Welcome to a new Sitcom Tuesday! This week, I’m concluding my coverage of Happy Endings (2011-2013, ABC), which is currently available on DVD/Blu-ray and streaming!
ELIZA COUPE as Jane, ELISHA CUTHBERT as Alex, ZACHARY KNIGHTON as Dave, ADAM PALLY as Max, DAMON WAYANS JR. as Brad, and CASEY WILSON as Penny.
The third and final season of Happy Endings does not feel like a final season. Rather, it feels like an extension of the ethos-refining latter half of the show’s sophomore (and first full) year, even more fully embracing its personally cultivated comedic identity. That is, Season Three is even more of a fast-paced idea-driven joke fest, confirming the series’ comic stylings as its primary calling card. Now, if I’m being nit-picky, I could perhaps say that the stories are not as fun or funny as this third year goes on. Some of the season’s arc-minded concerns tamp down on the creativity. Specifically, Penny’s quick engagement and even quicker breakup with a dull and undefined love interest named Pete, and even Dave and Alex’s premise-ordained reconciliation that also leads to an out-of-nowhere and thus unmotivated split. They don’t necessarily yield the best episodic ideas. However, the good news is, again, the show’s individualized sense of humor is more crystallized and therefore compensatory. And the characterizations are more refined as well — in particular, characters like Alex and Brad, who got their definition mostly by the positions they play opposite other, bigger-defined leads (namely, Jane), now behave like full-fledged figures with the same clarity of personality. Accordingly, this is yet another solid year of this sitcom that never got the chance to fully prove its greatness via longevity — which is, unfortunately, the sign of great situation comedy, as longevity reveals consistency and reliability in a way that short or abbreviated runs simply cannot. Meaning, with just 57 episodes, we have no idea if Happy Endings could have sustained its quality to, say, 75, let alone 100. But since we’ll never know, we have to let these 57 speak for themselves, and as such, they suggest an amusing stylistic ambassador of the early 2010s that helps bring the 1990s’ urbane hangout rom-com into a whole new era. It’s not a trend-leader with never-before-seen ideas, but its ideas are comedic and reflective of a show with a clear sense of self. (Note: every episode below is cited with its original airdate on the broadcast network for which this series was made, ABC.)
01) Episode 35: “Cazsh Dummy Spillionaires” (Aired: 10/23/12)
Alex and Dave try to keep their new relationship casual while Max “helps” an injured Penny.
Written by David Caspe & Matthew Libman & Daniel Libman | Directed by Fred Goss
Season Three opens with a confident premiere that helps establish the new status quo of Alex and Dave being back together by highlighting their rejuvenated dynamic. This story is about their failed ability to keep a renewed romance casual, and it sets up their full-fledged relationship for this season, thus serving as an appropriate setup to the year as a whole. Also, there are lots of laughs in the subplot where Max cares for Penny after the latter takes a bad but comedically absurd fall that leaves her in need of physical therapy — with an attractive doctor whom Max is determined to land, even if that means prolonging Penny’s suffering. It’s a comedic idea-driven notion that pairs two of the regular ensemble’s biggest clowns, allowing this opener to be one of Season Three’s funniest — and heck, one of the entire series’ funniest.
02) Episode 36: “Sabado Free-Gante” (Aired: 10/30/12)
Jane insists on helping Penny buy a new car while Dave and Alex shop for an apartment.
Written by Josh Bycel & Jonathan Fener | Directed by Stuart McDonald
The highlight of this installment is a terrific A-story that pairs Jane and Penny, as Jane insists upon helping Penny pick out and then negotiate for a new car. That’s a sublime use of Jane’s high-strung Type A character, with Penny contrasted as more of a wants-to-be-liked pushover who can’t handle Jane’s negotiating tactics and was, in fact, reluctant to even allow her to join in the first place. So, both are well-featured. Meanwhile, Dave and Alex have a subplot about apartment hunting that capably displays their characterizations, along with the nature of their new relationship — particularly via the fear-of-decisiveness that plays both to their premised history (which launched the entire situation in the pilot), not to mention the implied tension that will likely remain in their dynamic throughout the ensuing season.
03) Episode 38: “More Like Stanksgiving” (Aired: 11/20/12)
The group watches an unaired Real World episode in which they appeared.
