When
the time came to review
Happy Hunting, I sat for a while staring at a blank screen. I
couldn't quite remember what I didn't like about this episode, so I went
back and listened to it again. Was it Penny that bothered me? Did the
humor fall flat? Had I heard this episode before? Maybe it was a
combination of these things.
I later realized that my dislike for
Happy Hunting went
deeper than those reasons. You see, generally, a slice-of-life episode
should depict our everyday life-experiences in a realistic manner; they
should feel like pages ripped from our diaries―if
not in how its story is told, than in the way real-life struggles are
depicted. This episode attempts to depict someone's journey
seeking happiness, but presenting a character―and
a story―that never rang true.
This episode could have been substantially better if it had a little
more subtlety. First, what
Happy Hunting is
trying to say is true; we do sometimes rely on new
clothes, magazine tips, scientific facts, support groups, and exercise
to feel happy. However, this episode presents a character grabbing hold
onto those things in away that is so over-the-top, illogical, and
haphazard. Penny tries out these different ways of being happy as if she
is trying out different pairs of pants at a clothing store.
New clothes, exercise, money―we grab hold of
these things in passivity. Most of us don't grab hold of them because a
magazine article tells us to, but because we are selfish,
self-pleasuring creatures, and we sometimes rely more on temporary
solutions than on God. We also don't suddenly realize that the Omega 3's
in salmon is the not the source of true happiness because we develop an
allergy to it. We don't suddenly realize that running is not the source
of true happiness because we fell down a hill and across two parking
lots.
The reality is that it's once we've drifted out to sea that we realize
how far we've traveled away from the inland―from
God. It's only once we have all that money that we realize we're just as
happy with a dollar in our pocket. It's only once we have 900 friends on
Facebook that we realize it hasn't made us any happier than having a few
real close ones. Could not have
Happy Hunting shown
us the true consequences of seeking happiness in worldly things?
Couldn't it have shown us Penny's feeling of emptiness? I don't
understand why Happy
Hunting showed unrealistic, physical consequences to her
decision-making.
I understand how Penny may be simply a grown-up child that can be used
to easily explain topics to younger listeners, but her astounding
naiveté takes away any way I can relate to her. It did not help that I
couldn't even understand why she was unhappy in the first place. She saw
a few crummy paintings and didn't feel like selling them? Her
unhappiness reminded me of a three-year-old having a temper tantrum when
mummy asked them to clean their room. Additionally, Penny not only did,
but said things that felt illogical throughout: "I should choose
to be happy rather than miserable so I decided to buy these new boots to
help me along". Who thinks like that?
Numerous comparisons have been made to
Happy Smilers
and
Count It All Joy
on local message boards. Aside from a similarity in theme, I thought
those episodes were structurally quite different from
Happy Hunting.
Personally, I was reminded of
A...Is for Attitude,
an episode in which Connie isn't very happy to be studying for a test,
then hears an inspirational message by Dr. Vincent Van Schpeele, author
of "Happiness is a State but You Can't Get There from Here", and,
suddenly inspired, tries to think positively for the remainder of the
episode.
Although
A...Is for Attitude
may not have been more true-to-life than
Happy Hunting, it did
succeed in being more entertaining. In
A...Is for Attitude,
the protagonist tries to change other people's attitudes instead of her
own. In Happy Hunting,
on the other hand, Penny is her own antagonist, and I found her attempts
to make herself happy less interesting or humorous than when Connie went
around trying to persuade everyone else to think positively. Penny
simply ended up annoying every other character―which
inadvertently ended up annoying me, too.
Strangely enough, in
Happy Hunting, Connie Kendall, Wooton Bassett, and John Avery
Whittaker allowed Penny Wise to wander around without setting her
straight. In comparison, in
A...Is for Attitude,
Whit actively challenged Connie's new-found perspective every step of
the way―which certainly added that extra
ounce of conflict/tension. It also might have helped if this episode had
a climactic ending equivalent to the one featuring Peter Dillon on
Miller's Ravine. Happy
Hunting, comparatively, didn't build to anywhere that interesting.
As we trek through this season, we shouldn't be surprised that there
will be the occasional Adventures in Odyssey episode that doesn't
speak to us. Stories will impact some, while completely disaffecting
others. Happy Hunting,
because of some illogical moments, a lack of subtlety, and an
over-the-top grouchy protagonist, fails to make a lasting impression on
me.