After an energetic, gruesome and bizarre eight episodes, the first season of Syfy‘s adaptation of the acclaimed graphic novel Happy! has come to an end, but it will not go quietly into the night after being renewed for a second season two days prior to the finale. The first season was so faithful in adapting the short graphic novel that it wrapped up the primary plot driving them both, which was the rescue of Hailey from her kidnappers. However, in trying to expand the material for both its current season and the possibility of future seasons, the novel’s author Grant Morrison and showrunner Brian Taylor (Crank) have branched out storylines that were left unresolved in the finale, as well as changing the fate of Nick Sax from the novel. With the primary story finished following season one, let’s take a look at where the second season could and should go from here.
Amanda and Meredith vs. Sonny Shine
In the graphic novel, readers don’t really learn much about Hailey’s abduction outside of who did it and the motives behind the kidnappers, so the show decided to expand upon it and reveal that all of the other children taken were all attending the concert of a beloved children’s icon, Sonny Shine (Christopher Fitzgerald). They even took it one step further and revealed that Shine was the one coordinating the kidnappings to sell the children off to various black market dealers, concealing his identity under a giant suit and naming himself, Mr. Bug. During the show’s expansion, the character of Amanda (Medina Senghore), Nick Sax (Christopher Meloni)’s ex-wife, was fleshed out and given a pivotal role in the search for Hailey. In the course of her own investigation, she comes to discover Shine’s secret identity and bizarre hobbies, along with the fact he’s orchestrating the abductions, but is drugged and removed from his building before she can do anything about it. Given that Shine was not arrested nor killed at the end of the season, and that Amanda and her enemy/partner/Sax’s former partner Det. Meredith McCarthy (Lili Mirojnick) know his secret, it’s safe to say they will reluctantly team up again to bring him down.
Nick Sax, Father of the Year
Part of Sax’s motivation to keep going throughout the whole insane adventure of finding Hailey was that she was his daughter, not knowing of her existence having abandoned Amanda around the time she discovered she was pregnant. From his drinking to his drugging to his killing to his swearing, it was clear within the first five minutes that Sax was no role model and certainly in no place emotionally or mentally to be raising a kid. However, in the midst of his killing and swearing as the series went on, audiences got a glimpse of what a father truly should be, which is protective of their child no matter the circumstance, even if that means falling into two separate bear traps (twice). In the finale, we see Happy (Patton Oswalt) leave Hailey for good, now that she’s growing up, but he sticks around with Sax, who is panicking about how to properly spend time with his daughter without having no prior knowledge of her or how to parent. With Happy choosing to stay with Nick, it could really prove rewarding for Sax as he tries to become a good father, as Happy has the inside scoop on what Hailey likes and dislikes. The dysfunctional family element might be a tired trope well-played out in both film and television, but this show has already proven it can take any familiar element and warp it for its own creative atmosphere, promising a potentially hilarious plot point for the show’s return.
The Walking Blue
Easily the biggest unresolved plot from the first season is the fate of Francisco “Mr. Blue” Scaramucci (Ritchie Coster), who was arrested by Meredith in the episode before the season finale and is visited at Rikers Island by his near-zombie son Mikey, who came back to life after being killed by Sax in the pilot and was carrying around what was initially thought to be a password for the secret stash of mob riches, but was actually an “orcus,” or demon. During his visit, Mikey exhales the orcus into Blue’s ear, causing him to have a seizure as he seemingly is possessed by the demon, responding to a guard’s question of if he was alright with “I’m hungry.” Audiences saw the resurrected Mikey act very much in a zombie-esque manner as he consumed raw meat in a fit of rage and was very aggressive in his behavior, and Isabella (Debi Mazar)’s spiritualist aunt warned that if the orcus made it to Blue, all would be lost. He might currently be in prison, but the second season could see a more resourceful Blue find his way out and begin terrorizing the town.
Meredith and Happy
This point might be more of a hopeful wish than a potential reality, but during the raid on the Sonny Shine television studio, Nick and Meredith split up and after being captured by cleaner Smoothie (Patrick Fischler), Happy sped off to Meredith to try and get her help in saving Nick. While she clearly couldn’t see Happy, there were a few moments during his pleas in which it appeared she might have actually heard him, hitting her head as though she believed she was hearing things just as Nick was when he first started seeing and hearing the imaginary friend. Given that Nick is not as likely to get sucked back into the violence as Meredith will be, it would be interesting to see the dynamic of a skeptic coming to grips with the “real” imaginary friend return to the screen.
Are you excited for Happy Season 2? What would you like to see in the next entry in the series?