Written by Leila Strachan | Directed by Jay Chandrasekhar
Perhaps the most memorable sample of the entire series, “More Like Stanksgiving” is a Thanksgiving-themed entry that fills in the ensemble’s shared backstory by showing us an episode they shot for an unaired season of the Real World. It’s, essentially, their origin story as a group, and while watching it back here sparks drama between them, it’s really the intel that we, the audience, learn about the characters that makes this such a valuable, series-defining half hour. Conceptually, it’s very reminiscent of Friends’ flashback shows — and in particular, the formative “The One With The Prom Video,” which also offered some key lore for those leads that then had contemporary relevance. Yet this framework is even more postmodern and metatheatrical, for it’s not a home video they’re watching, but a piece of “lost media” from a reality show — a self-aware bit of “TV about TV” that only accentuates just how aesthetically contemporary Happy Endings is, updating some old ideas and constructs for a new era, the Peak TV decade, where such character-based insight is often packaged in this more unique, gimmicky, media-literate lens. Accordingly, I think this is the best single encapsulation of the series and its charms relative to its spot in the genre’s history — an easy choice for MVE (Most Valuable Episode) and probably the individual segment I’ll remember most post-coverage.
04) Episode 41: “No-Ho-Ho” (Aired: 12/18/12)
Upon learning that Jane was born on Christmas, the group promises to celebrate her instead.
Written by Prentice Penny | Directed by Michael Patrick Jann
This year’s Christmas outing eschews the typical trappings of the holiday, thanks to a plot that’s designed explicitly to do so. It establishes that Jane is actually a December 25th baby and has lied about this fact because she hates having her day co-opted by the yuletide festivities. When her friends promise a celebration that has nothing to do with the holiday and only with her, it’s a guaranteed setup for a comic crescendo, as it becomes essentially inevitable that this will be a self-fulfilling prophecy and they will indeed be unable to satisfy her request. It’s a naturally amusing idea-driven notion, but it’s especially fun to have it centered around the demanding and particular Jane, who is the most uptight about these things and thus creates higher emotional (and comedic) stakes simply because of her inner severity and exactness.
05) Episode 44: “Kickball 2: The Kickening” (Aired: 01/13/13)
Alex signs the group up to participate in another kickball tournament.
Written by Jackie Clarke & Gil Ozeri | Directed by Gail Lerner
If you watch this episode in its airdate order (and specifically, its American airdate order), you might be a bit confused. This script was actually filmed near the end of Season Two. The UK saw it a month or so after the second season’s narratively intended finale, but ABC waited to run it here in the middle of Three, where it’s disruptive to the year’s overarching continuity, yet not to the point where you can’t enjoy it. After all, the situation for this series is always basically the same — they’re a group of friends. And this is a fine sample: a laugh-laden ensemble-focused entry from a strong time in the series’ history, with rewards for character (almost everyone shines) that are enough to justify it making any of my three Happy Endings lists, no matter when it formally was broadcast. (Matt Walsh and Lance Briggs appear.)
06) Episode 46: “The Marry Prankster” (Aired: 01/29/13)
The group awaits payback from Max for a prank they pulled on him.
Written by Jackie Clarke & Gil Ozeri | Directed by Rebecca Asher
If there’s any other excursion here this season to rival my chosen MVE, it would be this popular half hour that indulges a well-liked sitcom contrivance: the prank war. Or, more specifically, the revenge prank — as Max schemes to get back at all five of his friends after they make him believe that he’s won the lottery. Now, ordinarily, this wouldn’t be my favorite type of show; I find plot-led maneuvers like pranks to be very idea-driven and often divorced from character. But I enjoy it in this case as an accurate symbolization of the series’ usual comic ethos. What’s more, I think the plotting is genuinely clever, and I especially appreciate how the year’s rom-com narrative engine for Penny gets attached as a midpoint complication, setting up a climactic centerpiece that is both funny and romantic. In fact, it feels like a great display of Happy Endings’ tone overall, on which Three, regardless of its individual stories, actually has a firm command.
07) Episode 47: “Our Best Friend’s Wedding” (Aired: 01/29/13)
The group goes to a Wedding Expo as Penny begins to plan her big day.
