Upamanyu Biswas
Paramount+’s ‘Happy Face’ tells the story of Melissa Reed, a married woman who has kept a bombshell secret throughout most of her adult life – she is the daughter of the Happy Face Killer, AKA Keith Hunter Jesperson. When Melissa’s life is upended following her manipulative dad’s call into her workplace, she must embark on a quest to confront the darkness that lurks in her past and how it could influence her future moving forward. The first couple of episodes, titled ‘The Confession’ and ‘Killing Shame’ respectively, serve as a taster in this regard, gently dipping into Melissa’s horrifying backstory while setting the stage for the chaos awaiting her family. As the protagonist readies herself emotionally and mentally, she has to step in to find the truth about a mysterious ninth victim her father never told the authorities about during the time of his capture. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Melissa Reveals the Dreadful Truth to Her Boss
The show opens with Melissa doing makeup in front of her bathroom mirror as a deliveryman leaves some mail at the front door. Melissa goes up to her daughter Hazel’s room to wish her happy birthday. The family wakes up and gets ready for the day while Hazel unwraps a bunch of birthday gifts and cards in the living room during breakfast. Melissa’s husband, Ben, returns from a run and picks up the mail, the first of which is addressed to Hazel. When the young girl opens it, she asks her mother about Chilliwack, a name that clearly shakes her and makes her wonder how she knows about it. Hazel says it is from the birthday card. Although she does not know the sender, her mother knows the truth. There is also a creepy drawing of a woman accompanying the birthday card, which Melissa takes away.
Melissa tells Hazel that the card is from an uncle who lives in a nursing home. She locks the card in a safe in the closet while also hiding it from Ben, who knows nothing about the incident. We then see her go to work. She is a makeup artist for the Dr. Greg Show, primarily working with the guests for each episode. The latest addition is Cathy Weaver, a woman whose daughter was killed a year ago, and the perpetrator is still on the loose. Despite planning to go on air, the woman is now hesitating to go through with the program. Ivy, the producer, is stressed and tells Melissa to help Cathy get more comfortable when she arrives. While performing her makeup, Melissa tries to console the agitated woman and give her more confidence about taking the stand and bringing more light to what happened to her daughter.
Melissa gets a message from her daughter, which shows a picture of a lakeside spot where Hazel thinks her “uncle” is from. As soon as she sees the picture, she gets a weird flash from her childhood. She then turns around and tells Cathy that she needs to go on the show and call attention to the crime for her daughter’s sake. While the advice from Melissa is aggressive, it has a positive effect on Cathy, who makes up her mind and agrees. Melissa heads home after buying some birthday candles and a payphone at a grocery store. The family celebrates Hazel’s birthday with a cake, and then Ben heads out for a run. Melissa gets a contact number for Oregon State Penitentiary and heads outside to call the number through her payphone. Melissa calls an inhabitant in the prison and tells him to stay away from her family and her children and to stop sending weird drawings and birthday cards.
The next morning, she is back at work, but Dr. Greg wants to see her. Apparently, Greg got a call from the Happy Face killer earlier in the day, a notorious serial killer who murdered eight women when he was active. He told Greg that he had information about a murder, but he was only willing to talk about it with Greg and Melissa. Greg wants to know why the Happy Face is interested in Melissa and what her connection is to the serial killer. Ivy also walks into the room and asks if Melissa is somehow obsessed with the Happy Face killer. With no avenues left, she reveals that the Happy Face killer is her father.
The Hunt For the Ninth Victim Begins
Moments after the grand revelation, the Happy Face Killer, AKA Keith Hunter Jesperson, calls into the Dr. Greg studio again. He only wants to speak to Melissa, but Dr. Greg intervenes on a couple of occasions. Keith states there were nine victims in total as opposed to the eight he gave up when he was arrested. He plans to reveal the identity of the 9th victim if Melissa comes to visit him in prison. Ivy asks Melissa to go because a family out there may still be wondering what happened to their missing daughter. The protagonist heads home and takes down the stack of letters she received from Keith over the years. She starts scouring through them until she finds a green stone. It triggers a flashback of her father from her childhood. Ben walks in and sees her scouring through the letters. Subsequently, the two argue about her intention to visit him and find out about the 9th victim.
