‘Happy’s Place’: Melissa Peterman on Adding ‘Another Layer’ to Gabby’s Mom and ‘Relatable’ Pregnancy Journey (Exclusive)

Happy’s Place has returned from its Winter Olympics hiatus, and star Melissa Peterman talked to PopCulture.com about what happened and what’s next.

In Friday’s episode, “No,” Peterman’s Gabby becomes obsessed with a game that Takoda brings into the tavern, so much so that she ends up ignoring customers.

The game in question was a hook and ring game, and it’s as simple as it sounds. There’s a ring that’s on a string, and you have to get the ring on the hook. Gabby was not the only one to become obsessed with it, as Peterman revealed that everyone on the cast was pretty occupied when the cameras weren’t rolling.

“Having that game on set, it looks like a very deceptively easy game. I’m a gamer, by the way. I think the writers did this because they know how competitive I am,” Peterman explained. “So it’s a real game that you play, and you wanna just pump the ring onto this hook. And we were all obsessed when we were not rehearsing. Pam Fryman, our wonderful director, had to say, ‘Stop playing with it.’ And I would often get it when I wasn’t supposed to, where the script says, ‘Miss this.’ And then when I’m supposed to get it, I can’t get it. So it definitely made rehearsals longer.”

“We were not easy to herd that week we were playing with the game,” she continued. “But anytime we had downtime, we had it figured out. And I want the audience to know, because I don’t remember which tape they used, but there were times I made it work on cue. And then there were times that I needed help, and I’m wondering if anyone will be able to tell as they watch.”

The more that Gabby played the game, the more obsessed she got, as she couldn’t get the ring on the hook. Towards the end of the episode, Takoda talks to her about it, and she admits that she played the game growing up and tried to win in the hopes of getting her mom to like her. It was a very vulnerable and unexpected moment, but it’s moments like that that Peterman loves about the show.

“I think what I love about the show and the writers, too, is that it’s a comedy,” she shared. “It’s supposed to make people feel good and laugh, but to me, most comedy comes from real-life trauma sometimes, because you gotta laugh. And it’s just another layer to Gabby’s mom. We talk about her mom a lot, and we will finally get to meet her this season. And when we did that little scene, which was a small scene, but to me, it had a lot in it.”

“I talked about, ‘Is Gabby figuring this out as she’s saying it out loud too?’ Like, ‘Oh my gosh. That’s why I’m competitive, and I can’t play games because I have to win.’ So we talked a lot about what it meant,” Peterman continued. “Did I know this, or was I sort of figuring it out?”

“And, ultimately, it was sort of in that moment, she’s also putting some pieces together, going, ‘Oh, that’s how I got my mom’s attention. That’s why games are so important to me. This is why I’m competitive.’ And just another add to the list of things Gabby needs to talk about in therapy,” she said. “But it was one of those great moments where because, again, Tokala [Black Elk] in person and human is also one of the most wise people, and he is always just is really wise and knows so many things. And as his character, Takoda, he really plays that same sort of thing, and he often guides us to get to information that maybe we knew all along or didn’t know, and I just love scenes with him, too. I really love to have those moments with him.”

Despite complications with her own mother, Gabby’s been on a journey to motherhood herself this season. She finally picked a sperm donor earlier this season and, at one point, even thought she was pregnant. But this storyline is only just beginning, and Peterman is enjoying the thought of doing it all again, even if it is just pretend.

“I love it because in my real life, my own son is 20. So just the idea of having a baby again is delightful, just even pretending for a second. I love it,” she admitted. “I think it’s, again, a storyline that, within comedy and within multi-cam sort of situation comedies, we can talk about real things. And I love that there are women that are trying to get pregnant. There are women that maybe are not where they thought they were gonna be when they were gonna decide to have a baby, or maybe it ultimately leads them to another entire journey of themselves. But I think it’s relatable.”

“A lot of women, they’re not in the perfect relationship,” she continued. “They’re not, but maybe they know they want this, and maybe they need to figure out why they want it. And maybe that takes them somewhere else. But I think it’s relatable.”

There will be much more to look forward to as the season continues, as Peterman revealed that the storyline wraps up at the end of the season, “and where it leads,” Gabby. “But I think it was one of those journeys that maybe took even the writers in a place that we weren’t sure was gonna go,” she said. “So we do sort of see the end of that storyline in Season 2. And I like how it ended. I was invested. And I will say, I like how it ended. I think it’s a very relatable thing.”

It’s hard to predict what all will happen with Gabby and where her journey will lead her, but it sounds like fans will be in for quite a ride. Tune in to new episodes of Happy’s Place on Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, streaming the next day on Peacock.