From SyFy and director Brian Taylor (Crank) comes the TV adaptation of Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson’s Happy! Morrison will serve as co-executive producer alongside Taylor, adapting his own comic to the smallscreen. Starring Christopher Meloni, Patton Oswalt, Ritchie Coster, Christopher Fitzgerald, Bryce Lorenzo, Medina Senghore, Patrick Fischler, Joseph D. Reitman and Lili Mirojnick the series will return for a second season in 2019!
Meet NICK SAX – a corrupt, intoxicated ex-cop turned hit-man, adrift in a stinking twilight world of casual murder, soulless sex, eczema and betrayal. With a hit gone wrong, a bullet in his side, the cops and the mob on his tail, and a monstrous child killer in a Santa suit on the loose, Nick and his world will be changed forever this Christmas. By a tiny blue horse called Happy…
There are those rare occasions when the film or TV adaptation manages to surpass the comic in which it’s based upon. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World and Kick-Ass are two of the finer examples I can think of, but Happy! may have outdone them all. Thanks to Brian Taylor’s insane vision, SyFy has a genuine hit on their hands with this insane, complex, hilarious, disturbing and downright genius smallscreen adaptation of Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson’s Image comic mini-series. Not only is this leading man Christopher Meloni’s best acting performance since HBO’s OZ, but it could be his best ever and that goes for his little imaginary sidekick Happy himself, voiced by Patton Oswalt to perfection.
What makes this show work, is that it is unabashedly crazy. Imaginary friends just… exist in this world. After Nick Sax, a former disgraced cop turned killer for hire — nearly winds up dead, he starts seeing a little blue unicorn who continuously pressures him to find a little girl who has been kidnapped. After some bloodbaths and deep fried faces, Sax and Happy team up to take down psycho Santa (Joseph D. Reitman is both sympathetic and scary) and rescue the child before she can be shipped away to a pedophile’s house on Christmas day, complete with her own gigantic Barbie Doll inspired packaging. That isn’t even a big spoiler folks, Happy! is loaded with so much crazy and compelling shit, you’ll be shocked that season one is only 8 episodes long.
The eclectic supporting cast are also fucking incredible. Patrick Fischler, who is known for playing creepy badguys, delivers his masterpiece as Smoothie the torture-for-hire maniac and DESTROYER OF WORLDS… I’ll never get that image out of my head for as long as I live… Goddamn this show goes places that the SyFy network has never dared to go before. Happy! is loaded with F-Bombs, giant insects getting blowjobs, imaginary friends fighting to the death (yes Happy isn’t the only little magical creature here) and there’s even what seems like a demonic entity that is possessing certain individuals in the cast. Sure – why not? Toss in Christopher Fitzgerald‘s brilliantly menacing performance as kids’ TV show host Sonny Shine and you have what is hands down one of the best TV series of the year. This shit could even be the best show of 2018 when the dust settles – it’s that good.
The comic series may have been a “one and done” tale, but Happy! is a universe I crave playing around in for a long time and I’m ecstatic that it has been renewed for a second season. The world that they’ve built here is terrifying, bizarre and fascinating. I almost cried in the finale – thanks Patton Oswalt – you made me emotional watching a show where people dress up in animal costumes and have murder orgies. If you thought AMC’s Preacher was strange, you ain’t seen NOTHING yet. Happy! is a balls-to-the-wall murder-coaster through crazy town and it’s a ride I never want to leave, even if it makes me barf along the way.
Rating: [star rating=”5″]