Merry Happy Whatever Recap: Family Traditions

This recap of Netflix Series Merry Happy Whatever Season 1, Episode 3, “Interference” contains significant spoilers. You can read the recap of the previous episode by clicking these words.

Ah, Christmas, full of family traditions. For The Quinn family, the Sunday before Christmas they watch Sunday Football and cheer on the Eagles. While the men watch football, the women build the Christmas tree.

For a relatively simple episode, a lot is revealed. Don (Dennis Quaid) is such a control freak, making sure the men are sat facing the TV during the game, making Matt nervous with his new Eagles shirt. Matt’s partner Emmy has the desire to have sex with him in her old bedroom and creates a plan where he sneaks off.

While Matt is in the kitchen, he catches Kayla looking at photos of a woman, potentially Alan’s new woman. When he suggests that Alan has moved on she gets overprotective of the photo and Matt gets a hunch that Kayla is into women. For the rest of the episode, Kayla is tiptoeing around Matt, and eventually, she confides in him mostly because it’s easier to come out to someone “I don’t care about”.

Midway through the football game, Don sneaks out to the bar, leaving Todd worried that he will find the “Secret In-Law” group photo on the bar door. Don goes to meet Nancy, showing that he is clearly interested in her.

Don’s control over his family reaches a boiling point when he finds cigarettes and demands to know who has smoked. Joy is the smoker, but Matt rises up and claims he is the smoker. Despite the fact that Matt finally bonded with Don, he was ready to claim points with other family members. He now has Kayla and Joy in his good books.

As Merry Happy Whatever Season 1, Episode 3, “Interference” ends Patsy finishes the tree and is nervous about Don claiming all the glory by placing the star. But Don is in a good mood, and he gives Patsy the role of placing the star every year as a new tradition.

You can read the recap of episode 4 by clicking these words