It’s the season finale, ya’ll! Fittingly, the final episode of Happy Endings ends where the whole thing began: at a disaster-filled wedding. The gang is shocked to discover that their fuck-up friend Shershow has managed to trick a lady into marrying him, despite his tendency to start fires whilst making smoothies, and his constant need to be bailed out, “once from jail, once from an actual boat.” The nuptials cause a lot of FEELINGS for everyone, particularly Penny, who counted on Shershow as her safety husband, and Alex, who is suddenly realizing how nightmarish dating again can really be. “I always thought that if Shershow got married, it’d be in a women’s prison,” she muses.
By default Max becomes the new Shershow, a sort of unarguable moniker considering he wore his pajama top to the bar. Max is asked to officiate Shershow’s wedding. Turns out, he didn’t have his minister’s license when he married Jane and Brad, which means Jane gets a do-over wedding, and Brad gets to “put his car keys in her attic,” as it were. Like type-A Jane would ever have their shlubby friend preside over their wedding, but I’ll let it slide. When the group makes it to the wedding, they find that Shershow’s bride is in face not a hideous goblin as they suspected by the lovely Melinda. In a panic, Penny lies and says she’s engaged…to Derek, her fabulous gay from the beginning of the season.
Let me say this now: I will personally vow my eternal devotion to this show if they have Derek on as a series regular. His high kicks, his impression of a stereotypical straight man (pick from: Danny Zuko or Niles from Frasier), his making out with his seat mate during the actual ceremony: all flawless. As an excellent complement to his barely controlled enthusiasm, Casey Wilson’s drunken toast should happen in every episode. Let’s expand on her impression of “Grandma Geisha,” shall we?
In addition to being considered a wedding jinx by the bride, Alex is finally really wrestling with what exactly she lost by running out on her own wedding. She stops by Dave’s room to talk, only to find him doing the old “lay down, move around” with an idiotic bridesmaid. Later, after Melinda dashes out of the ceremony, Alex gives her a heartfelt speech about the value of staying the course with the person who could be the love of her life. Of course, Melinda has only slipped out of the ceremony to fix her bustier, not bail (“My boobies were all over the place”), and the wedding goes off without a hitch, despite Shershow’s trepidation that he will one day order a python instead of a party sub because that is just who he is.
Overall, what an adorable ending to a superior first season. The season finale was touching, funny and gave Alex and Dave something to really sink their pearly whites into if we’re going to have a sincere “will they or won’t they?” situation next season. Sure, did most of the show’s charm fall heavily onto the shoulders of Adam Pally and Casey Wilson? Yeah, and I ain’t complaining. When you combine an excellent cast and great writing, the only place to go is up.
