Happiness (2021)

Subjectively 10, objectively 8

Okay, my two fave actors made comeback with this one. I liked the idea of making a zombiesque disease an epidemic. It started so well. I liked the vibe of it with fake marriage and school mates connections and character detailing. I also got jumpscares and goosebumps in the initial episodes. I loved how serious the disease was portrayed. But second-half become less of a thriller vibe and more of logistics issues. If the motive of the drama was to make the viewer find it relatable and happy then that was achieved greatly. But it failed to express itself wholly with a bunch of blank spots like how they resolve everything in such a short time, why were some people able to control the thirst, etc. Maybe I wanted to see more zombies and bloodiness in the latter half but oddly the leads were "lucky". I felt sad and irony for the hazmat suit guy. I wasn't much interested in the other characters like the lawyer or doctor or the cleaners as they felt filler content but the actors did an insane job especially the representative lady and doctor. The intro theme music was so good. I thought of saving it and rewatching later but the second half changed my mind.
Happiness indeed, but lacks something to make the feeling stronger.

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Rushed ending—Happiness is best for what it COULD have been

Before completing, I had tried to watch Happiness twice before but just couldn't get into it. Once when it was airing, and another after—but the first 2 episodes were just too high a barrier. I'm glad I finally pushed through to the end—and I think at its core Happiness's high rating is in large aprt due to its potential.

When I think about happiness, I appreicate the concept and what it wanted to achieve—the execution however was lacklustre—not TERRIBLE, but not absolutely amazing.

❌ THE BAD:

❌-- The poor characterization and backstories of the leads
I love that Happiness has a slow burn romance that's a subplot and not the main focus of the story. The thing is, when its a slow burn you need to have leads with strong back stories and characterizations for the viewers to condstantly turn over in their head for why these two people are so compatible, and what about their personalities has been keeping them from getting together right now.

Sae Beom and Yi Hyun are great characters, but the flashback to high school provides little info on their characters—and barely any of Yi Hyun's home life or backstory is ever explored. He seemed too perfect, besides his baseball injury. I wish there had been more core memories of their flashbacks besides Sae Beom pushing him off a building—(also, is Yi Hyun human? How can you not even get angry or terrified when someone pushes you off a building? At least see him get upset or shocked at Sae Beom—instead of being instantly smitten with her ?)

They've been friends for YEARS, are you telling me there are no other important moments they've shared over their decade-long friendship? How and why have they built such trust till now? What is Yi Hyun's reason (well, we sort of learn this, but it feels a bit shallow). What are Sae Beom's reasons? What conflict have they had that they overcame and brought them closer together? We need to see their bond! I wish they fleshed out their past and their characters BEFORE all of this happened more.

❌-- Terrible supporting characters that hang around way too long
I think we can all agree that some of these supporting characters needed to be out of the picture since yesterday. I think Happiness would have really benefited from having a more morally grey character in Yi Hyun—he had potential in a few scenes where he snapped and would really threaten or hurt the doctor guy. He always spoke about being the bad cop, but he was still pretty lukewarm. I wish Yi Hyun was more flawed and less perfect, and that a bit of karmic justice could take these villains OUT! (where's the white truck of death when you need one)

❌--Han Hyo Joo
Han Hyo Joo is stunning and beautiful to look at—but in W and now in Happiness I have a hard time believing her chemistry with any of her co-stars. I think she's a bit stiff when it comes to romance and really letting go and selling the believability with her chemistry. This might just be me lmao but that's what I think—she didn't add much 3-dimensionality or uniqueness to Sae Beom, and idt it's just how the character was written.

❌ -- Longer than it needed to be.
Idt happiness made use of its 12 episodes. Idt it needed anymore, I think the episodes in the middle could have been merged. Some stuff get drawn out for way too long—scenes are repeated, it's just screen time where not much things of importance are happening. Either they needed more families to follow the lives of, or they needed to cut their scenes down!

❌ -- The ending
The last 20 minutes of the final episode are way too rushed? Like hello? We needed at least an extra 30 minutes of screen time after the episode ended to actually flesh out and explain what the hell just happened! I know this isn't a romance kdrama, but right when everything was getting good it ended ;-; We need an explanation for how the solution came about, the aftermath, a proper epilogue that's not like 2 minutes long!

