Happy’s Place Season 2 Episode 7 “An Accountant Prepares…” makes it very clear that Steve has been bored. He’s been following Emmett around, trying to involve himself in as many lives as he can, as a way of ignoring his own life. Because yes, he’s an account. And yes, we love seeing his shenanigans every week with Gabby and Takoda. But what else do we know about Emmett besides him having a great group of friends, a stable job, and OCD? “An Accountant Prepares…” explores that.
MORE: Need a refresher of where we last left off? Read our review for Happy’s Place Season 2 Episode 6 here!
Steve goes on a journey this episode, one that even as a reviewer, I’m surprised by. Because he’s desperate for something more for my life. And his friends encourage him to look for that new avenue or hobby. Things hit a wall when his first real big attempt doesn’t work out. And he crumbles under the pressure of what he can do and the emptiness he feels. All of this is really relatable, especially in this day and age where hustle culture is still prevalent. Plus we always look at our friends or people online and naively think, “Oh they have their life together.” Spoiler, they don’t.
When Steve goes to Bobbie with his concerns and is about to give up, Bobbie’s reaction did throw me off in the beginning. I thought,”Here’s your friend asking for reassurance. Why do you have to laugh at him?” But Bobbie wasn’t just a good friend, but a great one. She knows that Steve is capable of so much more. Her laugh wasn’t at Steve but more at the concept of him being capable of anything less than greatness. Bobbie believes in him wholeheartedly. And I think this has set Steve on a path to understanding himself a little bit better. But hopefully what his future will look like on Happy’s Place but in the actual restaurant itself.
And there’s the Isabella and Emmett of it all. I really like when Happy’s Place shuffles things around when it comes to who interacts with who on an episode. And that’s what you see in “An Accountant Prepares…” Isabella is her usual confident self and Emmett is just as grumpy as ever. And I think in the hands of another showrunner or group of actors, this plotline might have led to a lot of hurt on both parts. A lot of that hurt would have been grounded in not wanting to hurt your friend but also wanting to be honest. Thankfully Happy’s Place navigated everything that was happening with these two in a way that befits comedy.
Now let’s hope they know how to navigate this relationship when she finds out Emmett knew about her…
Every week I say the same thing about Happy’s Place, or I feel like I do, because comedy is such a magical space. A lot of times people discounted it as being this vapid hole where it’s all about the big laughs. But in “An Accountant Prepares…” the small laughs led to Steve not giving up on himself and Isabella and Emmett understanding each other a little better. That’s what you want from your characters and that’s what you want from your favorite shows. This is why Happy’s Place feels like magic, week after week.
Happy’s Place airs new episodes every Friday at 8pm ET on NBC.
