Frustrated that the man she waited nearly two decades to know took one look at her and ran the other direction, Lucy vows to tell Ian the truth about his paternity, but Elena manages to get through to her daughter about the pain that a bomb like that could inflict. Not only would it destroy Ian, it would put quite the damper on Lucy’s six remaining weeks at Happyland, since the dynamic she has with Will and Harper would invariably be shaken up as a result of the news. That night, Lucy blows some steam off with Will, who she agrees to meet up with the night of the 4th celebration, Ian, and Harper; there’s a comfort there that she doesn’t want to mess up, so she decides to keep the truth about Ian to herself – at least for now.
The following day, Happyland’s 4th of July celebration is as ridiculous as you’d imagine, complete with hourly parades and a work schedule that would make any self-respecting woodland creature and/or fancified royal want to run into traffic. While Lucy not so subtly inquires about Ian’s status with Harper (thumbs up) and Harper encourages Will to make a grand gesture to Lucy that night, the weather in Happyland gets bad quickly and interrupts the ceremony led by James and Margot Chandler. A tornado warning, the first activity like that in 20 years, forces the park guests and employees to head underground, where Theo takes charge. He orders Will to not let any employee break character and keep the peace with the guests, just as Harper catches up with Margot and takes her into a room where Elena is regaling a group of veterans with talk of Happyland. Before things can get too awkward between the two women, with Margot asking if Elena knew James, Elena rushes off to find Lucy, who’s forced to perform in the crowded cafeteria due to Theo’s orders. As she and Ian glide across the floor, she ends up falling and being caught by James, only to be tugged away by Theo, who puts her through an autograph session.
Though Ian tries to make things right by encouraging James to be a good father to Lucy in the same way he’s a good father to Theo, he creates quite the rift with Theo, who doesn’t take kindly to his father knowing about Lucy being his daughter. Theo gets so upset that he inadvertently reveals that Ian isn’t the son of James, all the while Elena finds Lucy amidst the chaos. Lucy reveals that she’s not going to say anything to Ian about his patronage, seeing as how she’ll be leaving soon anyway, but Theo interrupts the conversation to tell Lucy that the park is reopening, thereby forcing her to go to the Enchanted Castle with Ian for the next duty of the celebration, and that the Happyland scholarship has been revoked. The reason? He doesn’t mention, though it’s due to Ian telling James that Elena and Lucy are leaving soon and James not wanting to let either of them go. While Will shows Harper the surprise he got for Lucy (a basket filled with a blanket, booze, and a key to the Enchanted Castle’s roof), with the two of them heading to surprise Lucy, Lucy bolts to the castle and runs up the stairs looking for Ian. She learns that he knows the truth about his father, while he learns that she’s not leaving due to the scholarship revocation and that she knew the truth about James before he did, the latter causing him to question whether he should even stick around Happyland anymore.
Just as Elena confronts James about the scholarship, getting him to say that Lucy won’t need it and that he has 17 years to make up for, Lucy asks Ian whether there’s anything at Happyland that make him want to stay, to which he replies by kissing her. The two make their way to the bed while the fireworks go off outside, only to have Will and Harper walk in on them mid-make out.
Additional thoughts and observations:
-“Sorry, it’s just really claustrophobic in this head.”
-“Moms love me.” “Yeah, my mom did. Oh wait, she’s dead.”
-“You are going to get the future that you want.”
-So, hey, you guys. You might know me from my work on the critically acclaimed, intensively penned, and wholly wonderful Reign recaps here at KSite, but I decided to check in on the Happyland finale since the show has been one of the pleasant surprises of the fall for me. And if I can help give the show even a fraction more attention that could help them score a renewal, dammit, let’s do this.
-The only real knock I can give the finale, as well as the season as a whole, is that it felt like it should’ve been longer. Decidedly the most dramedy-like of MTV’s three fall comedies, Happyland has always been an hour-long trying to fit itself into half-hour clothing and that’s sometimes impacted its pacing, which happened again tonight. It’s not even a whole piece of criticism, this idea that a show has too much interesting material to be able to fit within its allotted time, but I really do think Happyland could get to the next creative level if it was an hour-long dramedy; said extension would allow some of this material to breathe and the characters a better chance to settle into themselves (e.g. I would love to see more from Theo and possibly Will’s dad), as there were times during the season where the characters felt a little jerked around and the machinations of the plot overwhelmed any sense of character that might’ve been developing.
-Therefore, I hope that a second season wouldn’t have too many permutations of Ian/Will/Harper/Lucy. I’m okay with the show embracing soapiness, but I just think it would be better off if there were a hint of stability in that area, which would give other aspects of the show time to grow and develop. This season has been damn near kaleidoscopic in terms of how it views the love trapezoid that it created, so I don’t know if it could keep up this pace and effectiveness for a whole different season. So, please, don’t let Ian be her brother after all and let’s move on.
