Amy started college in “Put on a Happy Face.” The episode
starts with the clichéd college campus montage. Frisbees fly. Guys play
hackey-sack. Clubs line the quad. The central character looks around like he or
she is in a whole new world. Soon, that character feels out of place because
classes are harder, making friends is hard, and it’s an unfamiliar world. I
needed a semester to adjust after transferring from a community college to a
university, so Amy does represent a true type of college students. Whatever the
show, though, one character experiences the harsh new reality of college before
returning to what’s comfortable. Who does Joey call in “The Bostonians”? Dawson.
Who does Amy find at a midnight showing of Batman Begins? Ephram.
Ephram, too, wants a new identity. He attends a party to
start his life as a fun guy, but he ends up drinking soda and bailing for the
Batman movie. You are who you are. Bright’s and Hannah’s story involves that
party. Bright loves parties. Hannah doesn’t. At the party, Bright was an ass,
and Hannah acted like everything was okay, when it wasn’t. She put on that
happy face because she doesn’t want to lose Bright. Amy started to re-discover
that who she feels best and most comfortable with is Ephram. Those two are
their best selves with each other.
Andy’s story is light. He wants to restore his friendship
with Nina. They seemed fine in “The Next Step”. Jake’s the problem because he
didn’t like Andy trying to break up his relationship, which is fair. Andy is
far from the perfect protagonist. He’s not long removed from his affair with
the wife of a paralyzed man. The Nina story doesn’t emphasize that morally grey
side of his though. It emphasizes the friendship. They were wonderful friends.
How do they get back to that? It’s hard. They can’t really go back to the way
it was. They’ll find their way to how it will be.
The strongest part of the episode belongs to Rose and
Harold. Rose feels happy her marriage feels like a marriage again. Harold admitted to Andy he detached a little
during her sickness as a way to protect him in case the worst happened. Andy
suggested Harold have a conversation about what he feels with Rose, but Harold
declines in the moment because he understands it’s more than that. Their story
this season is beyond sex and fading physical passions. It’s about what’s next.
They raised their children. What’s next?
Season 4’s first two episodes tied off season three. “Put on
a Happy Face” sets up the arcs our favorite characters. They’re all trying to
figure out what’s next and who they are. Those questions rarely fade from one’s
life. But they will—with each other.
Tom Garrigus wrote the episode. David Paymer directed.
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