Outstanding episode, and certainly the one that stuck with me long after the end of the show.
You'd be fine for choosing Double Lips as the best of the series, but that one is just sort of a re-skinned Perfect Blue. Happy Family Planning plays on the viewers' biases to show how numb we are becoming to others that you don't notice the truth until it is abstractly revealed at the end. Even a horrifying moment early in the plot involving a train ends in a punchline you could see being a reality soon.
It tells an unconventional story that walks a tricky tonal tight-rope to show how even in the darkest places people find joy, redemption, and yes, even a family. It'll linger in your mind for a long while.
You'd be fine for choosing Double Lips as the best of the series, but that one is just sort of a re-skinned Perfect Blue. Happy Family Planning plays on the viewers' biases to show how numb we are becoming to others that you don't notice the truth until it is abstractly revealed at the end. Even a horrifying moment early in the plot involving a train ends in a punchline you could see being a reality soon.
It tells an unconventional story that walks a tricky tonal tight-rope to show how even in the darkest places people find joy, redemption, and yes, even a family. It'll linger in your mind for a long while.