The following day, Melissa and Ivy drive to the Oregon State Penitentiary to get a private audience with Happy Face. Keith starts talking about a lot of personal matters with Melissa. Ivy tries to get him to speak about the 9th victim, but he doesn’t budge. He eventually signs the release form with an eerie smiley emoji. With the formalities taken care of, he reveals that every time he killed someone, he brought home a present for Melissa and his kids. This is relevant because, after the ninth victim, he brought home a trampoline, which Melissa remembers. She has to take a restroom break after hearing it. The guard outside tries to blackmail her into sexual favors to keep her father’s identity a secret. It turns out to be a bluff to see if she is as “sick” as her father.
Back in the interview room, Keith is done with the session and wants to be led away. However, before he does, Ivy learns that Melissa knows where the ninth victim is located. The producer asks her about it later at a local bar. Melissa tries to hear her out, but she is too anxious from the earlier talk with her dad. She heads back to her room and gets a flashback of being out with Keith in his truck one late night while he talks about the perfect murder. Melissa tries seeing a video about Keith’s crimes, but it only triggers bad memories, including one involving his first victim – Kelly Davis. She remembers how she stayed in that house with Keith and saw blood on the ceiling. The following day, Melissa tells Ivy they have to visit her mother in the hotel’s lobby. At her mom’s house, Melissa goes to the basement for receipts about any trampoline the family may have purchased back in the day.
Eventually, her mom arrives and tells Ivy and Melissa that Keith is dangerous. When Ivy heads out for a call, Melissa’s mom tells her about how Keith’s ability to influence things even if he is in prison. He has a large contingent of followers who are willing to carry out his bidding. Thus, you can never be safe from his clutches. Later, Melissa and Ivy find a trampoline in the house’s backyard – the tag refers to a company in Texas. Armed with the knowledge, they head back for another interview with Keith at the prison. They use the Texas info as leverage to get him to talk about the ninth victim. According to Keith, the murder happened a long time ago when he was trucking in Texas. The victim was a bartender at a local bar who served Keith while he stopped by.
The young woman was later hitchhiking, and Keith picked her up. After having so-called consensual sex, Keith choked her and killed her. He dumped her body and then bought the trampoline for his kids. Melissa remembers Keith had a guitar pick in his pocket – she believes it belonged to the victim. With Ben’s help, she is able to locate it at home, which helps provide the name of the bar where the girl was working. Ben’s conversation is overheard by Hazel, who learns that her grandad is the Happy Face killer. Melissa and Ivy discover that the ninth victim’s name is Heather Richmond, who was raped and murdered in Jefferson, Texas. According to reports, her boyfriend, Elijah, is the one accused. He is on death row with only 2 months left. They have to travel to Texas to figure out the situation. Meanwhile, Hazel googles the Happy Face killer and learns more about him.
Heather’s Death Still Resonates in the Local Town
Following the revelation of Heather’s identity, Melissa and Ivy travel to Jefferson, Texas. Melissa gets a flashback from the night her father’s arrest was reported by the police at their family doorstep. In the present day, she and Ivy play a recording of Elijah at his lawyer’s office. According to his lawyer, Gabriella, Elijah is entirely innocent. To that end, Melissa’s father’s confession could change the game. Melissa gets another flashback of when her mother woke her up and got the kids in the car for an early morning ride. She bought all the newspapers from a store nearby. She tells Melissa that if people find out about Keith being her dad, that’s all she will ever be known for. Melissa tells Ivy and Gabriella she can’t testify in court because no one knows about her parentage, not even her kids. The truth could ruin her life.
