Just as Happy’s Place got Reba McEntire and Rex Linn‘s characters together on screen, the show dropped a bombshell that threatens their romantic future together.
During the Friday, November 7, episode of the NBC sitcom, Bobbie (McEntire) made the first move and asked Emmett (Linn) out. He said no — citing a promise he made her late father — but they ultimately ended the season 2 premiere together.
Emmett then revealed to Steve (Pablo Castelblanco) that Lucky didn’t ask him to stay away from his daughter. Instead, Lucky previously told Emmett about his secret daughter, Isabella (Belissa Escobedo), which he never told Bobbie.
“It’s a big twist, for sure. Everyone knows what’s coming and that’s so thrilling and stressful for the audience,” Escobedo, 27, teased exclusively to Us Weekly about Bobbie presumably finding out about Emmett’s secret. “That anticipation because we know that when this secret drops, it’s going to drop hard.”
McEntire, 70, meanwhile, noted that there were “consequences” that need to be addressed.
“It’s a very important time for something big to happen — something unexpected,” she added about Bobbie and Emmett’s romance. “You kind of give the audience what they want.”
Rex Linn as Emmett, Reba McEntire as Bobbie. Casey Durkin/NBC
While reflecting on the milestone moment, Escobedo broke down why now was the right time to explore the romance, adding, “Isabella coming into Bobbie’s life opened her up a bit. It brought out a more vulnerable side because she was forced to be vulnerable. Isabella pushed her to it. There’s a softer side that comes desiring some romance and some comfort.”
Linn, 68, also weighed in on the timing of the two major story lines.
“Bobbie has just got a giant crush on him — most women do,” he quipped to Us. “It’s the right time because it makes it more interesting. We know he has got a little secret but we don’t know what that is and we don’t know where he’s going with it. But he’s in charge of that secret and we’ll see what happens.”
Executive producer Kevin Abbott previously told Us about the show’s plan for the central fictional relationship.
“She’s with Rex now and we thought, ‘If it’s ever going to work, this is going to work.’ For me it works. They are just wonderful together,” Abbott shared in March. “So I’m interested in following that track and seeing how it goes. That was the plan even before we cast Rex — believe it or not. Because we did cast him and that was always intended as a possible love interest because I’ve got some of those stories I want to tell. I wasn’t able to tell them in the old Reba sitcom.”
Happy’s Place airs on NBC Fridays at 8 p.m. ET before streaming the next day on Peacock.
