Happiness (2021)

Tiring and Frustating

I watched Happiness coz I believe both main characters, Park Hyun Shik and Han Hyo Joo..., I was wrong.

The drama premise is about a zombie-like virus, firstly spread by pills then infected people distributed by bite and scratch, but it has its own uniqueness. People who got infected are still able to get back to their human form, as long as they don't smell blood. Kinda like Sweet Home, but the virus is curable in the end. Apocalypse's setting is not my favorite but I still can watch it.

What frustrated me the most is the characters. In Sweet Home, all residents work together to face the situation. The older brother and his ballerina sister,  the priest, the firefighter, the gangster, etc... all characters are strong and have special contributions to the drama.  Antagonist residents exist but it still makes sense. And they're still willing to join other residents when cooperation is needed.
While this one has nothing but a compilation of useless evil and trashy characters. The one that useful are only both main characters whom the other characters trying to get rid of throughout the drama...., as if all of those characters have no common sense to UNDERSTAND, how much they need these cops in this critical situation

To make it clear, these disturbing behaviors happen throughout the drama, literally from the start till the end. The word "useless" I use refers to their contribution to the story. And these weird characters keep doing their disturbing behaviors, as is they forget that they are in a very critical situation.
Start from a very trashy useless YouTuber wannabe boy who is very rebellious and disregards his mother. He has no job but to play games and live streaming. He humiliates his mother, even mean enough to steal all of their food stock and leave their parents after his mother got infected.
The apartment-representative wanna-be woman, who wanted to get rid of the main characters for no clear reason and I can't even mention which one of her acts is the most disturbing.
A doctor who killed his wife, for the whole drama trying so hard to kill Hyunsik, .... the reason is by killing him, none will come to catch him....??? As if Hyunshik is the only cop who will chase him for his crime. I can't find the logic in which killing the police in charge is the best way to get away with your crime.
The doctor's mistress who only cares to chase for the doctor's money.
The cleaner couple who is very money-oriented.
The cleaner employee, Andrew, who mysteriously wears goggles and masks but then happens to be a serial killer.
A money-oriented lawyer with his useless protagonist wife.
A writer, the other useless protagonist with her useless brother who keeps pestering his sister to give away her apartment because he lost him and he needs a place for him and his family to stay.
Hyunsik's partner who can easily betray him for no reason, and gets easily forgiven.
A girl who has to stay at home coz of her sickness... but never shows her symptoms. She has no contribution but stays at home and be Han Hyo Joo's playing mate.
Seriously, if you delete one of those characters, it will have no impact at all.

To make it, even more, weirder, for the whole drama all characters keep believing and follow the doctor and the representative's words, even though the cop couple has already proven that they are not only can handle the situation, they also can communicate with authorities outside, which make them know what they should do. Such as how long the quarantine will last, how the food will be delivered, etc...
But, these residents, instead of believing the cops, they sided with the antagonist duo and conspired to kill the cops, even using Andrew's service to get rid of all the cops... as if living with Andrew, a murderer is way better than the cops. I can't accept the logic.
This antagonist duo is even able to convince the whole residents to kill resident 1501 for his food stock...  People can turn their survival animalistic if they are in extreme condition, but they're not even that starved yet!!

Until the last episode, those whole antagonists really did not pay enough for torturing me for 12 eps. The trashy YouTuber can come back to his parents with no consequences; the doctor and the representative are jailed, but unclear for how many years; the brother becomes a test subject for the vaccine; the cleaner, the lawyer, the mistress etc status also unclear

I kinda regret investing my time to watch this drama. All characters, besides the main character, are very frustrating and just contribute to my stress and anger level.

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Just a watchable drama

One of the most anticipated kdrama of the year just for the come back of actress Han hye joo, and in the end it's finished with pretty decent watchable drama with nothing in particular. Ongoing watching experience is always different comparing to a binge watch so i don't know how you will feel if you watch now. But even for the ongoing time this drama failed in many factors even though they had all the liberty to bring out an outstanding show.

