Review by Brandon:
Are you looking for an alternative to your routine Christmas entertainment? I personally like to go towards the untraditional movies like Die Hard and Krampus. The darker movies are just as fun to me as the more light hearted Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and The Year Without Santa Claus. Which leads me to this gem that I found while browsing around Netflix over the weekend. This reminded me of an episode of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon last year when he interviewed Christopher Meloni (from Law & Order: SVU, Oz, True Blood), a character actor as you may know as “oh hey, it’s that guy!” He was talking about his new series that was premiering on the Sy-Fy Network that involved an imaginary flying unicorn voiced by comedian Patton Oswalt. The recipe is there for an interesting series, but I was reluctant because of the release on the Sy-Fy Network. Based on their track record, I wrote it off as another hokey, poorly produced, made-for-TV level entertainment. Boy, was I wrong. Come to find out, the showrunner behind the Crank movies, Brian Taylor, is the mastermind behind bringing this graphic novel to life in this series called “Happy!” It is dark, filled with violence, sex, drugs and oddly enough is all centered around Christmas, so it’s all wrapped up in the warm messages surrounding the holidays. Here’s the rundown:
Based on the graphic novel of the same name, Nick Sax is a corrupt, intoxicated, ex-cop turned hit man who is adrift in a twilight world of casual murder, soulless sex, and betrayal. After a hit goes wrong, Nick finds a bullet in his side, the cops and the mob on his tail, and a monstrous killer on the loose. But his world is about to be changed forever by a tiny, imaginary, blue-winged horse with a relentlessly positive attitude named Happy. On their journey, they must contend with a laundry list of enemies including angry mobsters, ex-mistresses, ex-wives, and one very bad Santa.
Now, I am only 3 episodes in, but I am NOT disappointed so far, and admittedly hooked. There are only 8 episodes in this first season, available on Netflix now. This is a must watch for this holiday season! Thumbs up!
