Happy Face season 1, created by Jennifer Cacicio, is an American true crime drama that focuses on the life of the serial killer Keith Jesperson and the kind of relationship he shared with his daughter Melissa. Melissa’s life was turned upside down after she received a call from her father, who told her that apart from murdering the people he had been accused of killing, there was one more girl whom he had killed back in the day. After an extensive investigation, Melissa and her colleague, Ivy, found evidence that proved that the person, Elijah, who had been sentenced to death for murdering the victim, was actually innocent. But then there came a twist in the events, and Melissa got to know that for some reason her father had been lying to her all that while. Though Elijah was innocent, Keith Jesperson was not the one who had murdered Heather. Melissa knew that she wouldn’t be able to be content with her life until she found the real killer. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at everything that went down in Happy Face season 1 finale.
Spoiler Alert
Who was Heather’s real killer?
Ivy and Melissa once again sat together to go through all the evidence and find out if they had missed out on any details. They needed to find the real killer, as it just wasn’t fair for Denise, Heather’s mother, to not know the truth and live all her life thinking that it was Keith Jesperson who killed her daughter. But Melissa and Ivy also felt a bit embarrassed because they’d been played by Keith for his own benefit, and they weren’t able to figure out what he was up to earlier. Melissa had grown to hate her father after she had gotten to know that he had tried to kill her and her mother in the past. Even after Melissa learned that he was a serial killer, there was still a little affection in some corner of her heart for him. The fact that he loved her more than anybody else gave her some sort of strange comfort. It was a very complex feeling, but it cannot be denied that it was better than not having any kind of association with the man. Keith probably knew that, which is why he never told her the truth. But in the previous episode, that doubt was cleared, and Melissa realized that she needed to find the real killer and show her father that he couldn’t trick her so easily. Ivy and Melissa noticed that when Heather was in “Ziggy’s Basement,” the cafe where she had gone to perform at an open mic, she was wearing somebody else’s jacket that was of a certain football club. It had the number 27 printed on it. Ivy and Melissa met with Jackie, Heather’s friend, and they got to know that 27 was Cody O’Neill’s jersey number. Cody was the son of a local bar owner, Carl, and was approximately 3 years younger than Heather. Cody’s mother, Patsy, was very good friends with Denise, and after Heather’s murder, she supported her in whatever way she could. Ivy and Melissa knew that they had made a breakthrough, but still they couldn’t go to the police, as they did not have any solid evidence to prove their claims. So they decided to lay a trap for Cody and let his actions decide if he was guilty or not. They told Cody they wanted to interview him and know the kind of person Heather was. Cody agreed, but the moment Ivy started asking questions about the jacket Heather was wearing and about his whereabouts on the night she was murdered, Cody got cold feet. He got paranoid and literally stomped out of his own bar.
Later that day he met with an accident, and then in a state of paranoia just took his car and ran away from the scene. The police were chasing him down, and it almost became clear that he was actually the one who murdered Heather. But then, once again, came an unprecedented twist, for which Melissa wasn’t prepared at all. Melissa was in Cody’s bar when suddenly his father, Carl, walked in. Melissa luckily had switched on her camera on her phone and set it to the side before the man came. Carl didn’t spot the phone, and in the next few minutes he narrated the entire story of how and why he killed Heather. For almost three decades the man hadn’t touched alcohol, but while narrating the story to Melissa, he chugged a few whiskey sours, supposedly Heather’s favorite drink. So the real story was that Heather and Carl had had a brief affair back in the day. It weighed down on Heather’s conscience as Carl was a married man and even had a son. Heather wanted to end the relationship, but Carl got obsessed with her. Heather was seeing Elijah at that time, and she had made it very clear that she didn’t want to meet Carl. On the day she was killed, Carl followed her and saw her meeting with Elijah. Carl became jealous and wanted to win her back. He then requested her to let him drop her off at Ziggy’s Basement.
Carl had a couple of drinks there, and while coming back, he lost his temper after learning that Heather was moving out. He tried to force himself on Heather, and when things didn’t happen the way he wanted, he killed her mercilessly in a fit of rage. Cody knew about what had happened, and he had asked his father to confess to his crimes a lot of times. But Carl didn’t listen. Cody was innocent, but his entire life had been spoiled for no fault of his own. No matter what Carl said to defend himself, it was an undeniable fact that he was a psychopath. No matter how regretful he felt, there was no excuse for what he had done. Carl took his own life after confessing to his crimes, and everything got recorded on Melissa’s phone. Calloway came to meet Melissa after the traumatic incident, and he appreciated her for showing such courage in that moment and for finding out the truth.
How did Keith justify his actions?