Written by Hilary Winston | Directed by Rob Greenberg
Originally broadcast on ABC right after the previous, this offering narratively picks up from Penny’s engagement by launching the couple into wedding planning — or elopement planning, if Pete (Nick Zano) has his way. Okay, as noted, I’m not a Pete fan — he’s a comedically bland character who lacks definition and is not helpful for meaningful situation comedy. While the prior proposal episode is a delight, most of his arc is forgettable, including the duo’s forthcoming and unmotivated breakup. But this is one of the storyline’s best entries, mainly because it’s an ensemble show that gets the main cast together under the Aristotelian Unities of time, place, and action, with all of the subplots occurring at the same wedding expo and stemming from the same theme. In particular, I like how the subject of weddings always brings up Alex and Dave’s baggage and the premised dynamic upon which this whole series began.
08) Episode 48: “In The Heat Of The Noche” (Aired: 03/29/13)
Penny and Max become addicted to sleep-inducing cough syrup.
Written by Matthew Libman & Daniel Libman | Directed by Josh Bycel
One of the year’s funniest, “In The Heat Of The Noche” is most enjoyable because of its subplot where Penny and Max become addicted to a banned Mexican cough syrup that’s also known to be a potent sleep aid — an elixir that’s strong enough to knock them out and keep them from texting others back prematurely and embarrassing themselves. It’s a funny idea that’s played broad by, again, two of the show’s biggest clowns — a duo who really enhance the laughs and emphasize this primary aspect of Happy Endings’ persuasiveness as a sitcom. Meanwhile, the Brad subplot ropes in all the other regulars and manages to be a decent reflection of how his character has become more comedically distinct and therefore utilizable here in Three, which is explicitly trying to evolve him (at least via his career interests).
09) Episode 49: “The Straight Dope” (Aired: 03/29/13)
Max pretends to be straight to get sports tickets, while Alex becomes smart.
Written by Lon Zimmet & Dan Rubin | Directed by Steven Sprung
Initially airing on ABC after the above, this installment engages a few trite and overly familiar sitcom templates that are nevertheless amusing and well-tailored to the characters. The A-story has Max lying about being straight so that he can take advantage of a woman’s access to Bulls tickets. It’s a funny idea because it’s not only inherently farcical, with Max lying about a core tenet of his characterization, thus emphasizing it in the process, but also because it’s built on the very personality traits that have individualized him in the genre. That is, his love of sports speaks to the show’s choice to deliberately buck stereotypes, and that’s also reiterated here. Additionally, Alex’s characterization is highlighted when it’s temporarily played against, as she briefly becomes smart — thereby calling attention to the fact that, well, usually she isn’t. It’s another classic sitcom structure, but with these characters, it works.
10) Episode 57: “Brothas & Sisters” (Aired: 05/03/13)
The group attends the wedding of Jane and Alex’s sister, while Alex and Dave have a big secret.
Written by Josh Bycel & Leila Strachan | Directed by Rebecca Asher
Season Three ends — no, the series ends — just like the last two, with the group attending another wedding. Once again, I appreciate this as a play to the situation, as it evokes the wedding in the pilot that set up the entire premise. And that’s indeed on the forefront of this entry’s proverbial mind, as Dave and Alex have broken up and intend to keep it a secret. But then Penny and Max get involved and deliberately try to flood the zone with fake gossip to distract from the truth — an absurd notion that’s highly amusing and reflective of the show’s whimsical (if familiar) idea-driven, joke-heavy sense of humor. That is another key aspect of the situation, reinforced here alongside the premise in this, a generally decent finale for a series that was not yet ready to end. (No, I don’t count any of the unofficial reunion episodes the cast did later as “canon” — they’re not of this series, as they were not produced as part of it.)
Other notable episodes include: “She Got Game Night,” a Friends-ian entry that I would have highlighted above if it didn’t have the impossible chore of attempting to justify Penny’s contrived split from the boring Pete, along with “Boyz II Menorah,” which has fun at bar mitzvahs, “The Incident,” which I appreciate for the added insight into Jane and Alex’s sisterly dynamic, and “Bros Before Bros,” which guests Andy Richter and climaxes in a food fight.
*** The MVE Award for the Best Episode from Season Three of Happy Endings goes to…
“More Like Stanksgiving”
Come back next week for more sitcom fun! And stay tuned tomorrow for a new Wildcard!