Happy Face Season 1 Review – An ineffective blend of true crime and crime drama
Episode Guide
Episode 1 -| Review Score – 3/5
Episode 2 -| Review Score – 3/5
Episode 3 -| Review Score – 3/5
Episode 4 -| Review Score – 3/5
Episode 5 -| Review Score – 2.5/5
Episode 6 -| Review Score – 2.5/5
Episode 7 -| Review Score – 2.5/5
Episode 8 -| Review Score – 2.5/5
It's hard to know what to feel while watching Happy Face. Do you enjoy the creepy thrills of a convicted serial killer of eight women sending his granddaughter drawings of herself and other women? Or do you feel the guilt and unease the killer's daughter experiences as the identity of her father chips away at her life?
This dissonance comes about from the fact that Happy Face Season 1 is loosely based on a true story. It is adapted from a podcast and autobiography by Melissa Moore, daughter of Keith Hunter Jesperson who is also known as the Happy Face Killer. The series turns Moore into Melissa Reed but keeps other broad details about Keith and her life pretty much the same.
The story kicks off when Keith, who has been arrested for eight murders, calls the TV show where Melissa works as a makeup artist and confesses to one more. But he will only give the details to Melissa. What follows is an investigation into this additional murder led by Melissa and Ivy, a producer for the show.
At the same time, as news about Melissa's connection to the serial killer leaks, it begins to affect her family. Her husband Ben and her kids, 15-year-old Hazel and 9-year-old Max, start feeling the ramifications as friends and coworkers find out the family's link to Jesperson. Hazel sees the difference in how students treat her at school, while Ben faces issues at work. Things get more tense because Melissa, who is focusing on the investigation, is forced to be away from her family at critical times.
As a whole, the Happy Face Season 1 follows a two-pronged approach to this story. On the one hand, it has all the markers of a crime thriller. Melissa and Ivy's investigation into the new murder offers a solid mystery to hang on to. We see them look for clues, collect evidence and speak to witnesses like in any other crime drama. The series pulls the puzzle together, piece by piece and with a few twists in between. At the same time, there is a sense that Keith is hiding something or planning something much bigger.
This side of the series leans into the drama. Tensions are high and the story is meant to offer a riveting and twisted mystery, though it does not always succeed. It also emphasises the unique thrill of a serial killer story — Dennis Quaid's performance as Jesperson is designed to give you the creeps and pique curiosity about what goes on inside the head of a man who killed eight women.
On the other hand, the show explores how Melissa's ordinary white picket fence life gets disturbed when people find out she's related to a killer. Friends change their behaviour, little Max loses a playmate, and prejudice raises its ugly head. Melissa and Ben face issues in their relationship.
Through clips from the past and events of the present, the series also looks at how many people suffered at the hands of Keith — Melissa, her brother Shane, their mother June, and even relatives of Keith's victims. This is meant to be a more grounded version of storytelling, a realistic portrayal of life as a killer's relative.
The two sides of the show simply don't work together. You can't easily pair high thrills, mystery and suspense with an unvarnished, grave depiction of reality. But the show forces them together and even flits between the two sides of the story in each episode. It leads to a tonally jarring experience where the mood shifts with every scene, which is just not a fun watch.
The inconsistency and clashing of moods get worse in the second half when the story tries to up the ante on both ends. While the murder mystery reaches a natural high point, the family's side of the tale enters dramatic territory. This is largely due to the storyline around Melissa's daughter, Hazel, who happens to get in touch with her grandfather and build a connection.
This plotline is ominous and leads to some chilling moments between them, trying to straddle the line between a depiction of the real world and a melodramatic crime thriller. Additionally, Ben decides to take certain steps that feel like a huge jump for his personality and are definitely not characteristic of a regular dad.
This is a weak attempt at giving otherwise flat characters some semblance of nuance and deeper characterisation. But instead of doing that, it just feels like watching them jump from one genre to another as they engage in increasingly absurd behaviour.
It doesn't help that the pacing is off and certain episodes feel stretched out, with even the murder mystery losing its momentum. Annaleigh Ashford's portrayal of Melissa begins to get monotonous and some of Quaid's dialogues feel laughable instead of creepy. Despite all the time the story spends on talking about guilt and duty and justice, it doesn't actually address these themes in a meaningful way.
Ultimately, Happy Face tries to be two kinds of stories in one and, as a result, fails. What's left is an uneven and easily forgettable mess. And that's just on its merits as a TV show. We've not even begun to dissect the real question — what it really means to take a story about real violence and real victims and turn it into entertainment.
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