Admittedly I was hoping that Happy’s Place season 1 episode 14 “Accountability” would have a Valentine’s Day twist. It’s the 14th episode on February 14th. It’s perfect timing. But sometimes a holiday episode doesn’t land where you want it to and there’s the fact that season 1 had more episodes ordered. That is bound to shake up anything. Nevertheless, Happy’s Place had a fun episode that leaned into a comedy staple: the prank.
Having just recently done a rewatch of the early 2000s show Reba, I clocked what was happening in “Accountability” a mile away. To give you a refresher, in Reba season 5 episode 6 “Best Li’l Haunted House in Texas,” Reba is preparing for Halloween and has plenty of pranks ready. But she is a little bummed out that her children don’t seem to be in the spirit of pranking on Halloween. Her biggest worry is that she wants someone in the family to carry on with this tradition.
As the episode goes on, Cheyenne goes to a support group party with her sponsor, who Van is jealous of. Van eventually goes to confront Cheyenne and the sponsor and comes back bloody, implying that he did something to the sponsor. Things spiral out of control when Cheyenne comes back and it turns from a comedy into a drama. Just when things are about to explode and Reba can’t take it anymore, it’s revealed that it was a prank. They had remembered and they wanted to keep the tradition alive. This is what happened in Happy’s Place.
MORE: Need a reminder what happened in the last episode? Read our review for Happy’s Place season 1 episode 13 “Mama Drama.”
There definitely was some truth to Steve being upset with Isabella. She doesn’t get why her words hurt Steve. But there is a difference between intention and impact. And I do wish that Happy’s Place had given me that moment of Isabella understanding how or why she hurt Steve’s feelings. That’s the big regret of this episode. But this is a comedy. I can be a little bit more lenient with those moments because I know that at the heart of it this is a comedy. But back to the intention and impact of it all. Isabella said something without truly thinking about how it would hit somebody else. And even though I’m a little bit annoyed with her, it does show that she has a lot of growth still to come her way.
All of this doesn’t mean that I don’t think she’s making progress. Teaming up with Steve after hurting his feelings to go and pull a prank on somebody else within the family, that’s bonding. Steve is a little troublemaker and he thrives on drama. Having Isabella willing to cause some innocent drama with a prank was building trust between them. Because while Takoda, Emmett, and Gabby are a little bit older, Steve is a little bit more on Isabella’s wavelength. Maybe this is the start of something and they’ll hang out a little bit more or become outside work friends. Because I think both of them need that.
On the family building of it all, when it comes to Happy’s Place season 1 episode 14 “Accountability,” I think there’s also a conversation surrounding Gabby and Takoda worth mentioning. I think the Takoda side of him training Gabby was a little clearer. Gabby was asking him to be someone different than he already was because she needed it. But that’s not him. And he promised to help Gabby while not losing himself. That’s admirable. Now Gabby, I’m still a little confused about what she learned this episode. And I think overall it was the shakiest her character has been within the show. But again, this is only season 1 and I remember how bad Parks and Recreation was in season 1. I can give Happy’s Place some grace.
The fact that I’m seeing some faults in Happy’s Place doesn’t scare me as much as I expected it to. I like the bones of this show; the cast, humor, and pacing. And it feels like some of the classic comedies that I grew up with. Maybe I’m being a little bit easier on it because of Reba McEntire and Melissa Peterman and my bond with Reba as a show. But so what? We always give the things that we like a little bit more leniency when they don’t give us something perfect. And right now I feel about this show the same I did in Happy’s Place the “Pilot.” This is the kind of show that can go on for seasons, chock full of smart writing that will only build on each character as they go.
Happy’s Place airs Fridays at 8/7c on NBC.
