Happy!

Our Review

Christopher Meloni plus an imaginary flying unicorn equals the most violent Christmas story ever told. Nick Sax, a corrupt, drunken ex-cop working as a hitman, starts seeing Happy (Patton Oswalt), a tiny blue unicorn — the imaginary friend of his estranged daughter, who’s been kidnapped by a Santa-suited killer. What follows is a gonzo crime-noir that plays like Con Air crossed with Who Framed Roger Rabbit, filtered through Grant Morrison’s graphic novel with a body count.

Meloni is perfection — a broken tank of a man rediscovering a reason to fight; Oswalt’s cheerfully naive Happy gives the show its conscience and its best running gags. Season 1 is a complete, deranged arc (the villain reveal, the department-store finale — genuinely unsettling content around the child peril, be warned). Season 2 goes bigger and messier, and the cancellation left threads hanging. But the first season is a self-contained blast of nihilistic Christmas cheer.

Verdict: Watch season 1. It’s a wonderful, awful life.