Happiest Season, on Hulu, is advertised as "A Holiday romcom about being true to yourself and trying not to ruin Christmas." The icon shows three heterosexual couples, an unattached woman, and what looks like a lesbian couple, but ten to one they're bickering sisters.
But the husband on the left is Dan Levy, Patrick on
Schitt's Creek, and the hunky Jake McDorman, top photo, is at the top of the cast list, so I'll give it a try.
Opening: They're a lesbian couple! The opening consists of watercolor-type pictures of two women, a blond and a brunette, meeting, falling in love, going to a family Christmas, celebrating Halloween and Thanksgiving, exchanging gifts, and moving in together. They kiss twice, so it's unlikely that viewers will identify them as "just close friends."
Scene 1: A residential neighborhood decked out for Christmas, called Candy Cane Lane. A tour guide gives its history: it was started by Herb Flack, with his nephew Otis playing Santa Claus "until he was arrested for child endangerment." A pedophilia joke? The ladies are taking the tour.
The rich brunette is named Abby, and the poor blonde is Harper. Somebody goofed -- Harper absolutely has to be the rich one. It's impossible to keep their names straight, so I'll call them Rich Brunette and Blondie.
Uh-oh, Blondie doesn't like Christmas, a major crime in these movies, and in real life during the month of December. Rush her to a re-education center, stat! Brunette argues that it's impossible to not love Christmas -- I've heard that argument a lot -- but Blondie stands firm.
Next Brunette drags Blondie to a house that's not on the tour and up to the roof, so they can look down on the lights. "Now you love it, right?" Sure, trespassing makes any holiday more festive.
They complain about being separated for the holidays, kiss and...uh-oh, the homeowner hears them. They slide off the roof, destroying an inflatable snowman, and run away. The homeowner is a Santa Claus dominatrix and her reindeer-costume sub, har har.
Brunette has an idea: why not come to her parents' house for the holidays? Wait -- the water-color intro already showed them with the parents at Christmas. Blondie agrees. They kiss for like five minutes.
What happened to Herb Flack and Otis? You can't name characters and then have them not appear. We don't even see Candy Cane Lane again.
Scene 2: The ladies' elegant brick house in downtown Pittsburgh.
Blondie works as a pet sitter? Girlfriend must be an heiress. An old-fashioned phonograph playing a new song, "Jingle Bells" by Bayli, as Blondie says "We need to talk."
Uh-oh.
It's nothing bad. She just wanted to say that she got a substitute pet-sitter, John, so she can go.
Um...the first rule of fiction, even in frothy gay-positive fiction: there has to be conflict.Cut to a coffee shop, where Blondie is giving John (Dan Levy) pet-sitting instructions. Wait -- in the intro, he's celebrating Christmas with the ladies and the parents. I thought he was the Brunette's brother-in-law, married to the scary-looking sister.
John is distracted because he left last night's hookup alone in the apartment, so he has to keep tracking him to make sure he leaves.
Takeaway: he tracks all of his friends. This will become important later.
In other news, Blondie is planning to ask Brunette to marry her. John is against it: they're a perfect couple right now, so why spoil things with an archaic assimilationist ritual, trapping her girlfriend in "the iron box of heteronormativity"?
Also: she wants to ask Brunette's dad for his blessing first. You've been reading too many Jane Austen novels, girlfriend.
Scene 3: Establishing shots of their trek out of the city into the deep, dark wilderness.
You know Pittsburgh is just an hour's drive from West Virginia, right?Big reveal: When Brunette said that she was out to her parents, she was lying. They think she is straight, and Blondie is her "roommate." So, you're about 30, you haven't mentioned a guy in 15 years, and you're living with a woman. Girl, they know.
And they can't come out now, because Dad is running for mayor, and he's trying to impress this important, homophobic doner. Sounds like the plot of La Cage aux Folles.
Besides, he has made it very clear over the years that he will only love his children if they are perfect, and being gay is by definition imperfect, so she has a fake boyfriend played by Jake McDorman (butt left).
When they arrive, it turns out that there are three sisters and a scheming ex-girlfriend, all with long black hair, so I can't tell them apart. But apparently they all have imperfections that they're keeping secret so Dad won't stop loving them:
Eldest sister and her husband are separated and divorcing, but pretending to be together. The husband is played by Burl Mosely, seen here on
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, where he sings "Don't Be a Lawyer."
Brunette is an imperfect lesbian.
Youngest daughter is writing a Harry Potter-like young adult fantasy novel in secret.
Pop Quiz: What happens next?
1. T/F: Brunette dumps Blondie for her ex-boyfriend.
2. T/F: John agrees with Brunette's decision to stay in the closet.
3. T/F: John gets a romantic partner
4. T/F: There are several other LGBT characters.
5.T/F: When Brunette comes out, her parents are fine with it.
Answers and Jake's dick after the break. Caution: explicit.