A zombie drama always sound interesting, but here the situation they were facing was not a serious problem at all. Also the screenplay was not so well written it includes many dragging moments and most of them were unwanted. The first episode was very promising but it never continued that promise, after 9 th episode the gear shifted slightly faster but still the dragging feel you boring.

Everything completely scattered, no proper characterisation, no intense situation, they must create a do or die situation inorder to keep the audience on the edge. But it failed. Still it's not a bad drama, it's a watchable drama, there were some thrills also the background score played a big part to minimise the demerits.

Try it if u interested :-)

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Excellent acting spoiled by plot holes

The story's first 2 eps were great but started going downhill from there.

First the entire premise of the disease. Think about it. The fact that a thin sheet of glass is holding off blood thirsty creatures both at the basement and the first floor. Glass that could be easily broken with a real impact (anything from as ramming car at the basement to a thrown chair at the first floor)

The writer tried to cover the hole with an excuse that the zombies did not do this when lucid because they wanted to avoid becoming complete monsters.

Match this against the guy who shows up multiple times at the basement trying to trick them into opening up. He is deliberately trying to enter but apparently if the door is opened for him instead of him smashing the glass, it doesn't count as becoming a monster? Huh?

Then we have the complete failure to account for those who would see the world burn along with them (aka infect everyone since you yourself is infected). These people would break the glass just to allow the disease to run rampant. This is despite the portrayal of many personalities in the block including "he who unmasked at the end and shall not be named" and the doctor of accidental comedy

Other than this massive mobius strip logic, we have the writer letting off the comedy doctor, who despite his first criminal act and being caught red handed in subsequent criminal acts, is constantly allowed to run free. Yes, the writer needs a catalyst to move the story but a *cop* who has handled criminals somehow has a "heart of gold" so much that the doctor is let off. Repeatedly. WTF

Then we have the inanity that is the toilet scene. If the female lead was not a SWAT team member (where split decisions must be made accurately) and is portrayed as a vengeful, consequences be damned woman, then that would be fine. But a SWAT team member knowing a bite is 100% infectious, having an unlocked toilet door that she herself could pass through and close behind her, decides on that.

We next have the consistent and deliberate failure to pass out relevant information. Just the last episode, the old man is told to not open the door for strangers, when a simple explanation of who he was referring to and why, would have made it simple. We can see this in prior episodes. Suddenly blood being used to identify infected is mentioned, despite the fact that the method could have having solved a lot of problems from earlier. Explanations of thirst being a symptom is also only mentioned after things explode.

The motivations of the doctor also ping pongs, from injecting xyz into the water to saying he wants xyz to protect himself. As the deus ex machina, he gets immunity and smarts as and when he needs it. Like the handphone recording, which he somehow knows its effect, to the knowledge of how the priest's sight would be blurry, to complete ability to predict the block rep's response after the supermarket raid.

Then we can see that someone told the writer to wrap it up ASAP because by a miracle, the Mr ABC has the components for cure! Oh wow, in the last episode, such amazing timing. This is despite having a whole country to find one and a failure to find a correct one (showing the probability as being minuscule and the other candidates give effects such as the one the colonel's boss experienced)

Overall the show is saved by its actors (minus the male lead). The doctor's actor despite given illogical motivations portray him well enough that he grabs the scenes he is in and amplified by the male lead letting him go again and again, he can get on the audience nerves which shows his acting is really up to par. The colonel also does really well here. He is the only one who foresaw the scenario and took actions to stop it. The colonel's boss was a just a bit part but the guy acted well enough to make people want to beat him up. The old policeman was actually pretty good in how useless he acted (qv that scene with the screaming handphone). The cleaner couple and the lawyer couple played their parts well enough. The female lead did ok, injecting a lot more energy into the scenes she's in but the male lead's expressions are just stoic, stoic smile, stoic wistfulness, more stoic.

