by Austen Terry, Contributing Writer
True crime has become an obsession of the general public in recent years, and services have jumped on the hype train, making documentaries and shows related to these crimes. Many of them embellish something, or lean in favor of one outcome over another. The latest instance of this is Paramount+ releasing Happy Face, which tells the story of the Happy Face Killer. These crimes took place in the ‘90s, and the story centers around how the killer’s family deals with the revelation of his gruesome crimes. As this does involve a real serial killer, keep in mind that these are real victims who had to deal with all this again. Though this is not a documentary, but a TV show, the film involves actors playing real-life people.
The show follows Melissa (Annaleigh Ashford), the daughter of Keith Jesperson (Dennis Quaid), the Happy Face Killer. When Keith sends a birthday card to Hazel (Khiyla Aynne), Melissa’s daughter, Melissa calls to tell him to leave them alone. Keith doesn’t take it well and decides to call Melissa’s job at The Dr. Greg Show (a fictional, Dr. Phil-esque talk show created for the purposes of this story) and confess from jail to a killing in Texas for which he was never convicted. Dr. Greg (David Harewood), much to Melissa and her husband Ben’s (James Wolk) dismay, wants to run this story on his show. He sends Melissa and Ivy (Tamara Tomakili), one of his show’s investigators, out to find the truth. Shocking, though, is that a man named Elijah (Damon Gupton) has already confessed, was convicted, and sentenced to death row in 1995 for the murder that Keith is now confessing to. The show then explores whether Elijah or Keith killed Heather.
Jennifer Cacicio created this show, and surprisingly, it’s very good. True crime has to keep the viewer interested, and Cacicio does a great job of telling this story. There is some raw emotion in this story that makes it a good watch. Shows and documentaries of this type tend to only want to focus on the victims, but here we see the outcomes for the family of the killer. Most people want to blame the family of the killer and treat them as if they killed the victims themselves. Happy Face not only focuses on a possible victim, but the impact his actions have on his family. Though some of the beats are predictable, that’s more with the world we live in rather than the story itself. Most states aren’t too keen on admitting they made a mistake, so a confession from another killer 30 years later doesn’t make them move.
Ashford and Quaid are great in their scenes together. Ashford can easily play her hatred for Quaid’s character. Quaid, however, plays a brilliant psychopath. Having grown up watching him play the lovable dad, seeing him here is pretty jarring. Quaid was the big name to get most people to tune in, but David Harewood brought me in. I became a fan of his from Supergirl, and this character is a complete opposite, but I like the way he plays him. He also serves as another antagonist in a way, because he can only see the money of the story rather than the impact. Everyone involved does this story justice.
I avoided looking or watching anything involving this case so I wouldn’t form blind opinions about the show. The Happy Face Killer must not be a big name, as even my favorite true crime YouTuber hasn’t done a video on him yet. Yet Happy Face does a fantastic job exploring this fascinating story.
Rating: Liked It
Happy Face is currently streaming on Paramount+
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