Happy Face, the American crime drama, is based on the real-life story of serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson. The Paramount series is an adaptation of the podcast of the same name and the autobiography of Melissa Moore through which she has given a detailed description of growing up around a father who was later revealed to be a vicious serial killer. So let’s find out what happened in the first two episodes of Happy Face, why Melissa went to meet her father in prison, and how it brought a serial killer into the limelight once again.
Spoiler Alert
What did Keith want from his daughter?
Melissa worked as a makeup artist for a talk show, and though she didn’t hate what she did, in childhood, she’d harbored dreams of becoming a celebrity herself. Time passed, people moved on, and Melissa made peace with whatever life had to offer, and in fact, she was grateful for everything she had. Melissa had an understanding husband and two beautiful kids. But there were things about Melissa’s past life that she didn’t tell anybody about. Apart from her husband and a few close ones who knew from back in the day, nobody knew that her father, Keith Jesperson, was, in fact, the infamous “Happy Face killer” and that he was serving a life sentence in prison.
One day, Melissa found out that her father had sent a letter to her daughter, Hazel, on her birthday. Melissa got paranoid as she didn’t want anything to do with him. It had taken a lot of effort to be able to move on from the trauma of her past life, and she just didn’t want things to get messed up. Moreover, she was worried for the safety of her kids, as she had no clue what her father might end up doing. Back in the day, the man had killed eight women, and he’d sent a detailed letter to one of the leading dailies that had all the details of the murders in it, and to top it all, a “Happy Face” smiley was drawn on the corner of each of these letters. That’s what earned him the name “Happy Face Killer,” and after he confessed to his crimes, Melissa made sure that she didn’t stay in touch with him.
Soon after Melissa received the letter from her father, she became restless, and she knew that she couldn’t just sit back and let him interfere in her life. So she bought a burner phone and gave him a call. She told him to stay away from her kids, but Keith was a stubborn man, and he had something else on his mind. The next day, when Melissa reached her office, her boss and show’s host, Dr. Gregg told her that Keith Jesperson had called up and told them that he wanted to have a chat with Melissa and Dr. Gregg. Melissa had no option but to tell her boss that Keith was her father and that he had recently tried contacting her back on her daughter’s birthday. Keith confessed that he had killed nine people and not eight, as stated in the official investigation report. So basically, there was another victim for whose death he was never charged. This was big news, and Dr. Gregg knew that they had no option but to follow the lead and find out if there was any truth behind it. Melissa felt that Keith was just trying to come into the limelight and grab attention. Keith no doubt was a narcissist, but then, for his standards, too, it was not the kind of thing one could lie about.
Why did Melissa want to fight for Elijah?
Melissa and her boss, Ivy, reached Oregon to meet Keith Jesperson in prison. He didn’t give any details in their first meeting, and he got offended by the way Melissa talked to him and just walked out of the meeting room. Ivy knew that they needed to have some evidence to show Dr. Gregg that they had made some sort of progress. Keith left hints for Melissa as if it was all a game for him. He told Melissa and Ivy that, after every murder, he bought Melissa a gift, and after the ninth one, he got her a trampoline. Melissa connected the dots, and she realized that the victim could be from the same place where the trampoline was purchased. She knew that her father traveled a lot as a trucker, and there was a possibility he’d killed someone when he was on the road. Melissa went to meet her mother because she wanted to find that trampoline. Melissa’s mother didn’t like the fact that she had gone to prison and talked to her father. She told Melissa that her father was a dangerous man and that, even behind bars, he could harm them. Melissa and Ivy found the trampoline, and it had a logo of the shop from where it was bought on it. Melissa and Ivy figured out that the ninth victim was from Texas. Melissa remembered that after her father came back from Texas, he’d given her a guitar pick . Keith had told Melissa and Ivy how the victim played the guitar when he gave her a ride. After doing some background research, they figured out that, in 1995, a woman named Heather Richmond was killed, but the problem was that her boyfriend, Elijah, was charged with her murder. It didn’t take long for Ivy and Melissa to figure out that Elijah had been framed, as it was convenient for the authorities to charge a Black guy for the murder of a White girl. Melissa visited the bar, Whiskey Rivers, where Heather used to work, and she found an identical guitar pick to the one that her father had gifted her, and she knew for sure that Heather was the ninth victim. The problem arose when Craig Callaway, the district attorney, told Melissa and Ivy quite bluntly that he was not going to reopen the case as it was a futile effort. The man was too proud to accept the fact that he had made a mistake in the past. Because of his fault, an innocent man had been sentenced to death, and Melissa knew that she would have to pull a miracle to save him. Elijah had only 58 days on his hands, and over a video call, he told Melissa and Ivy how he had given up all hope before they came. After the district attorney refused to help them, they didn’t have any option left apart from creating as much noise as they could on their channel and causing a furore that would force the authorities to take Suo motu cognizance of the case.
What happened during Melissa’s interview?
Melissa’s husband, Ben, didn’t want her to go on air and give the interview. He felt that by doing so, the safety of his family would be compromised, but Melissa knew she didn’t have any option. The life of an innocent man was at stake, and there was no fear too big to stop her from doing everything she could to save him. Dr. Gregg interviewed Melissa, and he asked her all sorts of questions about the kind of relationship she had with her father. There came a time when it felt like Dr. Gregg had the intention of throwing Melissa under the bus just for the sake of sensationalization. He asked her if she felt that she was like her father, a question that actually haunted Melissa for a long time. Melissa broke down during the interview, and she told Gregg that, all her life, she had been haunted by the fact that one day, she would realize that she had inherited certain traits from her serial-killer father. She told Gregg that she was always apprehensive of the fact that she might also have a side to her that was evil and dark. Though I personally didn’t trust Gregg’s intentions at the beginning of the interview, he did manage to help her in a way that validated for her that she was nothing like her old man. Though he wanted to add drama and emotion to his show, he had no intention of blaming Melissa for the actions of her father. The interview was a success, and by the reaction of the audience, one thing that became clear was that the district attorney was going to have a tough time in the future.
At the end of Happy Face episode 2, we see Keith happily stick the newspaper clipping, where his claims regarding the ninth victim were stated, on his cell wall. One thing that became quite clear in the first two episodes was that Keith craved attention; he liked staying in the news. He still was as narcissistic as he was in the past, and the jail time hadn’t impacted him in any manner. Another strange thing that happened at the end of episode 2 was that a man standing at a shop in Oregon read the news of Keith claiming there was a ninth victim. The look in his eyes told us that that suspicious man was up to something, and that he was somehow related to the case. He knew Keith for sure, but why he was interested in that piece of news is something that we will get to know in the subsequent episodes. Maybe Melissa’s mother and Ben’s fears might come true, and Melissa speaking about the issue might lead them into trouble. Whatever it was, Melissa was not going to back off, as she knew that the life of an innocent person depended upon the outcome of the case. She knew what consequences could ensue, and she was ready to face them head-on.