✅ THE GOOD:

✅-- the concept of the story
Again, I think Happiness is great in theory. Hopefully another show comes along that remakes this or does something completely new but of a similar premise or formula. This is like a sweet home meets Reset (don't ask how this reminds me of Reset, it just does).

✅ --The actor for the doctor
My god Baek Hyun Jin does an amazing job of absolutely getting on my nerves! When he was writhing in pain on the floor? Absolutely pathetic this actor does an amazing job of making viewers want to reach through the screen and just punch him lmao

✅--OST
Idt there's even a proper song I heard being sang, but I like the opening credits and I think the sound design was well-done enough since it's never bothered me.

✅-- Park Hyung Sik
I think he did the stunts himself?! Apparently he actually knows taekwondo (or so I've heard). I appreciated the fight scenes and the added level of immersion. He also bulked up for this role—a lot of people were calling him fat, but when you bulk up in muscle some of that fat's going to go to your face, it all just depends on your body! I think people were giving him too much shit, he still looks handsome and I appreciate his dedication to actually looking like a baseball player. Do you think we'd all believe he's a hulking, strong baseball player if he was still skinny like in Strong woman do bong soon? Go back and watch clips of him back then. Imagine him doing his current stunts with that same physique. Humans change and get older and he looks more mature now. Let's be realistic here.

? Anyways, I liked Happiness because of what it could have been if it had just tweaked and improved a few things. I think as it is now, it's probably about 50% of it's full potential. But I'm glad it has such a high rating, hopefully dramaland sees that stuff like this will do well and make more similar productions!

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This drama is not your usual zombie apocalypse genre. It is not merely about humans on the verge of survival and constantly running away from zombies. They never even used the term “zombie” in the drama as they don’t treat the infected as dead or lifeless. Instead, they treated it as a virus and an illness called The Mad Person’s Disease. Thus, don’t expect it to be solely about zombies swarming in to eat raw human flesh and brain just like in Train to Busan or The Walking Dead. It is more about the communal spirit and class disparity during pandemic and some police and medical procedural to investigate the causes and cure of the disease.

I appreciate how this drama gave off a raw, natural, and cozy sanctuary despite the somewhat horrific subject matter. It is obvious that the drama was not made with a very high budget. There were no uses of CGIs neither extremely exaggerated editing. I really like to commend the make-up department here for doing such a good job. The action choreography was also deserving of credits.

Even the romance and drama here were not overly exaggerated. The romance was more subtle, mature, and responsible rather than being too fluffy and cheesy, which was reasonable considering the subject matter and context of the situation they are in. Unlike most KDramas also where it becomes more melodramatic and makjang during the later episodes, this stayed true to its perfect balance of thriller, suspense, and drama.

The Seyang Forest Apartments symbolizes or represents happiness. The poster alone shows that this apartment is central to the setting and overall plot of Happiness. From the very first episode, we can already see that Sae-bom has always been looking forward to having her own apartment. For her, this would be her ultimate happiness because she wanted to change the ugly memories of her chaotic home with a much better and peaceful one. During the lockdown and pandemic, we can see the hindrances to one’s happiness in this apartment. There are the class disparities (numerous floors and ladders going up and down), egoistic and selfish nature motivated by one’s survival (different rooms in the apartment), external factors such as the pandemic, itself (being locked inside the apartment). Due to these, Sae-bom was even threatened to be kicked out of their apartment—her happiness. But, just like what a natural human instinct to do, she disagreed and fought for her happiness.

The last episode’s title was Happiness Is With You. Indeed, it wasn’t the house, itself, or the fact that one can have a shelter to sleep on that makes a happy home. It was evident on what happened to the Seyang Apartments. Happiness is in the communal spirit; the collective motivation to do and grow better together. If only most were able to put down their pride and prejudice, the apartment wouldn’t have turned so chaotic.

I would have given this show a perfect score if not for the last two episodes. The ending also seemed rushed to me. The message of the apartment and happiness were given more focus that the other details outside the apartment were overlooked. I wanted more elaboration regarding the causes of the disease or whether the pill was really the beginning of it all. There was also no explanation or just a more subtle clue about what happened to the corrupt and higher officials. In addition, the martial law part bothered me a bit. For some, it may come off as a propaganda or perhaps, it just shows a lot about the reality of how most of our government reacts during these kinds of situations which was really lacking and unhelpful.