Melissa, after the Carl incident, got a call from Shane, her brother, who told her that Keith had had a heart attack. Melissa didn’t feel anything after she heard the news. She didn’t even want to go and meet him, but Shane told her that he probably wouldn’t survive. Melissa informed Hazel and Ben about it and then left to see the man, as she also wanted closure after everything she had gotten to know about her past. Melissa told Keith that she knew that he had tried to kill her when she was young. Keith broke down and begged for forgiveness. Melissa had seen him like that before, and she knew that the man was pretty good at victimizing himself and making others feel sympathetic towards him. Keith said that he lied about Heather’s murder because he wanted to make Melissa a star. He said that he knew that she was meant to be in the spotlight and that he wanted to give her an opportunity to prove her mettle. Melissa knew that he was not such a selfless man. He was obsessed with Melissa and, to some extent, with Hazel too. He wanted to be a part of their lives, and even if he did not have total control over them, he wanted to have some sort of say in what they did. I got a feeling in the previous episodes of Happy Face that the man loved manipulating and gaslighting his own people. We saw what he did with Hazel and how he also made her believe that he was just a victim of his circumstances. When asked about why he tried taking Melissa’s life when she was young, the man started making up all sorts of excuses. He said that he saw the ghosts of the women he had killed, hoping that Melissa would show some sympathy towards him. But Melissa didn’t feel anything for him, and she told him that the ghosts of those women were all he was left with, since she and her family didn’t want to maintain any kind of association with him.
Cutting all his ties to the outside world was the best punishment Melissa could have given him. She even told Gillian that she was just being used as a pawn by the man, and she was foolish to believe that he loved her or valued her existence. It left Keith feeling furious and frustrated, but he knew that he could do nothing about it.
What happened between Hazel and Josh?
Josh, for some reason, was just playing with Hazel’s emotions. He knew how much she liked him, and time and again, he was just leading her on. He wasn’t faithful to his ex-girlfriend, and he had no attachment to Hazel either. But what his behaviour did was make Hazel think that she was not good enough. She started to have all kinds of doubts about herself and her confidence plummeted to an all-time low. Such was her self-esteem that even after what had happened in Happy Face episode 6, Hazel didn’t take any time to forgive Josh and accept that whatever he was saying was the truth. Josh came to Hazel and he told her that it was just a prank and she shouldn’t get mad at him. He had the audacity to tell her that he had left her in that secluded area just because he had faith in her abilities, and he knew that she would find a way to get back home. He told her that she was the smartest person he knew, and he also gifted her a locket in the shape of a snow leopard, as he knew that she loved that animal. Hazel was happy, and she once again believed in his lies. But when she was going back to her place after school, she saw Josh getting intimate with his ex-girlfriend. Hazel accepted that she was the stupidest girl ever, but Melissa gave her some advice that changed her entire perspective. When Melissa got an idea about what had happened, she told Hazel not to consider herself inferior or stupid just because a boy had manipulated her. That confidence boost did wonders for Hazel, as she went the next day to school and gave Josh a befitting reply in front of his entire friend group. She threw that leopard locket at his face and made it very clear how disgusted she was with him.
What happened between Keith and Ben?
As of now, there hasn’t been any official announcement about a Happy Face season 2, but the way the first season ended, it made me feel that the creators probably wanted to leave that window open in case they wanted to extend the storyline in the future. So at the end of episode 7, Ben had texted Chevy, the prison guard, and asked him to kill Keith Jesperson. When Ben woke up in the morning, he realized what he had done in a state of intoxication and the repercussions it could have on his life. So he texted Chevy and asked him to abort the plan. Chevy received his message possibly after he told Frankie, an inmate who had a tiff with Keith, to go ahead and kill the “Happy Face” killer. Frankie was on his way to do the needful when Keith got a heart attack and he collapsed on the ground. When Ben got to know about it, he felt relieved, though he didn’t tell Melissa about it.
In Happy Face’s ending, Ben got a call from Keith, who told him that he knew what the former had done. Keith’s voice had a lot of rage in it, probably also as a result of what Melissa had said to him. But it felt like Keith was not in the mood to forgive Ben for what he had done. So it could be possible that Keith channels his rage in one direction and makes Ben pay for what he had tried to do to Keith. Ben was scared, as he knew that Keith still had contacts outside of prison like Ennis, and moreover, he had nothing to lose. Maybe the shrewd man will try to use that leverage to get back into talking terms with her daughter or granddaughter. Another development that happened in season 1’s ending was that Dr. Gregg gave his approval for Ivy and Melissa to start their own true crime segment. Melissa made that announcement on Dr. Gregg’s show itself, and she was elated to get that opportunity. Melissa knew that she could make an actual difference in the lives of people and help them get justice. It could be possible that if there is a Happy Face season 2, it might focus on yet another case that Melissa and Ivy handle together.
