The Christopher Meloni Crime Comedy Hidden Gem You Can Watch On Netflix

Thanks to his work on roughly 75 seasons of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and his spinoff series, "Law & Order: Organized Crime," Christopher Meloni has become America's favorite non-superpowered crime fighter. The guy just brings a focused intensity that makes you think "wow, I could totally see this dude crushing a man's head into pulp with a fire extinguisher and then pantomiming some heinously explicit stuff on top of the corpse."

And now, with a Netflix subscription, you can. "Happy," the bizarre Syfy series based on the Grant Morrison comics of the same name, is very much available to watch on the streaming service, complete with evocative deli-meat-slicer-based threats of physical harm and — and we probably should have ripped this Band-Aid off earlier — a flying blue horse with a magical horn, voiced by Patton Oswalt. Let's dig in.

The story of "Happy" revolves around Meloni's Nick Sax, a hard-living ex-detective taking any dirty job that comes his way. After some particularly nasty business involving an organized crime family, Sax suffers a heart attack. The line between correlation and causation is tough to nail down, but around the same time, he makes the acquaintance of a flying cartoon unicorn named Happy, the imaginary friend of a little girl who has been kidnapped and needs Nick's help. It's a perfect contrasted pairing: One likes songs and sparkles, the other likes gunning down bad guys with an uzi and jamming whatever's hypodermic and on hand into his circulatory system. Real Felix and Oscar energy.

Adding to "Happy's" already frenetic universe is a powerhouse of quick-cut, high-adrenaline direction. One of the series' frequent contributors is Brian Taylor, one half of the directing duo behind the "Crank" movies and the underappreciated, fully bonkers "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance." Taylor helms half of the show's 18 episode run over the course of two seasons, and the high octane, wide angle, rock guitar energy is near constant as a result. You want guest stars? "Happy" has a stable of the suckers, from music icons Amanda Palmer and Weird Al Yankovic to Jeff Goldblum in a cameo that you probably don't want spoiled for you.

The show's run was fiery and brief. "Happy" aired between 2017 and 2019 on Syfy, and received largely outstanding reviews, with an 84% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a litany of praise heaped on Meloni's unhinged performance. Is it a show for everyone? Absolutely not. But if you ever wanted to watch an ex-cop on the edge going toe-to-toe with a drug-addled Santa Claus, aided only by his wit, his will, and a cartoon horse that vomits rainbows, this might just be the scratch that your itch has been dreaming of.