Happy's Place Season 1 Episode 1 Pilot Review
Reba McEntire is back on the small screen. We know Reba, of course, from her successful music career, but also from her hit show Reba. Now, she’s back and happy to grace Friday nights again. Reba plays Bobbie, a bar owner whose father has recently passed away. Bobbie and her father were extremely close, doing everything together, so she’s struggling with his loss. While dealing with her grief, she meets Isabella, a young woman with a very Gen Z vibe, who is trying to find herself and feels like she doesn’t belong anywhere.
Isabella comes to the bar after receiving a call from a lawyer who advises her to meet in person. It turns out that the lawyer is also Bobbie’s father’s lawyer, and we soon find out that Isabella is actually Bobbie’s sister. This revelation throws Bobbie into a tailspin, and she doesn’t know how to handle the situation. The lawyer informs them that they are now co-owners of the bar, which complicates things further. Bobbie is reluctant to get to know Isabella, as she feels that her presence will destroy the image she had of her father.
Isabella, meanwhile, tries to figure out how she fits into this new situation. She makes efforts to get to know Bobbie but repeatedly fails. Bobbie assigns her the task of dealing with the bar’s staff to keep Isabella busy, not expecting her to succeed. Isabella meets the employees—Emmett, Takoda, Steve, and Gaby—and while she doesn’t connect with most of them, she manages to get along with Gaby and Takoda. Gaby, who just wants a friend, settles for Isabella since Bobbie remains distant.
Tension escalates when Isabella allows the staff to use their father’s office as a break room, which causes Bobbie to have a meltdown. A vote is taken on whether the office should be used this way, and Isabella wins by a narrow margin. Bobbie loses it, leading to a breakdown and, ultimately, a much-needed conversation between Bobbie and Isabella. While there are still many misunderstandings, this moment allows Isabella to realize that their father did care about her. She even discovers that he kept a memento of hers in his office.
Since this is a 30-minute Friday night sitcom, it’s lighthearted with some funny moments. However, the characters need to be fleshed out more for the audience to understand their mindsets better. We get a clear picture of who Bobbie is and her attachment to her father, but the character of Isabella leaves a lot of questions. I want to know more about her and how she came into the family. I’m also interested in learning more about Bobbie’s past with her father and why he meant so much to her, as well as how this will affect her view of him going forward.
It’s great to see Reba McEntire back on our screens, and it’s especially nice to see her paired again with Melissa Peterman. While I’m still on the fence about the show, I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes.
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