Happy, Nick, and his family, which is a good sign that the story did its job well. However, it’s not all gold stars; the main failure of this show is its relatively straightforward plot. It dresses up a pretty normal tale of kidnapping and crime in its psycho-pop aesthetic, but it never really surprised me or had an interesting twist like a good mystery should. However, I do give it a credit for laying the groundwork of an interesting fantasy version of our world, a world which by the end of the season is clearly not all that it seems to be.

Not everything in Happy! hits the mark, but for what it tries to do well, it does really well. If you’re looking for something new to enjoy, something that isn’t afraid to take a few risks, then this is definitely the show for you. Season one of Happy! is the start of something big, and I’ve no doubt that this show will rise to be a Syfy mainstay. Cheers to you, Happy!, cheers to you and your tooth-knocking, head-bashing, pill-snorting ways. See you next season.