Happiness (2021)

2021 Best Survival K-Drama!

There are many survival K-Dramas in 2021. But, trust me. This one is the best in every aspect while the others are overhyped ones. If you are looking for the best survival drama, watch this! Never watch overhyped drama! Trust MDL's ratings more than Koran television's ratings.

I've always been a fan of survival K-dramas. I want to see how the plot goes and how the writers give problem solutions to the conflicts in the plot.

So, as always, I'll just give you the summary.

Pros:
- It gives you an eerie atmosphere in every episode. Less talk, more atmosphere!
- No cringey lovey-dovey romance! Both (male lead & female lead) are focusing more on surviving and helping others than having a blooming love relationship.
- The plot is easy to understand, but it still gives you puzzles. Who is who, who did this and that, who will die, etc.
- This drama has plenty of characters/villains but they are really easy to be remembered.
- No sex scenes. Safe to be watched together with family (not for kids)!
- THE FEMALE MAIN LEAD IS STRONG, COOL, HEROIC, BADASS, NO CRY BABY, AIN'T SCAREDY-CAT. The writer(s) did justice to the female main lead in this drama, unlike in other action K-dramas where females always are the ones who have to be protected by males. This is what makes me score 10/10 ratings on MDL. I'm a male btw. I'm starting being a fan of Han Hyojoo <3
- No jumpscares and not that scary. Heart-friendly.
- Top-tier character developments: A kind-hearted person can be evil and vice-versa because of life-hanging conditions.
- The plot hole is there but it's almost invisible. Thanks to the scary atmosphere and the character's actions. You won't have enough time to think about the hole. You will spend your time reading the plot flow and thinking which character is likely to be alive, where is the antagonist.
- The plot twist is not that big, but it's there to surprise you.
- It portrays the daily life of metropolitan Korean families (kinda).
- This drama won't waste your precious seconds. The plot is solid and won't make you bored. Unlike other dramas where the talking scenes take longer than they should be, Happiness put the talking scenes to the nice timing with a good proportion.
- and many more I forgot what to write. I'll add them once I remember.

Cons:
- Only 12 episodes and this is a big deal.
- Needs more OSTs.
I think these cons have something to do with sponsorship. If I don't see Samsung in a drama, I assume the drama doesn't get enough $$.

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Before it's a thriller, it's an exploration into what it means to be human

For the first section, I'll keep it spoiler-free!

The first thing that intrigued me about Happiness was the way the virus functioned. Despite the zombie-esque premise, the infected are alive. Once their episodes pass they return to themselves, they can think and feel and communicate. Despite having the same hunger and urges that your everyday zombie has, they're still people. And sure this isn't the only time this has been done in media, but in a genre oversaturated with dehumanized corpses, it provides us with a much lesser shown perspective. Humanizing the infected made the situation both hopeful and bleak as we're shown them in both their frenzied and calm states. But their living state doesn't necessarily grant them compassion from every character, and the lines between what is okay and what isn't start to blur.

To start from the beginning, Happiness is less a monster thriller and more an exploration into the different forms of happiness, what they mean to those who seek them, and what lengths those seekers will go to reach them. Yoon Sae Bom's motivation at the start of the series is to have her own home, a place that is entirely hers, after growing up never having her own space. She had a rough go of things when she was younger and is now desperate to take her first steps towards that long-sought goal, so much so that she even takes Jung Yi Hyun, a long-time friend, to be her fake husband in order to get the apartment that she wants. JYH, for his part, reached his lowest point in high school when an injury took his future in baseball away from him, and it was YSB who pulled him out of his thoughts and allowed him to think clearly.