The protagonist walks out of the place and gets on a call with Ben, who calms her down. While talking with him, she spots the Whiskey River bar, the same place her father Keith allegedly met Heather. Inside, she sees a basketful of guitar picks exactly like the one belonging to her dad on the shop’s counter. Melissa asks the owner if he remembers ever seeing her dad in the place, which he can’t quite remember. Melissa takes a picture of Heather’s memorial in the bar. The owner says that he worked with her and attended school with her. He also adds that it will be an open bar night the day Elijah, Heather’s murderer, gets the needle. Meanwhile, in the Oregon penitentiary, Keith says that he will soon appear in a variety of media outlets, including the Dr. Greg Show because he “gave” everyone “the ninth.” However, he states that he is doing it to save a man’s life.
At school, Hazel is still seeing reports about Keith on her phone. A girl named Victoria and her friend Eva mock Hazel about her “weird” interests. Eva comes by later to ask if Hazel is okay. It turns out they were formerly close friends. Hazel tells Eva that Keith is her grandfather. After school, the young teenager stops by a grocery store to get some bikini wax. She is pin influenced by Eva, who tells her that she needs to get it to avoid being ostracized. Hazel also runs into a schoolmate named Josh at the store. They have an awkward interaction before he leaves. Subsequently, Hazel gets caught by the owner shoplifting the wax. Back in Texas, Melissa and Ivy are staging a dead body lookalike of Heather’s for the Dr. Greg Show. Ivy tells Melissa to care a little more about the black man on death row, namely Elijah, and less about her anonymity.
Later, Melissa gets a call from Ben, which she ignores. Instead, Elijah’s sister shows up to greet Melissa and Ivy. The protagonist eventually picks up Ben’s call and learns about Hazel’s shoplifting incident. Because she is still away from home, she tells Ben and Hazel they will discuss it the following night when she is back home. She then notices a smiley face on a tree, which she shows to Ivy. The authorities subsequently cordon the area with yellow tape for safety measures. Melissa, Ivy, and Gabriella meet up with District Attorney Calloway, who questions the validity of the claims that the Happy Face killer had something to do with Heather’s death, particularly if the only clue is a smiley etched into a tree. Listening to his harsh words, Melissa recalls how her peers attacked her after her father’s arrest.
Melissa Makes a Monumental Decision That Could Change Her Family’s Life
Hazel is approached by Victoria and Eva at school. They seem to know about her grandfather’s identity. They tell her that they could take her to someplace later during the week as Victoria is a true crime aficionado. In Texas, Melissa learns that someone has canceled her and Ivy’s trip to visit Elijah in prison. The protagonist believes it is DA Calloway. She returns home the following night and is given a warm welcome by Ben. Melissa tells her husband that she wants to go on the Dr. Greg Show and out her parentage to the world. It seems like her only way to stop Elijah’s death from going through. Ben seems unconvinced by the whole thing and how it may affect their family. Hazel shows up and reveals that she already knows about her grandfather’s identity.
Melissa tells Hazel that she can never have a relationship with her grandfather as he is dangerous. She also reveals the truth about Keith’s identity to her younger son, Max. Ben remains the only one against Melissa’s plan to reveal the news about her dad to the public. We get a flashback of young Melissa returning home and wiping the blood from her face after her schoolmates beat her up. In the present day, Melissa gets ready to appear on the Dr. Greg Show. Meanwhile, Hazel, Victoria, and Eva head out to the Seattle Murder Museum. As the cameras start rolling, Melissa and Greg sit together on the show while a video confession of Keith is played for the audience. Greg then allows Melissa to introduce herself to the crowd – Ben encourages her to step forward.
Watching her husband’s reassurance, Melissa speaks about her father at length, including her childhood and the murders he committed. In the meantime, Hazel gets exposed to more of her grandfather’s works at the museum. During the interview, Melissa talks about how people like DA Calloway are prejudiced against her because of her “monster” parentage. Greg shows her sympathy. They dig deep into Melissa’s inner trauma of growing up with a father who had a side that was kind while also hiding a dark and disturbing side. Greg assures Melissa that she may be her father’s daughter, but she is not like him. She feels relieved after the talk. In prison, Keith sticks a new newspaper cutting talking about his ninth victim on the cell wall. Meanwhile, a man in Oregon eyes the newspaper report of Melissa opening up on the Dr. Greg Show with anger plastered across his face.
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