Life’s tough out there for an imaginary friend. It’s so scary out there even imagination can’t be trusted. At least, that’s what the world looks like in Syfy’s Happy. 

After murdering a whole slew of the local mob, Nick Sax (Christopher Meloni) wakes up in an ambulance to a strange, annoying flying blue unicorn that nobody else can see. The unicorn, Happy (voiced by Patton Oswald), has found Nick for one reason—Happy’s human, Nick’s daughter Hailey, has been kidnapped by a dirty, deranged Santa Claus.

This isn’t a typical imaginary friend story. This is the most twisted Syfy show you may have ever seen. It’s hardly shown who Santa’s boss is working for and, whoever it may be, has horrible plans for Hailey and the other kidnapped children. Oh, and it all happens around Christmas. That’s right—as multiple shootings, stabbings, kidnappings, visits to strips clubs and prostitute informants, and demonic possessions are shown, it’s still the holiday season, providing an upbeat joyous soundtrack to an otherwise dark series.

I did not plan to watch Happy originally, seeing it as something too dark for my tastes. I prefer happier, more pleasant stories than consistent murder. Yet on one cold Saturday night a few weeks ago, I decided to open the Syfy app and go down this rabbit hole. I’m glad I did though, seeing how well the story flows without digging too deep into the violence, as well as preventing Happy himself from losing his childlike nature. Many times I worried, with the initial villain dressed as Santa, that Nick would go on a tirade about Santa being make-believe, ruining Christmas for Happy. Nevertheless, with the multiple adult situations he faced, Happy never lost touch with his life with Hailey.

While this series may be rated TV-MA, it is a perfect choice for fans of dark comedies and murder mysteries. The first season of Happy is available on Syfy on demand and its app.