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Audience pleaser

I always loved Park Hyung Sik and his on-screen chemistry with his female co-stars and thought nothing can triumph his chemistry with Park Bo Young in Strong Woman Do Bong Soon but I was proven wrong. His relationship with Han Hyo Joo in Happiness was very convincing. She adds a lot to the series and her portrayal of Yoon Sae Bom was beautiful.

I was a little unsure about the whole pandemic/zombie setting with the amount of zombie shows that were recently released. However, the show's execution of the topis was very entertaining. The drama also contains a few funny bits.

Not to be missed. In my opinion, it's an audience pleaser.

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This is not a zombie movie

This show is talking about a disease and zombies who have been turned as zombies, they can be killed easily with a gun because they are technically human, not dead corpses. Some of them developed immunity against it, some can control thirst, some cannot. That’s why not everyone is afraid of the zombies here, they can be told not to attack either. This show is more about human that are more evil than the infected ones, technically chaotic environment will push human to go crazy over time, getting locked down forever will turn them to be insane too. So many unloveable characters in this show, especially that doctor oh who is very weird in his own way. He likes the mistress even tho he knows his mistress wants money until mistress tried to kill him. I really hate that ahjuma who tries to be building representative, she is truly the epitome of evil. She just likes to stir problems and make other people go against each other. What i do like in this show is the evil ones got punished severely either by karma or other thing. The funniest part is that the ones got infected can live peacefully with other human as long as they can hold their thirst. This is interesting. Especially the granny and grandpa with their son. This show is not perfect, it has plot holes and twist. But it’s still interesting to watch. I like how FL finally realized that she is in love with ML. No one would resist a guy who sacrificed a lot like that.

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Who is the real monster?

[I'm sorry for my poor English, I hope it's good enough for you to read without any effort]

First of all, this drama is HUGELY underrated. I've rewatched it 5 times, and I'm planning to watch it again very soon (so if you're wondering if it worths a rewatch, it's definitely a YES!).

It's not a zombie story, it's not an horror story. It's more like a story about people trying to fight against prejudice, poverty, injustice, weakness, illness, fear.
Every single character has its own role in the story: no one is unuseful, no one is replaceable. Rich and poor, healthy and ill, good and bad, kind and rude, old and young, brave and coward,... And nobody is 100% how they seem, they only reveal their own nature when they or those who they love are in danger.
You'll soon discover that the main characters in Happiness are the people, not the monsters.

Let's focus on the title. I decided to watch it only for its title, without reading the plot. It's not a "happy" story, but every character is looking for its own happiness. Some of them think that true happiness is purchaseable, some others just look for their place in the world. The truth is that nothing is certain: every thing we want may not be what we really need, or it may be that something we take for granted is what we really want.

I've loved the cast! It was my very first drama with Park Hyung Sik, and he literally blinded me with his incredible talent. Han Hyo Joo is stunning as always, and their chemistry on screen is fabulous: their presence is absolutely balanced. I was genuinely happy to see two strong, brave and kind main characters: no damsel in distress or charming prince, they're equal.

Last but not least, I've also loved the music! Joe Layne was a huge surprise, and I still listen to his OST almost every day. Pain and Enigma are on my playlist as well.

What other can I say? Don't focus on the "horror" side of the story, just enjoy it!

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Another pandemic in the making!

Well, tbh, if you don't like anything related to Pandemic and all, stay AWAY from this drama.
This drama is technically the future pandemic of this world.
The casting was great, but it got a bit draggy and pointless at times.
There is a lot of blood, killing, stabbing, hating, and psychosis.
The ost was not that great. You could hear the same song repeat and had no variations whatsoever.
I loved the leads. They had a wonderful chemistry, but expect no skinship/romantic scenes. A big No no for romantic lovers.
Overall, an enjoyable drama. Yet, it's a bit painful for us to see after the pandemic we all went through.

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Painfully overrated, but not a bad show.

SPOILERS AHEAD. SPOILERS AHEAD. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Everyone knows a score of 8.9 on this site is basically a must watch status, even if you may not be entirely into the drama's genre. But after seeing all 12 episodes of this show, I have zero clue why it's rated that high and honesty, it's an insult to other drama that are rated that high and lower than this show.