Music and sound wise, there wasn't much to look at other than a few overly heavy handed and thus immersion breaking melancholic songs played at the points where "Be Sad Here" is tagged.

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Infuriating characters & plot holes, but entertaining all the same

Likes: Park Hyung Sik and Han Hyo Joo. I'm fans of both. I think they did a great job with the acting and convinced me that they are both tough characters that could take down zombies and criminals. Doesn't hurt that they are both pretty to look at. I thought they had a very cute chemistry. The doctor was also pretty standout in making his character so despicable. I thought the zombie production and actions scenes were also nicely done.

Dislikes: (SPOILERS AHEAD): The HUGE and obvious plot holes that took a lot away from the story because it made the characters look a bit stupid. For instance, the huge one...Why go through all this manipulation and trouble when you could have just asked Saebom for her blood. Everything about her character would have suggested she would do this freely with no objection. That's just lazy writing imo. The writer should have found some reason why they thought Saebom would be resistant to giving her blood. Then the story would have made more sense. Next problem were the infuriating side characters. They were incredibly frustrating mostly because I couldn't understand their actions. I don't have to agree with it, but I should understand why a character is driven to their point in stupidity. There should be a tiny basis of realism in their motivation. Too many actions were just too inconsistent. For instance, the fear level. One minute they are scared to death because they see a zombie turn, then the next they are walking around like nothing is amiss, I mean wouldn't they try to carry something for a weapon or wear some sort of makeshift protection, esp since they don't know who is infected? That goes for the leads as well. They walk around too cavaliery like they are invincible. Sometimes they carry a weapon, sometimes they don't That's just poor direction, The director should have maintained a certain level of fear and caution throughout.

There were so many plot holes that I can't even count, but yet, I still found myself entertained and waiting in anticipation for the next episode. A large part of that has to do with me being fans of PHS and HHJ. I really looked forward to their interaction with each other. It carried a lot of the drama for me. I enjoyed seeing them be all tough. I also have a love for zombies or disaster type stories too so that also played a part. There was also enough tension to keep me tuned in to see how this would all end. If you're like me, then I would suggest checking this drama out. But if you need a well executed story that makes complete sense, then you may not enjoy this one,

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The Eternal Search for ‘ Happiness’…

Against its seemingly antithetical title screenwriter Hang Sang Woon and director Ahn Gil Ho’s‘ Happiness’ attempted to mirror similar issues from prejudice, isolation and loneliness which occurred particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic period. The unusual combination of genres highlighted a hellish fight to not only escape from the “infected “( the mysterious disease ravaging the population and leaving the infected in a zombie-like and feral state with few lucid moments ), but surprisingly a bittersweet love story between its main leads also .

The TVN drama presented an odd accumulation of fast-paced thrill and tension through its plot twists as well as tender and bittersweet scenes by taking a moment to slow-down the storyline and allow viewers’ to contemplate and soak in events. Yet like most intriguing fusion-genres in execution ‘ Happiness’ could sometimes not escape certain pitfalls of writing errors and character-drive along the way.

Of course ‘ Happiness’ offered viewers a fairly impressive lineup of acting abilities and most notably our main cast. Actress Han Hyo Joo brought forward Yoon Sae-Bom to life through adding an unlikely sweet charm to her onscreen persona ; a professional counter-terrorist operative whose pursuit of happiness by moving into a new apartment proves only to be a blunder during the events of the series. Sae-Bom’s reactions and interactions with others throughout the series could often feel prosaic during early episodes; initially driven for the “sake of plot “ rather than upon reflection of viewers getting to understand more about the female lead through subtle character growth . Nevertheless as the series progresses Sae-Bom provided to be a major asset to the plot and allowed some time to focus on developed sides of Sae-Bom’s personality from altruism to stubbornness in order to present some focus on the importance of humanity and depth within the female lead.

