Happiness (2021)

Unique and enjoyable story despite a lot of unfulfilled potential

Likes:
-The premise of a zombie outbreak in a post-covid world was really interesting, especially with it being more of a rabies-like virus where people had violent episodes before going back to normal. It raised a lot of interesting questions about whether they were still human, whether it was a moral failing, whether they could resist their thirst, and whether they could go back to being a part of society after being cured.
- A lot of people have complained about the tone being inconsistent or unrealistic, but honestly, given what we now know about how people responded to COVID, it felt realistic to how a zombie apocalypse might actually play out. It wasn't all violence and gore, but instead it was filled with people trying to go about their lives as normal while an unsettling, suspenseful feeling pervaded everything. Those with power tried to maintain the status quo, many didn't want to believe the true horror of what was going on, and others tried to take advantage of the situation to their own benefit. It showed how you could remain hopeful and find happiness amid an apocalyptic event. The soundtrack was great in setting up that both suspenseful but hopeful tone.
-Lastly, of course, Han Hyojoo and Park Hyungshik's characters and chemistry were great and kept me interested even when the plot started to drag and get inconsistent. I'm a sucker for slow burn and friends to lovers romances, and I loved that they always cared for each other from the start. They were both equally badass, and they both saved each other in so many ways.

Dislikes:
-A lot of the questions posed in the first half were kind of abandoned in the end, and the moral/lesson was unclear (the power of love? Help your loved ones before others? Leaving the infected to die works? The rich and powerful will get away with it?)
-It was also ridden with plot holes, like if Saebom had the antibodies that would save everybody, how come they didn't get her out of the apartment sooner? How was everything outside back to normal that fast?
-The side character's motivations weren't really fleshed out super well, and Andrew, 1201 ajumma, and 601 ajusshi were basically just evil foils to our righteous ML and FL (copaganda much?)
-They really kissed while Yihyun was infected?? Insane behavior.

Conclusion: it didn't quite live up to it's potential, but boy, did I enjoy the ride. Objectively this should probably a 6.5/7, but it was a 9 in my heart, so we'll average it at 8.

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Another run of the mill 'Zombie' Drama

Korea has no dearth of Zombie and post apocalyptic movies and dramas and sadly Happiness adds nothing new to the table.

There is nothing here that you probably wouldn't have seen in some shape or form already. It's the same old formula that has been repeated quite a few times.

Now there is nothing wrong with reusing well established tropes and using the same formula as long as you can make it work with a good storyline. But that's where Happiness falls short. It is riddled with plot holes so much so that after a point I just stopped counting them. Left and right all the characters keep making stupid decisions that makes absolutely no sense. And most of the side characters were so weakly developed and annoying that I could not care less about them. And to top it all off we have such an abrupt ending it makes you wonder if the writers just lost interest in the middle of it.

But where this drama falters in all other aspects, it makes up in terms of the two main characters. Especially Yoon Sae Bom, she felt like a breath of fresh air. Honestly I loved her, if not for her I probably would have dropped this.

And even though the romance between the leads was not the focal point there chemistry still knocked it out of the park. It was not too much in your face but they had a quiet domesticity between them that I absolutely adored.

It is however addicting to watch, it is the kind of drama that you binge watch at once and then forget it even existed because that's how low the impact was. Overall I'd say it's an oksyish one time watch.

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My heart was so broken

This show starts off with a HUGE bang! Just thinking of that scene makes me want to go rewatch it! What an intro!

I really enjoyed this show overall. I loved that it had a small setting with a wide array of characters and personalities all meshing together. I loved routing for some building residents and wishing others would get cast out. I loved how the zombies worked! It was a more relaxed zombie show but it held a great impact.

I loved our lead Park Hyung Sik! He's amazing in this one!!

Okay so there was a little bad with all the good.
The storyline dragged a tad bit but not enough to put me off the show. I also had to suspend belief when it came to how they handled the outbreak. They had just gone through Covid and were aware of Covid in the show, that was minor compared to THIS type of outbreak yet they were not very quick to handle this one. I would think they'd be a bit more prepared and paranoid due to Covid!

Overall 100% worth the watch. It had a moment that totally wrecked my heart but the ending was VERY satisfying.

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This is an excellent drama. It was action packed, but also had its slower moments so the audience has time to catch it's breath. The rush to tie up the storyline in the final episode was it's only drawback, in my opinion. Other than that, the story was thorough, well scripted, and well acted.

I love that neither mains are weak characters. (For instance, the strong ML isn't always having to rescue the weak FL.) Both are strong, physically and mentally, fighting against the bad guys WITH each other instead of one always fighting to save the other. When one goes out alone, the other pities their opponents. Yes, they do protect each other, but they also trust in each other's skills. [The takedown of the pastor is the best physical (wrestling? martial arts?) move I have ever seen....I rewatched that, like, 8ish times!]

I also love that the drama didn't depend on tropes in order to portray the mains falling for each other. There was no awkwardness, only a clear and obvious friendship that allowed itself to deepen naturally as time passed. (Granted, the ML developed feelings 10 years earlier, but his one-sided love was willing to wait for her.)