The ML actor acting is wooden in many scenes and I just have little interest in his character. I don't think I've ever seen a more bland ML in a drama so far. I think the ML in this and the one in 'Revenge of Others' are in an competition for who can be the most bland ML in a drama.

The FL I like a lot. While the story didn't do more for her than I would've liked, I like her style and how realistic she can feel. I don't need characters in a drama to feel realistic, but the way she was written was a breath of fresh air and I find her character entertaining to watch.

But everyone else? Holy s-- People have to understand there's a way to write unlikable characters in a story and Happiness shows you all the wrong ways to do it. If you ever get around to watching Agency (2023) (which is a much better show IMHO), there are plenty of "unlikable" characters in that show that are INTERESTING to watch. The goal of an "unlikable" character in any story is to get the audience to disagree with them in a way that adds flavor and tension to the story. All of the other tenant characters in this show are so painful to watch because they just annoy you. Especially the "doctor" who is just a bumbling idiot that isn't even funny. It almost felt like they were trying to write a horror comedy without any of the humor. Every other character with the exception Han Tae Seok just felt completely pointless to watch because it did absolutely nothing for me. Lee Ji Soo was maybe one other character I have enjoyed watching grow into a friendship with the FL.

There's also weird scaling and tension issues with this show. Like there's a global outbreak of a zombie virus, yet the danger is yet sometimes undermined by the characters action. A lot of times it felt like the situation was only dire whenever the show needed it to be and it felt in consistent many times. If the show wanted to make it feel dire, some of the characters needed to be way less casual about the situation. I don't mind making the show feel more localized in a world where there's a global outbreak, but if the show was going to make it very local to just between apartment tenants, it needed to make better use of the zombie situation and it just didn't.

The show felt like it was trying to drag many conversation out to make the 12 episode runtime. It had bits and pieces here and there that were actually interesting. I don't mind when a character is just talking to another character, but in many scenes in this show, it was just chatter. Noise. I hate that. Most of the characters in this show have zero chemistry with each other and that's why when the show's pacing slowed down, it felt way slower because of the subpar casual conversation. A lot of the tensions between the characters are just going through the motions and there's no interesting lead-up behind any of them or WHY. You have a couple where the lawyer cheats with the homewrecker and it's like whatever. You have the kid with the mask that is a murder for no reason, just is. You have the guy that hoards everything he can because he's really interested in survival tactics and we never explore that even though he was kinda integral to the show near the end. Like we're getting all of these interesting potential moments in the show where we could explore a character and they're never given any reason for the audience to care. I think that was what was missing the entire show. You have to give the audience a reason to care.

These were the biggest complaints of mine, but there's far more. I won't go any further than that because the show doesn't deserve my time.

Now the special effects were on-point. I have no complaints there. I love the way how it puts a little unique spin in the zombie genre. I also think while the danger of the zombie were questionable in this show, the way they can go back and forward between being a mindless animal and being human again is great.

The score? Awesome. Many dramas have boring stock music and score, but this one tried to be different and new and it worked very well. It felt like I was watching a Hollywood production.

The cinematography was also amazing as well. Many beautiful shots, location and atmospheric decisions that went into the production of the show is top-notch.

While I am very critical of the story, it does do a lot to 'modernize' Kdramas to feel less cliche, but they really have to work on the supporting characters way more because many of them feel like an afterthought.

I was really disappointed with this show. It's rated an 8.9, which is the same score of a vastly superior show Tomorrow and The Glory. You go watch all three and tell me Happiness even comes close to either of the other two. Also, this is the same director of Stranger Season 1 and The Glory!!! How is this show way worse than either of them!?! The Glory and Stranger S1 were amazing!!!

Overall, I think it's a decent show, but nowhere near the 8.9 score it got. I think if you're into the horror genre, it's worth a shot. You may love it, you may not, but it felt like a huge waste of time to me.

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Pretty generic.

I found this drama pretty generic and mostly pointless. I can't quite figure out why it even exist. It's not a bad drama. Don't get me wrong, but not that special either. It does not bring anything new or fresh to the zombie genre. And after the COVID-19 pandemic, do we really need this kind of show? I doubt it. Most of the time I felt bored.