-I’m surprised that with fall TV’s big push into diversity, Happyland didn’t have more buzz throughout the season. Not only is the show centered on a Hispanic family, it’s one of the few shows that tackles class issues and working class life, which TV needs almost as much as it needs racial and sexual diversity. In a way, it reminds me of Looking, in that the HBO comedy was as matter-of-fact about its characters’ sexualities as Happyland is about Lucy’s ethnicity; perhaps that’s why it didn’t catch a tailwind, as fall’s diverse offering leaned heavily on making race a central topic of discussion.
-So, I write about a lot of TV and I watch even more, but I was still surprised that a certain word was uttered twice without censorship. We can do that on basic cable now? I mean, I know that the show is on late and that cable has gotten bluer as far as language, but still, it was jarring for a second. Then it was funny, especially the second use toward the end of the episode.
-Let me tell you why I think the setting of this show is genius. In addition to being unique and vibrant, Happyland acted as quite the metaphor for being a teenager. While Elena has been working there for two decades-ish and hasn’t really become an adult in the traditional sense of the word, Lucy’s naivety was shattered after she became a living embodiment of the fairy tale princess archetype – right as she’s planning what to do with herself after she gets out on her own. Aside from the cognitive dissonance of Ian (initially) not being Lucy’s prince charming while working alongside her as, well, prince charming, this was my favorite thing about the first season and something that I hope a second season would get to explore more.
-Anything with Ricky Raccoon is funny to me, for some reason. I loved the visual of him with the cymbals and the head removal was a cute gag that was held off on for an impressive amount of time and featured the type of darker comedy that I like seeing from this show.
-The Cinderella homage was another thing that was used quite well, in that it was something that felt like it could’ve been deployed at any time throughout the season given the costumes for Valor and Audriana. But the show saved it for an interesting moment and didn’t overplay it as much as it could have, so kudos.
-Here’s a map of how often tornadoes occur in July.
-I like how they made James a decent guy. He had all the makings of an asshole (member of the 1%, cheated on his wife, left his mistress to raise their love child by herself), but the show has kind of chipped away at those preconceptions to keep him as a viable love interest for Elena and a father figure that you want Lucy to get to know. Moral of the story: TV can be morally gray without making everybody awful.
-I also liked that the show made Elena emotionally immature vs. a negligent/unfit mother. Her dynamic with Lucy has been one of the most interesting things about the show for me and part of that comes from the care in the way she’s been depicted; she’s not a martyr or a superwoman, nor is she a bumbling mess. She feels quite real in the middle of a very heightened atmosphere and I’m just as invested in her finding her own happiness as I am in Lucy’s shenanigans.
-It was nice that the show informed James of Lucy being his daughter early in the finale. That seemed like it was going to be the cliffhanger, yet the finale was impressively open as far as secrecy/confessionals and provided a lot of pay-off to those who watched this season. Again, this show might not be in-your-face or anything, but its use of restraint in its storytelling combined with its willingness to provide answers is impressive.
-We’re all in agreement that Harper is still into Will, right? The laugh they shared on their night out and the way she reacted to the surprise he gave Lucy (a quiet “No problem, bro.”) just reeked of unresolved feelings and lingering jealousy that he ended up choosing Lucy over her. Given that she and Will just got Ian and Lucy together, perhaps they’ll try things again during season two?
-The editing during the 4th of July celebration was fun, especially the cross-cutting between Lucy/Ian and Will/Harper. It wasn’t choppy and not having everything played straight definitely added to the tension that was surrounding the celebration anyway.
-I also didn’t hate the green screen-ed fireworks. For being such a tiny show, it manages to make the most with what it’s got – Elena’s balcony was fairly well done and the fireworks were on the right side of cheesy, especially with Lucy and Ian in their fairy tale costumes.
-Is Happyland getting a second season? I have no idea, honestly. I mean, after this ending, I want it to be, but I’ve never understood the show being scheduled at 11:00 and I think that fact has greatly impacted its chances at seeing its ninth episode. MTV found a hit in Awkward by putting it at 11:00 during its first season, but two things: 1) Awkward had a much bigger lead-in in Teen Mom and 2) Awkward is a much bigger/louder show than Happyland, so it was able to draw some of its own audience. While Happyland was placed behind two modestly rated comedies, albeit comedies that have a similar-enough sensibility, the incest twist was too heavily emphasized in what marketing it did get, so to me, the show was hobbled from the start – it didn’t have a big enough launching pad and what launch it did get was tethered by the show looking gimmick-heavy when it’s got the most heart of any comedy in the MTV lineup. It’s a show that MTV should nurture into something special and it would be a shame if the show was not given a real chance at finding an audience.
