Once More With Tasers
After last week’s episode, we return to Happy! to find Hailey getting ready for her first day of school. As she lines up infront of a priest, preparing to receive a repentance, she’s consumed by a flashback to her time last season and snaps, breaking the priest’s thumb as he touches her. Remaining on the straight and narrow, we catch up with Nick in a bar, refusing to drink. He’s given a job by a former associate which includes breaking and entering a prolific house, stealing what’s inside. After negotiating a higher fee to pay for Hailey’s tuition, Nick gets to work with the task at hand, much to the dismay of Happy. Meanwhile, it’s the day of Easter fun and a brief speech sets the precedent for what follows. As the kids chip away at a giant chocolate easter bunny, inside they reveal the man with no skin. As the tabloids flock to the story, we return to Nick preparing to break into the house. It turns out this house happens to be Sonny Shine’s. A brief musical number then follows, including a humorous segment involving Shine’s well endowed statue and a taser. This really feels like the dark comedy of old and after dealing with the guards outside, he snatches up Happy and heads for the drop-off point. The person behind this elaborate scheme happens to be none other than Detective Meredith. She tells him she’s close to cracking the case and the tapes may hold the key to bringing Sonny Shine down. His influence is unrivalled, with Blue’s lawyer as well as high level officials all working for him. In the midst of picking up Hailey from school, Nick borrows their video player and checks out the content of the tapes. It turns out they’re actually sex tapes and as the few remaining imaginary friends disappear for the kids in school, Hailey heads off to settle a score with one of the girls. It turns out they’re not alone and Smoothie shows up, killing the other girl and leaving an ominous message for Hailey to chew over. Hailey refuses to talk to Nick about it and instead they both head home where Nick decides to watch the tapes one more time. After dozing off, he wakes up in the middle of the night to the sex tapes still playing. Only this time the content has changed to show a performer named Day Glow Dave doing the Nazi salute dressed in leather clad underwear. It’s here where we end the episode. With a deliciously dark humour and some really strong characterisation, Happy’s latest episode feels more akin to that of the first season. While the story doesn’t quite hold the same urgency the first did and the unpredictability factor is all but gone, there’s enough here to make for a thoroughly enjoyable watch nonetheless. Happy’s tone and dark storyline is ultimately what makes this show so entertaining and hopefully this can continue in the weeks to come.
