Review: Happy! “Blitzkrieg!”

Things are about to get weird…er.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Nick and Meredith have found themselves a lead to take down Sonny Shine with. A disenfranchised children’s show host named Dayglo Doug, who was the original host of the public access show that Sonny Shine got his fame with, before Sonny blackmailed him off the show and took over. Nick and Meredith track Dayglo Doug to an old folks home where he’s stuck performing for octogenarians who couldn’t care less about his awful routine. Nick and Meredith learn Doug’s story of betrayal by Sonny, who used to be one the kids in his audience, and how the mysterious “wishies”, his costumed minions, allowed him to do whatever he wanted and are most likely aliens or some such thing.

Meanwhile, Sonny’s plan to generate the “War on Easter” keeps gaining steam, as all the chips start falling into place for his sinister machinations. Blue Scaramucci continues suffering jail, possessed by the devil who keeps alternating his personality back and forth. And, in a strange turn, Hailey runs into Smoothie once more, who starts looking out for her when she’s attacked by bullies from her school. Smoothie tries to get Hailey to trust her, but to what end is left a mystery.

Nick and Meredith continue their investigation of the old folks home Doug is in, and find that the place isn’t just an old folks home, but a home for retired nazis. Doug insists that he’s just a “Collector”, but the rest of the home begins to turn on Nick and Meredith for asking too many questions. A fight soon breaks out and Nick reminds the old nazis who the winners of World War 2 war with a very physical lesson.

Nick, Meredith and Doug return to Meredith’s apartment, where Nick fixes some food and Meredith discusses what happened when she killed one of the wishies back in season one. She explains that she kept some of the wishie’s blood in a jar in the fridge, which Nick accidentally eats. Nick then has explosive diarrhea which allows the wishie blood to regain it’s form and start attacking Nick.

The episode ends with Blue (In his possessed personality) confronting some prisoners in the prison kitchen. Blue is able to use his voice to force one of the prisoners to cut off his own hand in horrifying fashion by quoting biblical verses. He then assumes role of their leader, and utters his true name, Orkas.

Our Take:

You never really know what to expect from Happy!. This show thrives on it’s surprise factor, it’s ability to completely circumvent any and all expectations you might have had for the show each episode. The only one thing one can really expect, is for things to get stranger, stranger and even stranger still. This week’s episode gives us a more intimate look at Sonny Shine and introduces us to an old folks home for retired Nazis, and things go about as well with that as you can expect. As for the episode quality, it stands somewhere in the middle. I really like some of the ideas at play, especially Dayglo Doug who turns out to be a great addition to the team. The episode also has a lot more focus in it’s narrative than it has in past episodes. Sometimes this drug trip of a show can be really damn confusing, so it’s good to see the show re-orient itself to be easier to follow.

There is a clear divide between the “Story” and “Fighting” parts of the show  which is becoming more and more apparent by the episode. There needs to be a solid balance between the fighting and narrative, but I think lately Happy! has been trying a little too hard to unfold it’s story when it should really be focusing on the action. A lot of the time it’s hard to enjoy what this show wants to do when so much time is spent with creepy lunatics like Sonny Shine. It’s comedy and sense of entertainment really comes out when Nick Sax starts unleash a wave of brutal destruction on his hapless foes. To that end, Nazis are a great way to bring out the “fun” parts of the episode.

Happy! is just so bizarre that oftentimes it’s hard to make heads or tails of it. It’s as ambitious as ever, but a lot of the time that ambitiousness tends to push the show in weird directions that are hard to be on-board with. Not all the jokes land, and in fact, there is a lot more “Awkward” than “Hilarious” in the writing here. Yet, to the show’s credit, it keeps me interested like nothing else, and it’s the only game in town. If violence and surreal, demonic plots are your aim, then this is the show for you. Just keep your expectations in check, this ain’t exactly Shakespeare.