Casey Durkin/NBC
"Happy's Place" is finally shedding some light on the relationship that brought half-sisters Bobbie and Isabella together — but don't expect all of your burning questions to be answered.
In Season 3, Episode 2, Bobbie (Reba McEntire) and Isabella's (Belissa Escobedo) decision to place a photo of their late father on their ofrenda for Día de los Muertos stirred up unresolved feelings about Happy's past. But it was the discovery of his old cologne that offered perhaps the clearest indication yet that his relationship with Isabella's mother, Maritza (returning guest star Justina Machado), was more than a fleeting affair.
The episode also featured a tribute to the late Dolly Parton, whose photograph appeared on the ofrenda. As series co-creator Kevin Abbott previously told TVLine, the tribute was added after Parton's death coincided with the taping of the episode.
Below, Abbott discusses why Bobbie and Isabella may never get all the answers they're looking for, and how his experience telling a very different infidelity story on "Reba" informed his approach this time around.
Happy and Maritza's Relationship Explained
Casey Durkin/NBC
TVLINE | This feels like the most definitive answer we're ever going to get about Happy and Maritza's relationship — this revelation that Maritza wasn't simply a fling; Happy genuinely loved her. How important was it to establish that lingering affection he had for Isabella's mother, and to give credence to their relationship?
That was kind of the core impetus for that episode, because I know that people have those questions. I want them to have those questions. I think it's an interesting dilemma, and we wanted to hit on what I think is interesting, which is the importance of the degree of their relationship.
For Bobbie, she wants it to have been just a quick fling. For Isabella, she would love it to have been a love affair. It matters in how they view Happy, and how they view themselves.
We try to be as honest as we can in terms of the answers we deliver, and I think that's a question that, every now and again, we're going to keep tapping, because it goes back to the pilot. What does Happy's action in that moment say about him? What does it say about the people he left behind, and how they're supposed to feel about each other?
TVLINE | What's interesting about where this episode leaves things is that Bobbie and Isabella have a little more peace of mind, but neither they nor Maritza may ever get true closure. Was that a conscious decision in the writers' room — to acknowledge that these women might never get all the answers they want, rather than neatly resolving everything Happy left behind?
Yes, that is exactly what we were going for. I don't think life is that neat, unfortunately, and I'm more interested in watching characters grapple with how they feel about things and how they're going to deal with them without having a definitive answer to those questions — relying on their own personal interactions and what history has told them, and ultimately trying to find a way to be at peace with not absolutely knowing.
We so often don't get answers to big questions in life. When we do comedy, when we do drama, when we tell stories, we all want that definitive ending — and I mostly like to do that. But in this instance, I felt it was more interesting for our characters to not be able to have a simple answer.
TVLINE | It's almost the opposite of your approach on "Reba," where the circumstances of Brock's affair were laid out from the beginning, and Barbra Jean was a constant presence in Reba's life.
Exactly right. It's funny you bring that up, because maybe that is what drives me a little bit. I've told the other side of these stories. Let's tell the opposite side of those stories, when you're acting on emotion and instinct and belief, as opposed to having certainty.
"Happy's Place" airs Fridays at 8 p.m. on NBC, and streams next on Peacock.
