Just before the finale of Happy! aired, a second season was announced. I was a bit surprised, since the season seemed to be ramping up to the ending that was presented in the comics, but upon watching the finale, I wanted more bizarre adventures, and the show sets things up nicely for a return.
After the police come to take the rescued kids home, and take Blue into custody, Nick and Happy find a lead in the form of Very Bad Santa’s sock puppet, which represents an imaginary friend that abandoned the psychopath when he started to go bad. Happy and the other imaginary friends from the support group interrogate the Christmas Sock and find out where his true hideout is.
This torture scene also introduces the episode’s theme, growing up. Very Bad Santa didn’t want to grow up, and as he started committing more and more horrendous acts, his imaginary friend abandoned him. But, we all have to grow up some time, a recurring concept in the season finale.
Meanwhile, Merry rescues Amanda from Sonny Shine’s clutches by threatening to destroy his career, which we learn, from the audition tape introduction of the episode, is desperately important to him. After this, Sonny’s story, and his crimes, go unresolved, perhaps acting as one of the setups for a second season. I was a little disappointed at this quick resolution and the fact that Sonny Shine’s storyline was left open-ended, but with a second season on the way, this disappointment was somewhat quelled.
In the bowels of Very Bad Santa’s hideout, we find previous kidnapped children that Santa “collected” and kept away from whatever fate that Bug sent them too, the “nice” ones. Though, they’re not much better off with him, wandering around Very Bad Santa’s delusional “Toyland” as lobotomized, child-minded adults Hailey meets these poor souls and finds herself next in line to be “collected.”
This sequence, showing us what it’s like inside the broken mind of Very Bad Santa, was wonderfully creepy, and the reveal of what his “new friends” truly were was as frightening as it was exciting storytelling. And, of course, I must once again give praise to Joe Reitman on his performance, as he brings something new to classic crime genre psychopaths, something subtle and unique that puts me on the fence between wanting to hate him and empathizing with him, a moral quandary that is further enforced by his moment with Hailey on the rooftop.
Luckily, Happy and Nick make it to the hideout just in time, leading to various pursuits around the abandoned shopping center building. Nick and Happy confront Very Bad Santa’s “friends,” Nick gets caught in two bear traps, Happy is reunited with Hailey before fighting off Santa, and Hailey manages to get away from Santa, finding her way to the rooftop, which leads to the first time that Hailey meets Nick.
All of these moments are punctuated by some of the funniest lines the entire show, my favorite being “I keep finding bold new frontiers of suck,” mumbled by Nick when as he worked his way out of the bear traps. The pursuits are also executed just right, they’re exciting and visually appealing enough that they don’t feel like “in-betweens” of the plot, and short enough that they don’t drag on, all leading to an exciting climax.
After Nick first meets Hailey, he fights off both Very Bad Santa and an impending heart attack. Very Bad Santa gets the better of an ailing Nick, but happy comes to the rescue, with the help of his imaginary friend allies. The friends all attack Santa, which gives Nick the opportunity to blow a hole through the psycho’s head. Very Bad Santa stumbles into some cables, falls through the rooftop window, and dies hanging by his neck in the middle of the shopping mall, just like his father before him. In a touching final gesture, Very Bad Santa’s imaginary friend comforts him in death.
I loved the imagery of Very Bad Santa’s final moments, the parallels between his death and his father’s suicide, which lead to his psychotic break in the first place (a wonderful expansion of the comic’s lore), were strikingly brilliant. And let’s not forget about the insanity that was an army of imaginary friends attacking a psychotic Santa Claus, a straight-out-of-the-comics moment that was as bonkers as it sounds.
Very Bad Santa didn’t want to grow up, he wanted to stay a kid forever, and it was his downfall. Not only did he die in a way that mirrors the action which forced him to grow up in the first place, but he was also attacked by a representation of growing up. All the imaginary friends that attack Santa were forgotten by their creators who had grown up, working together to force Santa to grow up one way or another.
Nick returns Hailey to Amanda before collapsing on the streets. Just when we think our “hero” is dead, a time skip shows Nick up and about, albeit with a cane. The world thinks he’s dead and he uses the opportunity to find a new lease on life, taking the time to get to know his daughter and possibly rekindle his relationship with Amanda.
Meanwhile, Happy says goodbye to Hailey, fading from her sight. He says he has to go where he’s needed, and now that Hailey has her father, she doesn’t need her imaginary friend. However, Nick still needs a helping hand, thus Happy shows up to once again partner up with the most unlikely of souls.
Both Nick and Hailey learn the value of growing up. Hailey has to say goodbye to the friend that helped her through hard times, but she knows his goodbye is a good thing, it means that she is stronger. Nick, however, still has some growing up to do, which is why Happy comes to his aid in helping him become a part of Hailey’s life. Nick spent all his time running from, or even killing, his problems that he needs to learn to face them, a big part of growing up, and though he might not be there yet, he has Happy to help in the same way Hailey did.
After the credits came the biggest setup for season two. Blue is visited in prison by Mikey, who seems to transfer some kind of essence to his uncle, which is accompanied by tortuous imagery and a demonic contortion of sorts from Blue. Seems like the next season will be delving further into the supernatural elements of the show in an interesting and frightening way.
Nearly everything about this episode was on fire, and it served excellently as a finale to the season. Very Bad Santa was given a much more interesting (and thankfully less perverted) story than his comics counterpart, Nick got his “happy” ending (I’m not apologizing for that pun), and a second season was set up rather nicely.
The only issues I had with the episode were the somewhat minute happenstance moments, like when Amanda is rescued after being drugged. Certain story bits go unexplained or have a rather convenient wrap-up, which make the scenes feel rather out of place as a result. Sonny Shine’s story was also left open-ended, and though it leaves room for season 2, I was left with an unsettling feeling that Mr. Bug and his “business” were still operating.
That said, I am excited to see where things go in season 2 and how a completely original plot line will pan out. The season finale of Happy! was funny, exciting, emotionally powerful, and uniquely satisfying, and I can’t wait for more.
That’s it for the first season, but check back later for more of TV Overmind’s coverage of the insanity that is SyFy’s Happy!
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Visitor Rating: 4 Stars