It takes a lot more than a rainy Los Angeles day to dampen the good mood at Happy’s Place.

Universal Studios’ Stage 33, home of the NBC sitcom, is starting to look more like one of the adjacent theme park’s attractions, partially transforming into an arcade for the comedy’s season 1 finale. When Entertainment Weekly stops by the set this February afternoon, the cast has just done a readthrough of the episode, which finds star Reba McEntire‘s Bobbie and Rex Linn’s Emmett in some friendly competition.

But it’s in the show’s eponymous Knoxville bar — adorned with memorabilia, photos of Tennessee sports teams, and cowboy hats — where the cast sits down for a chat about their freshman run. The show reunites McEntire and Melissa Peterman, costars on the singer’s first hit series, Reba. All season long, Happy’s Place has recaptured some of the magic of Reba‘s ensemble — including a guest appearance by their former costar, Steve Howey — while dropping the two women into a completely different dynamic: On the WB-turned-CW comedy, which ran from 2001-2007, Peterman played Barbra Jean, the laughably obnoxious younger new wife of Reba’s ex-husband, Brock (Christopher Rich, who also popped by Happy’s Place for an episode). Here, Peterman’s Gabby is the laughably eccentric and chatty bartender at Bobbie’s late father’s bar, which Bobbie now owns with Isabella (Belissa Escobedo), the half-sister she never knew existed until after Happy’s death.

The two say they quickly discovered their new dynamic, in large part thanks to series co-creator Kevin Abbott, who was an executive producer for the majority of Reba‘s run. For Peterman, it was important to “distinguish the difference between Barbra Jean and Gabby,” who is “quirky for sure, in a different way,” Peterman says. “Her flaws are in different areas, which I appreciate.”

“It was instant because I pretty much am Bobbie,” McEntire explains, flanked by Peterman and Escobedo. “I mean, I was Reba in the Reba show because they wrote to me…. But I fell right into that, and having worked with Melissa before, that just gelled. When Belissa walked in, it was like we’ve been doing this a while together.”

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Bobbie and Gabby are the first two characters Isabella interacts with when she stops by Happy’s Place. “The chemistry definitely felt instant… especially between the three of us because for the pilot we were together so much and it just flowed so seamlessly,” says Escobedo, who starred in Hocus Pocus 2. “Through my relationship with these two and because they were so established, it helped me find my character and how I fit into this kooky world of characters.”

That world also includes bar cook Emmett, waiter Takoda (Tokala Black Elk), and bar accountant Steve (Pablo Castelblanco). While a lot of the comedy has been derived from Bobbie and Gabby figuring out how to run the bar together, the characters have gotten into other shenanigans both in and out of the establishment: a ladies’ night to help Gabby get over a heartbreak; Emmett and Bobbie go fishing for Fish Fry Monday; the bar’s annual roast of the patrons for its anniversary; Bobbie chickening out of getting a sister tattoo with Isabella; the guys have tap danced and cooked together, and more.

“My favorite scene so far in 17 episodes, I’m not kidding you, is Steve and Takoda finding Emmett’s tap shoes,” Linn recalls, laughing. “They were brilliant in this scene and everybody, even the crew — when the camera operators were blocking it and everything, they watched them — you could hear all the camera guys laughing. It was amazing what they did with ’em.”

But they’ve also explored more serious territory, like Gabby contemplating motherhood, complete with an animatronic baby that “terrified” Peterman; Isabella’s desire to know more about her late father she never met; and Steve’s OCD, which included him being bothered by Takoda’s mismatched socks, his germaphobia, and an emotional scene between him and Bobbie in the season’s penultimate episode.

“He brought it,” McEntire says of Castelblanco, “and when somebody brings emotion like that, you got to jump on that boat or you’re going to drown.”

“Our writers have been very good about pairing us together and finding how the dynamics work,” Castelblanco says. “One of my biggest surprises is the blooming friendship between Emmett and Steve that we’ve seen throughout many episodes. I don’t know if this is how it happened in the [writers’] room, but it feels like they kind of put themselves in a corner of being like, okay, now let’s try to pair up these people and see what their story is. And I think they found a lot of great stuff with that. From the pilot, I [thought] it was going to be a lot of Gabby and Steve going at each other — and we have a lot of that fun still. But then all the other relationships — that sweetness between Takoda and Steve with the socks, and this kind of sibling rivalry I have with Isabella, all those things — I think it comes from our writers.”

One of the series’ secret weapons is Elk, a gentle voice of reason in a setting with some big personalities.

“I feel like there’s an essence of Takoda’s ability to be able to mash with the different characters and blend with their energies,” Elk explains. “So when I’m with Emmett in the kitchen, I kind of have this more Emmett feel to me. And whenever I’m with Steve in the hallway, I have this more Steve kind of feeling. Takoda kind of switches a little bit this way and a little bit that way to be able to blend with the energy that he’s with. That’s a part of his toolkit, to be able to be friendly and get along with everybody.”

There’s also the presence of a character who’s not even present, at least not physically. “We get to discover different things about Happy, and we’re always like, ‘Well, what happened? What’s our backstory? When did she come along? Was my mom still alive?'” McEntire says of the lingering questions they have about the show’s namesake. (Those are photos of co-creator Julie Abbott’s father sprinkled throughout the set.) “[The writers] will say, ‘Not yet. Let’s give them a little piece at a time.’ And I love that. I love that we’re also curious about what happened and where did we come from, and that’s what they’re dealing with.”

Perhaps they’ll get some of those answers later this year: NBC announced the show’s renewal last month, news that star Reba McEntire would break to the cast right before filming their finale on Feb. 19.

“I think about how lucky we were that first time, and you never think you’re going to get lucky again,” Peterman says near the end of our chat. “In this business, when you get to do a pilot, that’s winning the lottery. Getting the pilot picked up, that [rarely happens], and then having it run for six seasons, you never think you’ll get that chance again. We’ve been super lucky. Who gets to do that and work with your friend again?”

“And new friends. We’ve made great new friends,” McEntire interjects. “It’s the best bunch of people I’ve ever gotten to work with. There’s not a butthole among them.”

The Happy’s Place season 1 finale airs March 21 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.