Costar Park Hyung Sik’s reprisal of an intriguing role was highlighted through his onscreen persona Jung Yi-hyun ; a suave and observant detective investigator who had shared-history with female lead Sae-Bom from their school days and provided to be one of the first key characters to come across findings of the mysterious disease during a case. Yet whilst Yi-Hyun was undeniably an intriguing character he could often suffer from the fate of many main characters through becoming an inherent “ plot device”; necessary to keep the storyline moving, but sometimes lacking in more subtle character development. Naturally Yi-Hyun did have golden opportunities to be explored in more depth during some key moments in the series but this could sometimes lack greater exploration.

As far as the chemistry between our main leads is concerned ‘ Happiness’ admittedly was a bumpy road- good onscreen chemistry between Hyung Sik and Hyo Joo could often fall victim to more staid cliches and setups which did not always weigh up against the more heavy-hitting moments of the series. Naturally later episodes took a little more time out to focus on some subtle relationship development between the main leads but often this was interwoven with more serious scenes and storyline moments also.

the supporting characters of the drama also have an intriguing part in events of the drama from Han Tae Seok ( Jo Woo Jin); a discharged military informant agent to the residents of the apartment ( some of which are admittedly less well-defined than others.)

Ahn Gil Ho plays upon subtle palette changes and lighting tones throughout the mis-en-scénes of the drama - key scenes crafting an important ambience throughout the series through this setup and pragmatic choice of OST, whilst some quintessential moments admittedly lacked the same ingenuity when required.

‘ Happiness’ offered viewers an intriguing concept with a dash of profundity and romance in between its zombie-style thriller setup- it isn’t inherently terrifying , but director Ahn Gil Ho and writer Hang Sang Woon are able to add a touch of suspense and sweetness in an intriguing and pacy storyline. The writing could sometimes wane through the pressure placed initially upon odd tropes, cliches and setups( especially for our main leads) during early episodes.( Alongside the heavily dominant setting of the apartment growing slightly bland.)However later scenes spent time focusing upon the storyline in more depth; brilliantly brought to life by our main cast’s dynamic performances by our main leads and the interwoven cinematography of the director. The ending was admittedly filled with a few loose ends but did deliver a sense of completion for the series. Overall whilst ‘ Happiness’ wasn’t without its more evident writing faults the drama offered an intriguing storyline with contemplation with a good cast and intrigue for viewers, as well as allowing room for philosophical thought towards the true definition of happiness in life.

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We Need More of Hapiness With a Season 2

We need to watch more of that chemistry of the main characters including the love life of the Yi Hyun and Sae beom. Their acting is at another level, I really enjoyed watching this series it has more potential than the dramas airing with it, even the apartment people portrayed their character well and good they really made us love and hate them.

The apartment representative is really getting on my nerves, Oh Ju Young too.

We really need to watch more of this.
The drama is very well written and the editing and FX are really good, And the OST are in my playlist.

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Tolerable

Story: I like the idea but poorly executed. You would think it’s a zombie apocalypse kind of drama but not really. More like a worse version of covid but here, they were able to find the cure way faster than covid vaccines. But that’s not really the issue, the way how they came up with scenes or different reactions of different type of people with their own motives were pretty annoying. It’s not because they acted poorly but because that’s how they were written. It’s like watching ‘sweet home’ but this is more tolerable. This first few episodes were just okay, middle ones were more thrilling but a major smh and last few episodes were just flat that all I did was fast forward just so I could finish this drama. If I were living in that building, I would definitely not come out of my apartment after getting my groceries. I mean, duh, staying at home is more safe than being exposed outside. But I guess, a drama is more interesting if it’s full of people with complex issues then you add a kid and a kind wife to make it more bearable.

