‘Happy!’ Season 1, Episode 3 Sneak Peek Revisits Nick Sax’s Detective Days

“Happy!” is going back in time to give viewers a glimpse of Nick Sax’s detective days.

In a flashback scene from Season 1, episode 3 of the Syfy series, Nick (Christopher Meloni) heads to the residence of an apparent wife beater who has seemingly gotten away with his misconduct due of his connection to powerful people.

When his partner Meredith (Lili Mirojnick) tries to stop his plan of confronting the man, Nick says, “I read the message abuse calls in the last week. That guy’s beating on that poor girl. … And now we’re supposed to turn the other way because he’s someone’s rich lawyer?”

During the partners’ surprise visit at the man’s home, the guy quickly reminds Nick of his connections. “I think something is getting lost in translation here,” the suspected wife beater tells Nick. “The men I’m associated with, the men I represent I can literally take your badge, detective. I can just take it.”

But instead of getting scared, Nick hits back with a threat of his own. “Let me be clear. Nothing gets lost in translation,” Nick tells the guy. “I am someone you don’t want to be associated with. … I’m gonna be back here. Badge, no badge, I’m gonna take your head.”

While it remains to be seen how far Nick went to teach the man a lesson, it won’t be a big surprise if Nick’s decision to go against the presumed wife beater is revealed to be the reason why he’s no longer a detective.

Elsewhere in the next episode, Nick teams up with Happy (voiced by Patton Oswalt) to track his missing daughter Hailey (Bryce Lorenzo). In the trailer for the hour, Nick brings Happy to a strip club where they try to get information about Hailey’s kidnapper who goes by the alias Very Bad Santa (Joseph D. Reitman). Nick has the chance to talk to one of the women working at the club, and the lady tells him that the guy he’s looking for is a “monster.”

In addition, as revealed in the synopsis for the installment, Very Bad Santa coerces information out of Hailey about Nick, while Meredith and Amanda (Medina Senghore) make a chilling discovery.

“Happy!” Season 1, episode 3, titled “When Christmas Was Christmas,” airs on Wednesday, Dec. 20 at 10 p.m. EST on Syfy.