After being emotionally devastated by Takoda’s daughter in Happy’s Place Season 2 Episode 3, “Testing Testing” is a smooth transition to exploring Isabella’s grief. Because she isn’t just being a brat because she’s no longer in school or she didn’t win that test against Bobbie. Isabella’s mourning the beginning of a new life she had before meeting Bobbie. And luckily for her, she’s not alone as she processes this grief and tries to find her place in the world.
Grief doesn’t look the same way for everybody. And while we might have seen Bobbie grieving her father in the beginning of Season 1 of Happy’s Place, Episode 4 of Season 2 gives Isabella a chance to explore a different facet of grief. When she was in school she knew who she was and what she had to do with her life. It brought comfort to her. And in “Testing Testing” she was really facing the fact that that life she had, it’s gone.
Sure Isabella can build a new life here at Happy’s. In fact, she has. She has a sister and friends that love her. But there has been a part of Isabella that she’s been ignoring since she got to the tavern, the educational path that she was on. And that might seem a little brattish to some people watching. But I feel like sometimes people forget that they were teenagers or young people at one time. At one point school was the only thing that you knew. And every new thing you faced felt so big and scary. That’s what Isabella is feeling in this episode.
Happy’s Place “Testing Testing” dealt with Isabella’s grief with gentle hands and, per usual, great comedic timing. That allowed Isabella to throw a fit in a space where she felt safe to express those emotions. And by the end of the episode she came to a better understanding of her feelings but not a conclusion. This is a story that is going to keep being told on the show that only serves to make Isabella a more interesting character in the long run.
Another interesting development masqueraded in comedy is everything that happened between Gabby and Steve. Because oftentimes we play with our friends. We joke around and throw little jabs at each other. But there will be one jab that hits at that other person’s insecurities a little too well. And that’s what happened with Gabby. When Steve jabbed at her about how it was funny that someone would think she went to Stanford, it probably felt to Gabby like someone was verbalizing her biggest fears and the lies that she tells herself.
Gabby also dreamed of going to a place like Stanford, having a family, and not doing this baby thing alone. She had those dreams. But when Steve laughed at the possibility of her having those dreams, she experienced her form of grief. And it just so happened that grief coupled up with her anxieties about not being good enough to make any dreams happen in the first place. And I really love how Happy’s Place didn’t just run away from that fear or the emotions that Gabby was feeling. They faced them.
Oftentimes, we’re all a little bit too mean to ourselves. And this show took that, made Gabby feel that, and then stared at that pain while gently telling it to go to hell. Even better, Gabby didn’t have to confront some of the self-worth and self-hatred that she was feeling by herself. Steve was there. And that makes facing pain or grief at what could’ve been even easier because when others are going through it, it normalizes that pain and makes us feel less lonely. And who knows, if these moments with Steve helped Gabby, or the moments with Bobbie helped Isabella, maybe it’ll help someone watching feel a little more grounded in their life.
Finally there’s Takoda.
I have been begging Happy’s Place to give me a little bit more development when it comes to this character. And we kind of saw it in the previous episode where we got to see his daughter. But that little introduction into who he is as a person outside of the tavern, that didn’t just disappear in “Testing Testing.” The show took it a step further and had him show off some of his skills in woodworking. This is what he does, not just as a hobby, but to show people he cares for them. That’s character development. Not big sweeping moments. Instead small ones that show who Takoda is while everyone is going through some messy emotions. Now, give me more.
Happy’s Place airs new episodes every Friday at 8pm ET on NBC.