Acting: I think they all did pretty good. I was pretty much annoyed with every character, even the kid. Not always, but somehow they did some things that were obviously shouldn’t be done no matter how many warnings they received. Their selfish reactions weren’t justified well that would make you pity them or at least give them another chance. The main female lead was always reckless that made me almost dropped this. I mean, isn’t she supposed to be more logical because of her job?

Music: Nothing worth remembering but still not bad.

Rewatch value: Definitely wouldn’t rewatch. This gave me headache for a while.

Overall: 6-6.5. It wasn’t bad but it was not THAT good either. Overhyped, honestly. I have more bad memories than good ones with this drama. You would appreciate the villains’ acting here and some cliche moves were prevented in some scenes however, the bad still outweighs the good. Too many plot holes, unanswered questions and lack of chemistry of the two. I honestly don’t get that special chemistry that others were talking about. The supposed additional twist/murderer towards the last 2 episodes was just poor idea from the writer. I wish they could have done better with his character because he seemed mysterious at first. Same with the guy on the 15th floor. The plot was rushed and it didn’t end well but provided us a HEA.

The gist(for me): Self-control/self discipline is definitely important in life, especially when there’s a crisis. Secondly, family will always be there for you. To help you heal and be your cure. Happiness will start with yourself then with others close to you. No matter how you love your family if you can’t control yourself then you’ll bring them down too.

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Amazing acting and story, but fell short for plot holes.

At the beginning, the drama centers around the leads Yi Hyun, a baseball player who is forced to quit due to knee injury and Sae Bong who comes at rescue for the depressed Yi Hyun back at school. 12 years later, both of them are talented in their professions, SB as a SOU officer and YH as a detective. It was a dream of SB to have her own home. In order to get her dreams come true, she makes a deal with YH - to get married with each other in exchange of living together in the newly built apartment, and getting 40% ownership of the apartment in 10 years. YH agrees and they move in together, living their lives happily and comfortably...but the crisis begins when the women above their unit gets affected with the Mad Person Disease, and the building is put under lock down when the number of infected rises in their neighborhood.
Afterwards, story mainly focuses on the behavior of the people living inside the building. Despite an alarming situation, almost everyone acted according to fulfill their selfish desires, without using much logic. Even though the leads did their level best to prevent the the number of infected people to rise, what they received in return was betrayal. The neighbors, especially the dermatologist of 601, and Young ok, the lady who was desperate to become the apartment representative by all means. I barely saved myself from hitting the laptop screen due to their trashy personalities.
As the number of episode was limited to 12, I'm sure the directors had to edit out a lot of scenes. It would have been much better if they made it a 16 episode series. If the details how they developed the drug, distributed them and cured the infected were added, it would have been enough to eliminate the plot holes.
The overall plot and acting was very realistic. Also, I LIVED FOR THE LEADS CHEMISTRY. They were soooo good together..TT

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this could be a better drama

at first when i found this drama i was excited , i like horror zombie apocalypse theme like this, but after going half of it i found the story are really boring , i even almost fall to sleep when watching this drama , they should fire the guy who killed this drama story , althought the idea was really good one with different kind of zombie that can turn back to human , they should explore this much further or maybe look for idea from others movies or dramas like train to busan, all of us are dead etc , at least the zombies there are much "lively" compared to this , the story got really boring to me when it reach around epsiode 6 ... the story become really slow , also i really dislike the char of ML and FL , they both are to naive and stupid , the char they played in this drama are to far from reality , when someone want to kill u would u just let them free to do it ? they let the doctor run free and do whatever he want , also other bad char too , and i so furious when the stupid friend of the ML take side with other but the response of the ML and FL are just....flat , they should be really angry with him or punch him , there are other flaws to in this boring drama that u will find it urself when u watch this boring drama ,also i dont feel any chemistry at all between the FL and ML ,and maybe this just me but everytime i see they both in this drama they both always try look so cool and good with the way they walk,speak,act ,run etc ..their act are so below standard, so i confuse how can this boring drama gt 8,9 lol , i wouldnt recomended this to someone who this is a good zombie drama like other , this is my personal opinion only , all of us are dead are much better than this ,

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Chaos, but in the best way

"Happiness" takes a new, unique spin on apocalypse-themed media as infected individuals experience episodes of bloodthirst rather than being in a constant infectious state. This allows us to empathise with the infected as we can view them as humas as opposed to 'zombies' like in traditional apocalypse-themed media.
Whilst there are a few minor plot holes, I think "Happiness" was executed well. It kept me engaged every week and left me wanting more.

