Creepy Quaid excels in true crime serial killer thriller

‘Happy Face’ avoids the pitfalls of podcast adaptations as it tells a sensational story with minimum fuss, says Ed Power

- Ed Power

On balance, the podcast revolution has been a negative for television. Whether it’s Homecoming on Prime Video starring a confused Julia Roberts) or Dirty Fohn on Netflix, hit podcasts have invariably made for watered-down TV. Something about the format’s chatty, informal style translates uneasily to the screen.

For that reason, true crime fans could be forgiven for having muted expectations for Paramount+’s Happy Face, a serial killer saga adapted from the 2018 podcast of the same name. But it pulls off the shift from non-fiction to drama surprisingly well – helped, perhaps, by the fact that it isn’t trying to do anything especially spectacular. The series tells a sensational story but with a minimum of fuss. Given the challenge posed by bringing podcasts to TV, simply to be stonkingly average (rather than weird and boring) is a victory in itself.

The big draw is Dennis Quaid. He is quietly chilling as Keith Hunter Jesperson – a real-life American-Canadian serial murderer dubbed the “Happy Face killer” in the 1990s because of the smiley faces with which he would sign his Jack the Ripperstyle letters to the media. Quaid says he was initially “hesitant” about the part, explaining he didn’t want to “glorify” Jesperson. Yet he uncorks oodles of A-lister charm as a monster who projects dad-next-door vibes on the surface but whose wholesome smile is offset by the dead gravity pits of his eyes.