Happy! Episode 1 Review: If You Can Watch Only One Twisted Christmas Show This Season, Make It "Happy!"

"Happy!" is SyFy's newest offering and is unlike anything currently on TV. The show opens with an inebriated man hacking up blood in a bar bathroom. He imagines blowing his brains out. In a bizzaro world version of "Saturday Night Fever", he dances around with half a head as blood spurts everywhere. Scantily clad Sold Gold dancers join him. Obviously this is not going to be your run of the mill show.

"Happy!" is based on a graphic novel by Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson. It stars Christopher Meloni (as disgraced ex cop turned hit man Nick Sax) and Patton Oswalt as the voice of Happy (a perpetually peppy blue flying unicorn). Don't let the presence of an animated character fool you. This is NOT a children's show. "Happy!" is decidedly adult and has tons of graphic violence.

The basic plot is as follows. Nick is on his latest assignment (offing a bunch of mob kids). This in turn puts all the baddies in town after him. He gets shot and has a massive heart attack during the altercation and is taken to the hospital. In the ambulance Happy first appears. Sax thinks it's due to the massive amount of alcohol and drugs in his system. But it turns out only he can see Happy.

Happy is the imaginary friend of a little girl named Hailey who has been kidnapped by a psychotic-hobo-Santa. Of course Nick is the only person who can save her. And off he (reluctantly) goes.

Grade: 4 1/2 Monsters (out of 5). "Happy!" is definitely not for everyone. But if you like dark comedy, give it a try. It's probably the most twisted Christmas tale you'll see this season. Just don't expect the show to be remotely grounded in reality. Nick is a hot mess. During the premiere, Sax is shot, stabbed and murders at least seven people (I lost count). He's an alcoholic/drug addict who swills morphine and nitroglycerine tablets on the way to the hospital. He jumps three floors down an elevator shaft.

At one point Sax says "I dont think I can die". I have to agree with him. It's either that or he's already dead. Meloni is somehow able to make the character compelling to watch (even though he's a Grade A loser). He spends much of the time acting against thin air (since CGI Happy is added later). No small feat. Nick Sax is a BIG change from the role he is most famous for. He played Elliot Stabler on "Law & Order: SVU" for twelve seasons. It must be liberating to let it all go and play such a different character (even though both are still cops).