Happy!

Created by Grant Morrison & Darick Robertson

Directed by Brian Taylor, David Petrarca, & Wayne Yip

Starring Christopher Meloni, Bryce Lorenzo, Ritchie Coster, Lili Mirojnick, Medina Senghore, Patrick Fischler

Voice of Patton Oswalt

To say that Hello! is over the top is like saying a Carolina Reaper pepper is spicy. Take elements from the following: the old Batman TV show; Die Hard; Who Killed Roger Rabbit?; Jack Nicholson as The Joker; most Quentin Tarantino movies; The Sopranos, Garth Ennis (Preacher or Hitman) add a twist of noir, and distill the hell out of it.

Welcome to the mad world of Hello!

This eight-part series which aired on the Syfy channel beginning in December 2016 has reappeared uncensored on Netflix. The tone is one of very gritty realism, but reflect on this: the central character, Nick Sax (Christopher Meloni), is an ex-cop turned hitman who abuses booze and many of the better known drugs, and who shrugs off bullet holes, broken legs and the occasional heart attack in order to stumble around, sometimes doing the right thing but usually for the wrong reasons. He’s also very adept at doing the wrong thing for a wide variety of reasons.

His partner is a small flying unicorn, plush blue and with tiny wings. His name is Happy!, and he is the invention of a little girl named Hailey (played with amazing presence by Bryce Lorenzo), and when she is kidnapped by Really Bad Santa (Joseph D. Reitman), she sends Happy! to Nick to rescue her. Joining them in due course is “Merry” McCarthy (Lili Mirojnick), Nick’s ex-police partner and main squeeze on the side, and Nick’s ex-wife, Amanda (Medina Senghore), who is unenthused about working with the woman whose sexcapades with Nick destroyed both Nick’s marriage and his career as a detective. It is, as they say, complicated. The only people who can see or hear Happy! are Nick, Hailey, and Really Bad Santa.

The heavies are equally over the top. There’s the sinister and urbane Smoothie (Patrick Fischler), Blue (Ritche Coster, bearing an unsettling resemblance to Richard Schiff), the Scaramuccis, one of whom is sorta dead, and another is a good replica of Tony Soprano’s mother Olivia, and “The Bug.” And of course, Really Bad Santa, the Jaime Gump of Santas,

There’s a host of supporting characters, including Sonny Shine (Christopher Fitzgerald) who confirms your worst suspicions about children’s stage idols, Jerry Springer (as himself) and a group of imaginary friends that suggest there are some very troubled children out there.

There’s tons of gore and lots of gratuitous violence throughout, but don’t be fooled: this works extremely well, both as a drama and as a comedy. Not only is it engaging and suspenseful as all hell, but it’s often falling-down funny. The series is informed by a cheerful lunacy under the sure hand of Grant Morrison, the Scotland’s equivalbent of Garth Ennis.

Morrison has signed a major deal with Universal Cable Productions to do series based on several of his library of works, including The Invisibles and a Morrision reworking of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. The deal includes a second season of Happy!, which will begin airing in April on Syfy. I do recommend waiting for the uncensored Netflix version, so you don’t miss out on the rich depravity of the series.

Now on Netflix.