"Happiness" shows how quickly people can reveal their true colours when faced with an unfamiliar or threatening situation. The residents became greedy, selfish and disloyal when faced with the endemic situation of the 'Madman Rabies' outbreak. As the situation worsened, they became distrusting of one another and this ultimately led to the demise of many residents that could have been avoided had they worked together. Many of the residents were frustrating or even disgusting at times but the hatred I had for these characters goes to show how well their roles were played. A prime example of this is Oh Joo-hyung (played by Baek Hyun-jin). I hated this character so much I wanted to enter the show and kill him myself. I think a series able to evoke such strong emotions is a series worth watching.

Towards the end of the show, the romantic tension betweeen the leads was particularly strong. There was a clear build-up of feelings throughout and I think it made for an impactful finale. Park Hyung-sik played the character of Jung Yi-hyun so flawlessly. He really understood the character's intentions and emotions and put on an incredible performance.
The last two episodes cleared up a lot of things, had a lot of emotional value and wrapped up the show nicely (with bonus points for the music choice at the end of episode 11). I would have liked closure on some of the other side characters such as Kim Jeong-Gook (played by Lee Joon-hyuk) and Han Tae-seok's wife and some other scenes regarding the virus so in that sense I feel it was a little rushed.

Overall an enjoyable watch and definitely a recommendation for any fellow thriller fans!

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An important drama for the world during the pandemic

Having been a long time fan of both Park Hyungshik and Han Hyojoo, I had really high expectations going into this, considering it was their first drama comeback in a long time. And did they deliver? Hell yes.
Now that I introspect after having completed the drama, I think about how if this released pre-pandemic, I would've called it unrealistic and exaggerated. Now post the pandemic...It's a realistic depiction of the human race and the values it upholds in the face of calamity.
It is a gripping, well-written plot that keeps you on edge and immersed in all the characters and the story. A large part of the tension present in the story is delivered with the help of the music which is anxiety inducing to say the least. (I mean can we talk about the 'real eyes, realize, real lies' soundtrack?? Brilliant if you ask me.)
Our main characters are intelligent, brave professionals while a large portion of the supporting characters are all driven by their own personal greed and needs, which don't halt even in the face of imminent infection. There are very few characters who actually follow what the leads instruct them to do while most are focused on their own ulterior motives. You can watch as the characters' humanity slowly slips away, leaving them with nothing but pure horrendous greed, stopping at nothing to reach their goal. Now think of the world during COVID. How many people REALLY just stayed at home? How many people were out partying, complaining about quarantines, refusing to wear masks and endangering others all for their own sakes? How different really are we from the characters in the story? How many actually followed what the authorities told them to?
Hyungshik's acting performance in this is incredible and unexpected from an actor who tends to choose go-easy, prince charming like characters usually. Hyojoo's performance... to say I'm in love with her character and how she's portrayed is an understatement.
The explicitly romantic scenes in the series are very few but the chemistry between the characters, the way they are constantly caring and looking out for each other all seem natural to the buildup in the end episodes.
The re-watch value is probably not a 10/10 mostly because the plot relies on the suspense factor which is lost after you've finished watching the series.
SO, should you watch the drama? Yes. However, I would not suggest watching it if you have an issue with excessive gore/blood.

P.S : Kudos to the writers and production team for cutting down from 16 to 12 episodes, the plot has so much more substance and is so much better qualitatively. Good call.

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