But Happiness isn't just about these two characters. Over the 12-13h runtime, we get the stories and motivations of about a dozen other characters, each in pursuit of happiness of their own, be it in the form of money, companionship, lust or family. The pursuit of happiness isn't always a noble battle, and what means the world to one person could mean nothing to the next. In this way, the drama explores the darker sides of greed, envy and lust very thoroughly. Because of that, there are more characters you don't like than those you do, and even the ones you've enjoyed early on can infuriate you later. For me, that was the beauty of it. It felt very human, if exaggerated. Let's be honest, it can be a bit much. In around two weeks, we see people fall to newer and deeper depravities to get what they want. Desperation can do a lot, but the sheer number of people who break apart so quickly in this series is staggering. But, well, the pandemic showed us just how quickly panic can bring about stupidity.

So on one hand, we have a bunch of people infected with a rabies-like virus who still retain their humanity. On the other, we have a bunch of people with different beliefs, motivations and moral compasses all stuck in a building together. From cops and bickering siblings to murders and scammers, they either try to sway the rest to their side or try to determine who they should trust. At the end of the day, if they all stayed in their units and had appointed a few people to bring their food and water to them, then this story would have had half of the blood and death in it that it does. But we've all experienced quarantines and know how big of a hit they can take on mental health, even if there aren't zombie-like people trying to break into your building. And we all know those people who just won't follow the rules and stay indoors. Not everyone listens. Almost everyone is scheming. The entire story is a mess and I love that about it. I even love how angry it made me and how many times it sent me on tangents complaining about the characters. Because, for all of the annoyance it caused me, I liked how it actually felt like characters other than our leads were moving the plot along.

Spoilers ahead!

Happiness, like its concept, isn't perfect. Sometimes the leads made stupid or reckless decisions. Sometimes the other characters did, too. I can't really hold that against it, though, because humans by nature aren't very logical. We panic, or we're hasty, and we make bad choices. We mess up. It happens. Naturally, there were some things that I didn't like beyond that, as well. The first is the serial killer story that developed in the latter half of the series. While everyone could see what was going on with Andrew from a mile away, I did feel like his identity-stealing serial killer subplot felt a bit out of place and tacked on. They needed to up the stakes for the last few episodes to make it interesting, but suddenly bringing in a serial killer who doesn't have anything to do with the main conflict of the virus was a bit too left-field for my liking, even if their goal was to show that humans themselves are more dangerous than any monster. If they were going to add it then I wish they went deeper into his story and the plot surrounding him to make his story feel more grounded.

What really bothered me was what they did to Kim Se Hoon. From the very start of the drama, he was an interesting though very rarely seen character that I wanted to see explored more. He was a paranoid, doomsday-conspirator survivalist right out of the gate and I loved that about him. Despite his very radical beliefs and his concern over catching the virus, he was kind and considerate not only to our leads but to the other characters as well (even if under YSB coercion). He came down to place his vote on whether to kick Kim Seung Beom out of the building even when he didn't want to leave his apartment until the quarantine was lifted and shared his food, even considering to share it with the rest of the people living there despite not really wanting to. I really wanted to learn more about him and see him survive until the end, but instead, he's killed off-screen (though I believe there was a flashback later) and his body is dumped. Not only is he ultimately a tool in the Andrew subplot, but he's left forgotten until they need to use moving his body as an excuse for one last high-stakes conflict. They could have done more. I wish they did, but that's what we're left with.

I think Happiness could have done well with either an extra episode to properly resolve everything, or a restructuring of the plot to allow more time in the end. It felt too rushed and there were a lot of loose ends that needed to be tied. We saw that Han Tae Seok's wife survived, but what about their child? It never showed the child being born or passing away despite being so heavily referenced in his scenes. We never had YSB visit her mother in the nursing home even though she voiced her regrets over not doing so before the quarantine. We don't know if Park Seo Yoon's father made it out (they mentioned severe symptoms for him, but we never saw the family fully reunited), or if Kim Jeong Gook was okay after being treated or if his wife was okay (we can assume, but we don't see him after recovery and we never see his wife despite, again, mentioning her throughout the whole story). These are just the ones that stand out in my mind, but there are probably other loose ends left hanging. Dramas can't always close off every little thing, but even having ten minutes at the end of the episode to show these characters finally reunited with their families would have been a nice way to close things off.

