Happy Face

Great to see Dennis Quaid pull through with a creepy and hateable character.

The show is compelling and has got me well booked into where it's going to go

The hateable cast making dumb decisions details the otherwise interesting progression of the case, with the horrible performance by Annaleigh Ashford not doing any favours to my ability to watch more than 5 minutes without absolutely cringing.

Not 1 sentence, not 1 frame, not 1 expression is worthy of giving this woman the title of an "Actor". Absolutely drags the sub par performance of everyone else down with her...

Let's see where this goes...

The story of the Happy Face Killer was interesting enough without making up some BS.

While I know that most movies based on true stories embellish, I found watching the fictional side story and subsequent "investigation" distracting and I watched only 3 episodes before I just had had enough.

Merging characters and events for time constraints or to try to provide clarity I can understand, but making up the side quest out of whole cloth really detracted from the show, and really felt quite exploitative.

I'm pretty offended on behalf of the real victims and their families; this smacks of totally tone-deaf cashgrab.

Some actors I find a bit questionable and cringe but everytime Dennis is on the screen he nails his character and I even sometimes get chills. He does the creepiness and the quick change of emotions really well. You can tell he really took the time to prepare for his character. I think the actress playing Melissa can feel unserious and quirky at times but in a good way if that's the role she was meant to play.

Definitely give this show a chance - it feels alot lighter than other true crime series and i was hesitant at first but I'm glad I started the first episode and then after I was hooked!

It was an interesting perspective from the vantage point of a serial killer's family member. There is a plethora of true crime serial killer shows out there but very little about being related to one of them and the impact that has. I don't feel that the storyline's intention was to depict the serial killer's story, it was about his actions and the impact that had on those closest to him. In that instance, the series delivered. Quaid does a wonderful job of bringing the narcissistic, manipulative mind of a killer to the viewer and keeps it suspenseful. The show did have a lot of peaks and valleys with regard to maintaining the viewer's interest. Annaleigh Ashford also does excellent work in her portrayal of Melissa. I feel that the story line doesn't dig deep enough into her character to allow it to fully develop. The remaining characters were rather pedestrian and underdeveloped as well. Maybe there will deeper insights into them in further seasons should there be any. One major observation I had that was not addressed in the show was Jesperson's stature. Keith Jesperson was a MASSIVE individual standing 6'8". I discovered this just prior to watching the series and couldn't help but feel how much more intense his character would have been portrayed had this been addressed. The show is good, it's worth watching. It left me wanting a bit more than I was given. Maybe that was the point.

This series starts with a promising concept and an engaging atmosphere. However, the overall experience is significantly undermined by the illogical and inconsistent behavior of the main characters - they often make decisions that feel forced or completely unreasonable. On top of that, the constant use of shaky hand-held camera work becomes genuinely irritating. It's not used to enhance realism or tension, but rather seems to be a stylistic choice that adds nothing and only distracts. These two major issues prevent the show from reaching its full potential, despite the good premise and decent acting.