Alright, kids, this is it. Here is my recap of the Happy Town finale. I know what you’re thinking, it was way too short. Eight episodes just isn’t enough time for a show to fully develop. Well tell that to ABC, folks. Actually, don’t waste your breath. I’m sure plenty of you have written letters and even joined the campaign to #SaveHappyTown but it hasn’t done any good. Let’s just enjoy what little time we’ve got left instead of crying over spilt milk. So, without further ado, here is my recap off the series finale of Happy Town – Blame It On Rio Bravo. It goes without saying that there will be huge amounts of SPOILERS, so you should probably stop reading now and watch the episode on ABC before you go any further. You have been warned.
Last week we finally learned what was up with Henley and the mystery hammer – apparently it was used by Peggy Haplin to kill Alice Conroy. (Too bad we’ll never find out why Haplin killed her *grumble* She goes to the police station to try to tell Tommy about this, but he is too busy dealing with Magic Man related things to listen to some crazy girl he’s never met before tell him wild tales of murder and mystery. They have just arrested Dan Farmer as their prime suspect, and Greggy Stiviletto has the whole town outside the police station ready to dispense some homemade justice. Tommy calls for back-up but our friend Mr. Grieves calls pretending to be Conroy and cancels it. You want a mystery that could have been good for a couple of seasons, then look no further than this guy. And while we’re talking mystery – why does Greggy want the Magic Man dead so bad?! Whatever the reason, they have the wrong guy so it really doesn’t matter. Amy Acker, I mean, Rachel takes one look at him and confirms his claim that he is not their man. Back to square one, I guess.
The police may know that Farmer is innocent, but the rest of the town doesn’t. They still want his head on a platter and have taken a hostage to try to persuade the police to cooperate. Said hostage is John Haplin, who probably wishes he were anywhere other than where he is right now. Merritt Grieves works his silver tongue and gets Haplin freed from the angry mob. Seriously, what is up with this guy?! Dude is an enigma wrapped in a puzzle and sprinkled with mystery sauce.
Things are pretty tense inside the police station, with both sides pointing their guns in each other’s faces. Round of applause for Tom Conroy Sr and his fantastic entrance on the scene: guns blazing with proclamations of his left hand working again. Right from the start he was the one who first dragged my attention to this show. Sure he was kinda crazy when we first met him, but that was part of what kept us interested. After all, crazy is totally the middle name of this show.
With the town finally dispersed, we send Farmer off in an ambulance, except it’s all part of an elaborate plan to help him escape. And Merritt Grieves is the one who helps him! I’m usually good at predicting these things but I did not see that one coming. Kudos for keeping me on my toes right up until the end.
With things settling down at the police station, Tommy confronts his father about his mother’s death. Daddy says something about the town being wicked and how things work here in Haplin, which is not the answer Tommy wants to here. Jr drives off to confront Peggy Haplin, while Sr drives off with Henley right on his tale. The tension builds as the Magic Man is about to finally be revealed. Or, it would build if it weren’t for their interesting taste in music on this show. In the final moments it is revealed that the Magic Man is *drumroll please*
Alice?!
Yes, it turns out that Alice has been alive the whole time and is really the Magic Man. Oh, and Tom Conroy knew this and never said anything. All because of some mystery in the town that was never fully explained. Georgia and Andrew were planning on leaving until Peggy told her grandson something about the family that changed his mind. And Henley? We still don’t know what her connection to the Magic Man was. We assume someone she cared about was one of the missing people but don’t know the full story. I’m glad the big mystery surrounding the identity of the Magic Man was revealed, but giving us a peak at what promised to be an interesting town that is oozing with more mysteries to share is just mean. The show had a lot of potential that will never be explored. It’s a shame really but that’s the way the game seems to be played these days.
What were your thoughts on the series finale (or the show in general)? Were you satisfied with what little we got, or is there something else you would liked to have seen before the curtain closed? Sound off in the comments section below.