So yes, I have a lot of gripes. But even with all of that, which would normally bump this drama down to an 8, I have to give it a 9. It may not have closed off as nicely as I would have liked, but the relationship between YSB and JYH was beautiful. From episode 1 their chemistry was great, I loved their dialogue and their scenes together were my favourite, but by the end, I really felt how much they meant to each other. JYH was willing to do everything to protect YSB. They trusted each other unconditionally, and the only time we ever see someone talk an infected down from an episode is between them. It isn't just them, though. The old lady, despite being one of the first ones infected, never has an episode (to our knowledge). Her husband is harsh with his words and bickers and complains, but after finding out that she's been infected, he quarantines with her in their apartment and stands guard outside the bedroom door at night to watch over her. He never leaves her, and she's never put in a situation stressful enough to attack. She has the willpower to control it the whole way through the drama. And even her son, one of the stupidest, most obnoxious characters, experiences character growth by the end. After abandoning his family when he found out that his mother was infected and stealing their food, he returns in the end and reconciles with them, and they wait there together for the soldiers to arrive after the quarantine is lifted. Another woman gains the courage to leave a man who clearly doesn't value her, and a brother and sister whose relationship was strained reconnect after almost losing one another.

So, okay, it's not perfect. I hate a lot of people in this. My quibbles are endless. But somehow this is still one of the dramas I enjoyed most this year, and I'm happy to have experienced it.

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Typical Zombie entertainemnt with its own spin.

Working front line during Covid19 made me hesitant watch this drama since the story line was linked to Covid but I am so glad I decided to watch it. I love the zombie genre and the lead actors!

It follows the typical zombie drama plot of focusing more on the interaction between the people and realizing who the monsters really are.

There is limited romance but I felt the chemistry between the leads was so strong. There is just really no time for romance and I never felt bored with the drama. I can't say I like many of the characters other than the leads. The ones I do like aren't in it very much.

The music is not amazing but is good at setting the scene.

I found the ending satisfying except I wanted to see more of one character but don't want to give any spoilers. There is closure to the ending and I would hate for there to be a sequel.

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Happiness: Rollercoaster of emotions

I personally enjoy apocalyptic dramas, so I was naturally drawn to Happiness as I read the synopsis. I love the new view that was put on an apocalyptic world. It draws many parallels to the covid-19 pandemic, which was really refreshing to see. The stories make you realize the evils of the human heart and all the things that people struggle through. It also gives you the experience of the lengths people will go through for themselves. The main characters amazed me, I love Park Hyun-sik, and he is one of the main reasons why I started watching in general, but I stayed for Han Hyo-joo. Her character gave such a refreshing image to the main female lead. I always hated female leads that were weak or damsel's in distress, needing a man to save her. Han Hyo-joo's character is the opposite, not only can she hold her own, she does what she wants and can to protect those that she loves, even if she does not show it. It was also nice to see a strong couple, their promises to stay safe, but their strength as individuals to hold their own was impressive. They did not need to save each other because they only had to be there for each other.

Even though the drama was mostly held inside an apartment building, the building's people definitely represented the evils of the world. There were murderers, frauds, scammers, rich, poor, and a whole variety of people just packed into a building struggling to maintain its structure. It was pretty infuriating, seeing that the main leads could not do anything because they had to follow the law and rules given to them. But overall, I really enjoyed this drama.

I do think that the ending was rushed. I think it was initially supposed to be 16 episodes, but it was somehow shortened to 12. That was disappointing, as I would have loved to see the main leads live out their lives in happiness after the last scene in the show.

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Observations and notes rather than the standard form

Lots of reviews already thoroughly giving “Happiness” the attention it duly deserves. So rather than rehash the same, simply going to offer a few observations in note form:

-Lee Kyu Hyung has guest or support roles in “Hospital Playlist 2”, “Happiness” and “Racket Boys” which is a phenomenal trio of shows to be part of in a single year.

