In my very first Netflix Roulette post, I promised that I would do these once a week. That was, I believe, over a year ago! The intentions were all there, and they were good, I promise. But alas, life happens. I am back though, and I AM committed to sticking to it this time.
For this installment of Netflix Roulette, I went with “HA – 7” and the result was a Netflix Original TV show called “Happy Valley.”
From the description it looked like a rather typical crime drama, and I’d never heard of it before so my hopes weren’t high, but, I went ahead with it because that’s how this works. And there’s a good reason for that, because this episode was GOOD. I certainly have every intention of continuing with this show and watching it all the way through to find out what happens.
Setting The Scene
Things are admittedly a little confusing in the beginning. We are shown glimpses of the lives of a few different people and families, with no known connection. Our main character though, is Catherine Cawood. She is a detective in a town named Happy Valley, which seems ironic considering how dreary and depraved the place is.
We do soon learn what is plaguing Catherine at the present time. The man who she believes is responsible for her daughter’s death has been released from prison, having gone in on a charge unrelated to her daughter. The news has her very upset and distraught, naturally. She becomes paranoid and ends up keeping her eyes open for the guy everywhere she goes.
We also begin to get involved in the life of a man named Kevin. We see from the start that he is a little off. Something just isn’t right, and his relationship with his wife is very strange and conflicted.
We discover that Kevin is hoping to send his daughter to a very prestigious school, which she has been accepted to, but they cannot afford it. He works up some courage and asks his boss for a raise – just enough to pay for the school. His boss does agree to think about it, but ends up saying no.
Angry and desperate, Kevin hatches a horrible but foolproof plan.
He knows his boss has a lot of money. He seeks out some criminals to help him, and he suggests the kidnapping of his bosses daughter for ransom, with him getting a cut for giving them information on an easy target. They agree and the plan is set.
After making the arrangements, but before the kidnapping takes place, Kevin’s boss has a change of heart. He doesn’t want to give Kevin the raise, so as to remain fair to the rest of his employees, but he offers to pay for the schooling in full.
And that is when things begin to get interesting.
Awesome Characters
I’m really just in love with the characters I met in this episode. They are real, interesting, complicated, and believable.
Catherine is very likable but at the same time, you really feel sorry for her. She’s divorced from her husband, and she’s lost her daughter. She took in her daughters son when she died and while she obviously loves him very much, it was unexpected and she’s got a lot on her plate. She’s getting by but you can tell she’s really not particularly happy.
Kevin is much in the same boat. Even though he orchestrates such a horrible, terrible thing, you can’t help but feel for him a little bit. His life is not going very well in general, and it’s really messed him up. Money rules our lives, and not having enough can drive desperate people to do very desperate things, especially when you combine the need for money with angry and a vengeful spirit.
We even get a little glimpse into the life and family of Kevin’s boss, and they are an interesting few as well.
Pretty much every character I met in this first episode makes me excited to keep going and watch the rest of the series.
So Excited for the Rest
After the confusion from the first half of the episode began to clear up, things started coming together, and the connections started being made, I was SO into this show. This first episode really sets things up perfectly, in my opinion, for some really good drama.
There are no big names, clearly not a lot of promotion because I’d never heard of it, and the basic idea for the story is simple. BUT, if I’ve learned anything over the years, none of that necessarily means anything.
This show has good acting, believable characters, and the plot is not only captivating but already well under way by the time you get to the end of the episode. There are a million different directions this could go, and I’m super pumped to see how it turns out. Oh, and the accents are awesome.
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