TV RECAP: ‘Happy Town: Polly Wants A Crack At Her’

I must say I was delighted with this episode. The first two episodes of the season were somewhat uneven, and I was a bit worried about the direction of the show, but “Polly wants a crack at her” had me on the edge of my seat. I’m excited to see where Happy Town will take us now. A lot of things happened in this episode, and there will be spoilers in this recap. Read at your own risk.

Last week’s episode ended with Henley driving off the side of the road when a large bird flew into her windshield. Henley awakes to see a concerned man peering down at her. He asks her if anything is broken “arms, legs, promises?”, and offers to drive her to a medical clinic he passed by. He’s easy on the eyes, and Henley accepts his offer, insisting that she first grab her bag (which holds that hammer she found in the attic.) He introduces himself as “Aidan” while they are driving to the clinic.

Aidan is embarrassed and Henley is amused to discover that she has been taken to a veterinarian (played by director David Cronenberg, in a cameo.) Aidan stumbles all over himself, but Henley doesn’t seem to mind. The two trot across the street to the “Knotty Woods” hotel (get it? knotty=naughty) and get it on. While Aidan is (sleeping?) Henley checks on the hammer. It’s all safe and sound.

When Aidan drives Henley back to her house, the old ladies watching in the window are stunned, because they recognize the fella.

Back in Haplin, Tommy Conroy and Big Dave are digging a bunch of holes in the area where Friddle told Big Dave the bodies are buried. They come up empty-handed, and Tommy once again professes that he believes Friddle was innocent, making Big Dave a cold-blooded murderer.

The Stiviletto brothers are putting on their Sunday finest and trying to appear presentable for a trip down to the Sheriff’s office, where they intend to press assault charges against Tommy Conroy for the beating they took last week. The Sheriff doesn’t believe Tommy could have taken on all of them, and thinks they have a bone to pick with the Conroys for putting their other brother, “Greggy”, in prison. They are quick to point out that Greggy deserved to go to jail, because he killed a man.

Georgia cannot persuade Andrew that the bruises on her face are not from her father. Andrew takes a crowbar to his own car, and convinces his friends that Carl Bravin (Georgia’s dad) is responsible. They drive to Carl’s place to confront him. Carl (played by Stephen McHattie of Pontypool) ends up stabbing Andrew during the attack, and all the boys scatter.

Carl is brought into custody for the stabbing. During the routine questioning, Carl tells a bizarre story about seeing the Magic Man once. According to Carl, he wore a blue top hat, carried a walking stick, and was accompanied by a big, ugly bird named Cicero (sic.)

Tommy doesn’t buy Andrew’s story, and has the audacity to arrest him, which infuriates Andrew’s father. Georgia visits Andrew in jail, and when Agent Farmer spots her, he high-tails it out of the office, stating that he wants to check out the thaw festival.

Tommy’s wife (Rachel) and daughter (Emma) go to Merritt’s shop after they run into him at the thaw fest, where they all see the big bird, and Merritt refers to it as “a harbinger.” Merritt shows Emma a journal and delights her by making all the writing disappear right before her eyes.

Meanwhile, at the thaw fest, several things happen:

1. The Stivilletto brothers tell Tommy they have dropped their charges against him-seems brother Greggy has another plan in mind.
2. Tommy’s wife Rachel disappears. Tommy finds her cell phone, and Merritt’s journal, and the bird makes an appearance.
3. Aidan strolls through the crowd, and one of the Stiviletto brothers warmly greets him, “Aidan Greggy Stiviletto, how the hell you doin’, brother ?” So this is the brother who just got out of jail, and promptly nailed Henley? Holy crap!
4. At the house, Henley is on the phone, telling someone that she will, “go see her and get it done.” Then she notices that her hammer is missing! Did Aidan take it? Certainly looks that way.

I loved the last ten minutes of this episode. Here are a couple of my thoughts:

• What did you think of Peggy Haplin’s confrontation with grandson Andrew? I really like this character for Frances Conroy. She was as cold as ice.
• Agent Farmer looks like he is being set up to be the Magic Man, but that is too obvious.
• What is the meaning of Merritt “making the pages disappear?”
• I gasped at the reveal of Aidan, but found it unbelievable. That whole family is a bunch of filthy idiots, but we are to believe that they have a smooth and good looking brother? It doesn’t add up to me. How did he have a decent car and clothes straight out of jail? Why would he want the hammer?

At any rate, I was glad to see things pick up this week, how about you?  Sadly, ABC has elected to pull the show.  As of right now, Entertainment Weekly is reporting that it may return in June.