-”Happiness” begins with Yi Hyun inconsolable over the end of his baseball future because of a serious leg injury that meant he couldn’t run. In later episodes, however, we see him sprinting across the complex yard followed by a leap on top of Tae Seok’s SUV. In another episode, he and Sae Bom are running through the parking garage. It’s a decent-sized plot hole. Hypothetically, however, Yi Hyun recovered enough to play again but had already decided to follow Sae Bom into police work.

-Ahn Gil Ho was quietly very clever in his direction. In episode one, the world is totally wide open. The show bounces from one setting to another across what appears to be significant distances. As things start to go wrong, first the setting gets constricted down to the apartment complex. Then our main characters can only barely leave their building. Then quietly, as the episodes tick off, the show features fewer shots outside the building. In almost every episode, there is a scene where the two leads are on the patio or the roof, but with each episode until the conclusion, it gets shorter and shorter. Along with the deaths among the residents and the multiple episode absence of characters like Ji Seong Sil and Kim Hak Je, this ratchets up the claustrophobic vibe slowly but steadily.

-Chemistry is oft-discussed but is really such a difficult and subjective element to evaluate. In theory, two competent actors should simply be able to do their job well without the need for some special personal harmony between them to convince the audience that they have strong feelings for each other. Despite the likelihood that chemistry as commonly used is an illusion convincingly created by very skilled professionals, Park Hyung Sik is inconceivably natural in his on-screen pairings.

-The most challenging role and the best performance, however, was Bae Hae Seon’s building representative. Was she a likable character? That’s a big NO. But that doesn’t mean the actor wasn’t crushing it.

-Tremendous OST work by Joe Layne.

-The last minute fakeout reveal that has been featured way too often this fall (big culprits - they didn’t break up in “Dali and the Cocky Prince”, Hyun Jo didn’t die in “Jirisan” and same with Yi Hyun here) can stop. Immediately. Please give viewers a proper closure by expositing how these things came to be rather than just a cheap “FOOLED YOU! HAHA” gimmick.

-On that note, in general, the second half of the last episode felt rushed. The resolution to the discovery of a serial killer in their midst could have had a longer, slower, bigger buildup and bigger confrontation. Sixteen episodes would have been too much, but “Happiness” could have been easily stretched to fourteen. The bitcoin subplot could have been resolved more clearly. What exactly went down with Tae Seok’s plan? Lots of other fertile ground was there with supporting characters for extended content.

-Baek Hyun Jin played a series of bad guys this year: Chairman Park Yang Jin in “Taxi Driver”, President Heo Jung Se in “The Devil Judge” and Oh Joo Young in “Happiness”. He’s a fabulous creep and it’s difficult to choose which of these characters was the most loathsome. All of them are so colorfully horrible. But it’s Chairman Park by a hair over Dr. Oh.

-The summation: ”Happiness” is an incredible show and should be on every short list of candidates for best drama of 2021. It’s not this reviewer’s top choice, but only by the narrowest of margins.

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Nice to try if you're curious but lower your expectations

Honestly it has a great story in general, and a great premise at first but as the episodes going there's some missing flow in between the plot and especially nearing the end that's very unfortunately making it missing some points for me. Plus overused storyline from some of the residents that I just ended up skipping a lot towards the end. Overall good enough for me to keep watching till the end yet I don't think will be exciting enough to re-watch later on. And don't expect any romance I honestly don't feel anything for the couple rather just a sense of loyalty and compassion or at minimum infatuation that even though I was told they're just friends or co-workers or siblings I would believe it. Though this is out of their actual real life interaction which was cute but not seen on the screen as much as I seem to see people saw it.

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I really love the HAPPINESS couple because this is the first time KOREAN do a zombie drama and happy ending at that. I really love it. About those two care about each other especially JUNG YI HYUN (PARK HYUNG SIK) toward YOON SAE BOM (HAN HYO JOO). And this drama is so fun and romantic to watch. I think HAPPINESS should have Season 2 and make it more romantic. I don't if others think differently but i think these happiness couple are the best chemistry couple I've seen. It's a pity that it is only 12 episodes. It's okay.
Dear Director, please make a drama stars PARK HYUNG SIK and HAN HYO JOO. That is all.