Story is at best medicore. Nothing scary, nothing exciting. Zombie scenes are done ok, but they didn't made me feel anything spacial. I thoroughly enjoyed the two main leads tho. Han Hyo Joo is always a beneficial factor to everything she stars in. The rest of the cast done their job properly, but their characters were not that interesting . It does not help this show is mostly set it one apartment building. It should be filled with tension, but it's not. The story prevents creators from making a suspenful and engaing drama. Most of the time I felt bored.

If you are a fan of zombies, there is nothing here you haven't seen before, Don't count to be scared or terrified, but if you enjoy watching a simple drama about people in a dire situation, this show is for you.

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"Hell is other people." -Jean-Paul Sartre, No Exit

The title Happiness is an ironic one: the series is set a little after COVID-19 has become controlled, but with a new rabies-like syndrome spreading. How Patient Zero was created was never identified, but it was identified that a virus that functions largely like the rabies virus slowly transforms people into feral zombies that thirst for human blood. One novelty of the series is that instead of hydrophobia (or fear of water), people afflicted with the virus suffer from excessive thirst. Once they turn and taste blood, however, it becomes only a matter of time before they are overrun by the virus; if the virus reaches the brainstem, the patient becomes terminal as there's no cure discovered yet with the onset of the series.

I think that the series as a high-concept thriller performed reasonably well, except that its early episodes had struggles with characterization: for instance, Yoon Sae-bom, despite being a member of the Special Operations Unit, was being careless and even put people in danger despite her training. Her impulsiveness had brought quite a few people at risk, and her gung-ho attitude would have resulted to her demise had she not been counterbalanced by the cerebral yet placid Yi-hyun.

I do admire how the CDC chief, Han Tae-seok, was written. His efficient and highly rational actions saved a lot of people's lives because he was quick with lockdown procedures and even killing those who had become terminal in order to limit the spread of the virus. In fact, the lockdown that occurred within Seyang Forest was because of him: after he had established that one of the side effects of the medicine they had been selling before was the rabies-like syndrome, and that it had been sold in the apartment, he immediately locked it down.

Because of the lack of supplies, however, the apartment tenants have to fend for themselves, and this is where their personalities are laid-bare. Most tenants are selfish, but there are a few like the lead couple who show their grit and kindness consistently. In fact, one of the series's high points is how it has seamlessly written into a thriller one of the healthiest romances in K-drama.

Because both have been trained in high-pressure situations, Yi-hyun and Sae-bom never lose their humanity, even with those infected within. They try to maintain order, provide equitable distribution of food and water, and try their best to protect the other tenants from the infected without. However, because "hell is other people," selfish tenants willingly put other people at risk, and even lead a few to be infected or killed.

As a viewer I approve how they wrote the disease. Even their treatment modalities toward the novel disease were sensible. One major plot hole that I think wasn't adequately resolved were the children playing outside despite the lockdown in their apartments. I thought that was inconsistent with the accuracy with how Han Tae-seok implemented pandemic control principles, as social congregation should be minimized in these events, especially without a certain cure.

The final episode was also a bit underwhelming, although I loved how it magnified the toughness of the relationship between the married couple. As a fan of romance, I also enjoyed the culmination of the love that percolated for years. Outside these minor nitpicks, however, Happiness is a great and enjoyable thriller anchored by one of the healthiest romances this year. Recommended.

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Romance themed zombie show with actually good acting. Not enough zombies though.

I'm not going to lie, after finishing the show and looked back at the 8.9 score, I had the urge to write this question and answer review to give my thoughts on this show that badly. I will try to make this as Spoiler-free as possible.

Q1. Is the Happiness k-drama about zombies?

A1; Yes, it is definitely about zombies. One thing I have to say is that if you enjoyed All of Us Are Dead or Kingdom, this show doesn't really deliver the hype when it comes to zombie scenes but there are other things that make this show actually good.

Q2. So it is about zombies, what exactly are the differences from this show to others?

A2; The pacing for the story was slow but it did manage to keep me watching. That's not the only main difference, the romance, like ROMANCE? I mean sure almost every zombie show has romance whether it's the main leads or the side characters but this show managed to heavily implement that part to the story and it actually worked which is why the score is 8.9 (as of September 12, 2023). Also like I said in A1, the zombie scenes weren't that hyped but I definitely got scared in most of the scenes but it's just that there just isn't really enough zombies shown.

