Syfy’s Happy!
Season 2, Episode 1: “The War on Easter”
Directed by Brian Taylor
Written by Taylor & Grant Morrison

* For a recap & review of the Season 1 finale, “I Am the Future” – click here
* For a recap & review of the next episode, “Tallahassee” – click here
We open on a group of nuns praying, watched over by a terrifying man in a leather mask. The nuns are strapped with explosives. “Heaven waits for us,” one of them says. When she runs, the others follow. Perfectly, a song from The Singing Nun (“Dominique“) plays while the women scramble through a market in the streets. One nun knocks another out and gets to a garbage can which contains a glowing Easter egg. Inside the egg is a remote which she uses. Instead of turning off the explosive devices around her they all detonate.
Exploding nuns EVERYWHERE!

At home, Nick Sax (Chris Meloni) is sleeping. When his radio alarm hits at noon he’s greeted by Happy (Patton Oswalt). They’re working on sobriety. It’s going… okay. On the street, Happy and Nick give us a great Midnight Cowboy homage: “I‘m walking here!” Not long and the former cop/hitman’s at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting making a scene, following that he’s in front of a liquor store crying of thirst like one of the apes from 2001: A Space Odyssey standing before the sinister black monolith, right down to the eerie sounds. Sober living Nick’s an interesting specimen.

“Hallelujah, my little blue asshole.”

One positive thing is seeing Nick attempt to be a better father to his estranged daughter, Hailey (Bryce Lorenzo). Not smooth sailing. But he’s trying, anyway. He sits down with her teacher for a chat about his daughter’s troubles. Hailey’s supposedly got an “anti–authoritarian attitude.” What smart child doesn’t? Nevertheless, Nick’s not what you’d call an appropriate father figure.
At the Vatican, Sonny Shine (Christopher Fitzgerald) is talking with the Pope about “holiday re–branding” for Easter, because it’s the “Alzheimer‘s ravaged mother–in–law of holidays.” Sort of perfect fit, right? The Vatican— a factory of child molestation— partnered with a creep like Sonny. Outrageously funny scene.

We’re gonna Make Easter Great Again—
for the first time.

In jail, Mr. Blue (Ritchie Coster) sees life’s less glamorous than on the outside. His cellmate, Big Pink (Paul Wight), is quite romantic. In the yard, he has to deal with people who want him dead. All the same, Blue doesn’t take any shit. Doesn’t matter when Sonny’s alter-ego Mr. Bug is running the show, even from outside those walls.
Speaking of bugging, poor Amanda (Medina Senghore) has to deal with Sonny’s prevalence in pop culture despite all she’s learned up close and disturbingly personal. Then Nick shows up at her job with Hailey. Their daughter’s booted from school, so they need to find her another one. That, in turn, means money.

Oh, and our leather man? He’s the Easter Bunny. Yikes! And he has more sick plans.

Meredith (Lili Mirojnick) is no longer with the PD. She’s a realtor. She finds Nick has been sneaking into her properties to get a wash. He wants to try and get an apartment so he can have his daughter stay with him occasionally. He hopes Meredith might actually help him out. She’s slightly convinced when he doesn’t reek of booze. Yet their past is a tortured one. Meredith still wonders about Sonny, even if she claims to have “moved on.” She wonders about Blue, too. Later in her apartment, we see she hasn’t moved on from it whatsoever, continuing her investigation from home.
At prison, Blue gets a visit from his sister Isabella (Debi Mazar) and her old, spooky Italian lady friend. She knows he’s been having nightmares. Her boy Mikey carried an “ancient spirit” passed from the Don to him, which now exists within Blue. How long until this thing takes over completely? The spirit— the old woman calls it Orcus— has gone from generation to generation in the Scaramucci family. Orcus can only continue through the bloodline if Isabella lives, so the old woman stabs her repeatedly to try cauterising the family’s curse.
The demon remains in Blue. Forever.

Nick’s driving a cab around these days. He has a young guy jump in, asking to find a girl. Sax helps him pick one up— his old pal from Season 1 (played by Hannah Hodson). Things get unsettling when the guy asks her “blood type.” They go to a big factory, where she’s asked to change into a costume and a bunch of creepy dudes stand around watching. When shit gets very suspect Nick has no choice but to take charge of the situation. An axe is introduced and the killing begins. Maybe the most hilarious fight scene in years comes out of a pile of blood causing Nick and his opponent to slip n’ slide while they rumble. Yes, Season 2 has brought PLENTY of that utterly insane action that Season 1 introduced its audience to in spades, and we’re only one episode deep.
There are disturbing things happening elsewhere, too. Like Leather Bunny Man lurking outside Amanda and Hailey’s house. He’s got the dude whose safe word is “Tallahassee” locked in a cage in another locaton. He gets a visit from his employer, Sonny, asking about Meredith and “Nick Tuba.” Sonny’s considering killing them off to cover his tracks. We also get to see who’s under the Bunny mask: Smoothie (Patrick Fischler).
Oh, god. It’ll get so much more disturbing from here.
What a pitch perfect, darkly comic, weird and wild opener for Season 2. Happy!‘s never one to disappoint, even though it’s only had one season so far. Each episode brings something new and shocking. Sometimes there’s a lot of emotion. This season is shaping up to be a worthy successor to its first effort. Let’s hope for more of the good stuff.
“Tallahassee” is next time. Remember that safe word— you may need it.