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Happiness makes you feel both happy and frustrated, enjoyed it! Hope you will too.

I was infatuated with this drama from the beginning, especially because of the main lead actors and it’s interesting storyline. Here below are my main thoughts:

1. I expected the series to be slightly different and unique in comparison to other apocalyptic works. And my goodness it was.
2. The dynamic between the characters was very well put together, and the chemistry between the leads was amazing. But, the contrast between the scenes( when one scene ends and it goes to another scene) was a bit different from what I’m used to, it was kind of shocking every now and then.
3. The drama does not shy away from the dark reality of some people in the world and shows that often the most unexpected surprises can arise from a new environment and the people that live around you.
4. I was on the edge of my seat for most episodes, in the beginning the episodes had a slow pace , towards the end : faster and more suspenseful. However, the ending was rather sudden and seemed cut down and short. While I can see why they did that, considering the style of the series, it left a rushed feeling in me afterwards and I wished they could’ve expanded it a bit more.
5. The title seemed like an appropriate description of the goal of the main leads. All they wanted was to find their happiness and especially towards the end they fought for it. And helped others find their happiness as well. (SPOILER)
6. It holds a warm place in my heart and (SPOILER) I was happy that the series ended happily for most characters that mattered to me. The last episodes made me think that it might not end happily after all, and that the title would’ve had an ironic meaning.

Long story short: I would recommend Happiness to you. Yes, you might become frustrated with some of the characters, and shocked with some of the scenes or revelations that come up very sudden. But, it’s slice of life moments and heart warming scenes. The badass lead characters and loving relationships, makes it all an experience worth the time. The music I came to like on the way, but it was some getting used to.

I came to this at first because of the main male lead actor and, I was on a zombie- binge- watch for weeks(mind me, this was not the first time ever that I was actually watching zombie series, but I was intrigued with this for a short while.) (SPOILER): Interesting fact: the zombies in Happiness were different from most portrayed in other series and movies. These zombies had stages, where the virus infected them slowly, and suddenly they could get outbursts, but ussually they seemed normal despite the sick look in their faces. But they could still think and talk and “act” normally. The person was still inside. Which was interesting and a bit creepy. It showed a unique perspective of the infected and humans, sometimes the humans acted worse. (SPOILER END). This series is my favorite zombie-apocalypse drama until now, with Kingdom next. I don’t need a season 2, but a PREQUEL expanding on the lead characters past and how their experiences were before (what made them to be how they are), would be great. It was one of the few things I missed in this drama, a more in depth background of the lead characters, where they came from and how they came to be such strong characters. A more extensive ending I would greatly appreciate. This was my review, thank you for taking the time to read and hopefully you had a use for it.

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Amazing i still can't get over this drama short unfortunately but every week i enjoyed watching it , the cast acting was on top they all interpreted their roles correctly one thing i absolute love is how the main characters shows their love for each other just by actions , the plot is very interesting and followed a correct chronological order one thing that personaly hit me was the message of this drama one value that the main characters were sticking to it was to treat everyone the same way even when they are infected and this reminded me of myself when i had covid and sometimes i was treated as a danger or like i am the virus itself , overall i recommend this drama a 100%.

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The title isn't misleading, just wait for it.

In simple words, I used to be scared of zombies. I couldn't bear the sight of them and skipped on dramas like Sweet Home because of it. About when the fourth episode was airing, I decided to give this a try because of the main leads. I stayed because of the storyline, production, visual, ost, and everything. This is one of the best dramas of 2021, the chemistry between the cast was off the chart, and it made me realize how the real monsters are humans, not the infected. If you guys want an eye-opener about how kind and selfish humans can be, please check out this drama. Thank you for reading.

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