‘Happy’s Place’ Star Melissa Peterman Teases Aftermath of Emmett’s Secret and a Game That Grabs Gabby’s Attention (Exclusive)

The Winter Olympics are over, Happy’s Place is back, and Melissa Peterman spoke to PopCulture.com about what’s coming up.

In “No,” airing on Friday at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, “When Bobbie brings Isabella an easy way for the tavern to make some extra cash, she’s shocked when Isabella tells her no.”

“Gabby becomes obsessed with a bar game that Takoda brought in for the customers,” the logline continues. Peterman explained that Takoda (Tokala Black Elk), “who’s the nicest one on the staff,” finally “gets his chance to sort of screw around” with Gabby and Steve (Pablo Castelblanco) when he brings in this game. It seems to have quite a hold on Gabby; for what reasons, remains to be seen. “So he gets to be the instigator, which he’s usually just the nice one,” Peterman continued. “But he gets me and Steve. That was a very convoluted thing.”

Meanwhile, not everything will be entertaining in Friday’s episode. As fans will probably remember, the last episode before the Olympics break saw Emmett (Rex Linn) finally coming clean about knowing about Isabella (Belissa Escobedo) for years. And it won’t be going away so easily.

“I think it’s one of those things where it isn’t just one giant thing,” Peterman shared. “There’s a lot of little ripple effects throughout it as to how it affects, of course, his relationship with Isabella. I think that’s one. And Bobbie (Reba McEntire), those are the big ones. But it’s sort of a ripple effect towards all of us because we consider ourselves family in the bar, and we’re all very concerned about their relationship. But, definitely, it really comes down to he’s gotta figure out how to make it okay with Isabella and Bobbie, really. And then Bobbie and Isabella have their issues to fix. It’s a lot of secrets.”

“But I think I’m glad that it’s out,” she continued. “I think it was a lot of pressure on Pablo’s character, Steve, to be holding on to that secret. So I think we’re relieved that it’s out. But I think it’s kinda big news knowing that somebody knew about your father. He knew that he had this other daughter. I think that’s the kind of thing that, even though you think you’ve processed the news, it might come back in other ways. It’s not just one-and-done.”

“I feel like it could sort of bleed into maybe even Season 3, how it affects how she feels about things,” Peterman said. “They don’t tell me. But we always talk as a cast, too. And that’s some big news that you may process it one way, but the longer you think about it, it may affect your relationship with that person in different ways in the future. So they play around with it.”

There will be a lot to look forward to when Happy’s Place finally returns, so fans will want to tune in on Friday at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and the next day on Peacock to see what happens.