Q3. What about the characters?

A3; I wasn't really shocked with the male lead but the rest of the characters definitely did their part. Especially the evil characters, they did so well to make the audience hate them but I guess the story plays a big part as well. I have to say, Han Tae Sok as a character is pretty interesting but I get annoyed sometimes with Sae Bom even more than the evil characters. And yes, Sae Bom and Ji Hyun are the important characters to keep this show going.

Q4. Is the story that good?

A4; I mean, I won't say how the ending went but throughout the show, I did get frustrated a bunch of times at the "evil" characters, I managed to not get too impatient because the climax or the part where zombies start to eat people doesn't happen until a few episodes later (which I won't tell which one exactly). Oh right, ROMANCE! It did play a huge part in the story, you will even get wholesome scenes every episode with the main couple which I didn't really enjoy but didn't mind. The zombies in this story are not that impressive although the way they can get infected is pretty interesting but not really that unique. Like I said, for the 3rd time, the zombie scenes are not that hyped, I meant to say that there isn't really an epic chase scene, there are 1v1 scenes but overall the collection for zombie scenes of this show isn't really that impressive. Overall the story is alright but way better than many zombie shows. The story mainly really just takes places in the apartment which is kind of like #Alive, a zombie movie that is kind of similar to this show. There are messages from this show that are actually really good life lessons so that's a plus.

Q5: Are you willing to rewatch this show again?

A5; Hell no, I'm going to give props to the acting and the unique theme for this show but I'm someone who doesn't really rewatches a certain show, let it be k-drama or anime but the only time I rewatch a certain show is when I really feel like watching again after a long time. I don't have to urge to watch the show again after finishing it unless the show is just so amazing.

Alright, alright, it's time to summarize this very underwhelming Q&A review.

Summary:

Story: 8/10 - It's pretty consistent and doesn't fail to keep on delivering but it just lacks when it comes to the way the show handled the zombies.

Acting/Cast: 9/10 - Pretty amazing choices for the cast I'm not going to lie, a lot of them played their part well, they can keep the audience rambling and keep watching the show.

Music: 6/10 - I don't really remember the music for this show but it's alright I guess.

Rewatch Value: 5/10 - Not really the type of show to rewatch unless you loved the characters.

Overall: 7/10 - Decent story, amazing cast, can't remember the music, wouldn't really rewatch, this show is alright to kill time but I wouldn't recommend it if you're looking for a zombie show with very epic scenes and such.

My bad if this review sucks but I just want to place my opinion right here and get it off my chest.

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Annoyingly disappointing

Just finished this today. Extremely disappointed but not surprised. I was easily caught up with the narrative and characters in the beginning, and Han Hyo-joo's performance as a competent special forces soldier had a great unselfconscious swagger of someone with confidence in themseles. and her equally unselfconscious selfcentredness in the beginning when schemng to get the apartment was genuinely amusing. But from about halfway through I was watching more from duty and still some interest in what would happen to Sae-bom than anything else. Perhaps it is because the really strange social setup and peculiar startification of class (?) which comes across as pretty alien even to this British person who has been used to class-consciousness all their life. It just seems *different* and hard to believe that anyone would have put up with it even for a day in such unusual emergency situation. The whole idea that people would be ordered about like that by people with no real authority is genuinely amazing. This seemed MUCH mor emphasised than in any other KDrama I have seen (except maybe THE PENTHOUSE) and I watch a lot. Anyway, tht made it hard to completely empathise with and suspend disbelief. And then the whole coherence of the plot seemed to unravel. Now I completely accept that I may be missing subtleties in the original Korean, but the narrative as supplied by the subtitling started to make no sense at all. I actually put off watching the final ep for several days because I felt it was going to be a let down, and it was worse than I had expected. So, good beginning, gradually declining middle, and totally weak ending. The most disappointing Kdrama I have seen *all the way through*

(I am the sort of person who recently watched and loved 'Hotel del Luna', 'Hometown Cha Cha Cha' and 'Sell your Haunted House', 'Attorney Woo' and 'Mad for each Other' and 'Inspector Koo', just in case that explains my reaction!)

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