I was surprised that they never called the infection zombie-like. There was never one mention of zombies. But the infected people's actions and appearance was clearly within the zombie universe. I'm personally fine with that, as I like zombie stories, even though I am not the biggest fan of gore. Ya can't have one without the other though.

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Amazing power couple leads in a self-contained world with morally grey characters.

I watched for the amazing main leads, they were absolutely awesome, an absolute power couple! Sure, the actions of many of the other characters seemed stupid, but in such a high-pressure environment, it's inevitable. I was really sad about some deaths, especially when some really didn't deserve it, that made me say, but perhaps that's just how life is.

It felt like this apartment complex in lockdown was like its own self-contained world, each character reflecting the different types of people and choices that would realistically happen in the larger world, but on a smaller scale. Meanwhile, at least our leads weren't stupid, and I loved them for being calm, rational, intelligent, and an awesome pair! Honestly, MVP goes to Han Tae Sook, his character was seriously awesome in my opinion. In a sense, without his decisions and his intelligence, maybe things wouldn't have turned out as well as he did.

No one's ever black and white in this story, and I love how this show doesn't push ethics in our faces. I think there's definitely a lot of ethical issues with the way people handled things, the obvious and not-so-obvious issues, but each character was never either black nor white, even our leads, because they were willing to see the world burn for each other lol (well, not really, kinda towards the end, but even if they did just want to watch the world burn happily and do nothing about it, I'd be on their side HAHA). And honestly, it made me truly think about this world as a whole - we can blame people all we want for making certain potentially bad decisions, but we never know what drives them to do what they do, and sometimes, that could simply be love for your wife. Selfish as it may be, I honestly can understand these motives.

Then there are the absolute devils that deserve to literally burn with no way of redemption. >.> No pity for them. Sometimes the 'normal' humans are the monsters, not the zombies. No surprise there.

Then again, there's also no need to think too deeply imo, just like how it doesn't push ethics in our faces, it can make us viewers think about issues, but it's really not THAT heavy. I've watched others with much heavier exploration of humanity, although I can't remember any off the top of my head.

Anyways. I don't think it's perfect, but scores are always subjective. I'm giving it a 10/10 because I highly enjoyed it. Romance definitely wasn't the focus, at least, it wasn't pushed in your face, but with the way the two leads cared for and thought of each other, it was just as romantic as kisses. Romance was more prevalent in the last two episodes for sure, but it was there throughout, and I genuinely love such a tacit, understanding pair that would protect each other so naturally. Anymore romance drama in this sort of show would've ruined it. Sure, maybe I'd have liked a bit more romantic moments, but I prefer this than those where the writer ruins a romance by causing unnecessary conflicts between the two leads - that ALWAYS ruins it for me, ESPECIALLY when they're meant to be intelligent, calm, and reasonable ADULTS.

Give it a watch if you enjoy some zombies, mystery, a virus, contemplating human nature (although, really, it wasn't overly heavy), and a speck of romance that's obviously there through their mutual understanding and friendship with each other and the last two eps. It was enjoyable and honestly, if you can just focus on the two leads and be happy with them being the logical and intelligent ones (and the adorable kid Seo-Yoon) most of the other characters' stupid/misinformed/interest-fueled actions isn't that big of a deal. I enjoyed watching the complexity of human nature in them actually.

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Happiness is NOT what the Drama makes me feel!

Even though I rated this drama an 8, this is mainly because of the great acting. Boy can these people be scary as zombies....absolute terrors.

Let me start with the storyline...which is the major let down for me. I have no regard for any of these characters because even though they acted their socks off, writernim refused to tell their story properly. Hardly any back story...enough for me to care about what happens to them. I believe this was a disservice to what could have been a great drama.

There were a few plot holes and even updates that left me like: what? e.g. the cashier from the supermarket was already infected, why then did the creepy infected dude go after her when she went to get the guy's phone from outside? They allowed us to know that the infected know each other because their blood smells disgusting. bSo why?

Also, we already know that once you're infected you can't die unless you get shot in the brain...so why did they ML collapse as if he died? Now if the story told us he really died, I would've rated this show a 1 for breaking its own rules.

The acting was pretty phenomenal and I really enjoyed the OST.

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An unexpected delight

I almost didn’t watch Happiness. The horror genre is not my thing and I don’t enjoy being scared silly. However, the rating was so high, and I really liked Park Hyung Shik in Strong Woman Do Bong Soon, so I gave it a try.

Turns out that this is a fantastic show which just got better with each episode. If you are hesitating because like me, you don’t really like horror, as long as you can handle some gore and a few suspenseful moments, go for it. The main theme is the analysis of how people react when put into the extreme position of a lockdown. Do you help each other? Take advantage of each other? Steal from each other? Kill each other?

The show has so many unexpected twists and turns that it was highly entertaining throughout. I wish it had a few more episodes actually; the ending felt a bit short and left some open questions as to what happened to some of the characters. That’s really the only reason I didn’t rate it a 10.

All the actors did great, but the two main leads were just extraordinary and made Happiness truly special. Apart from everything else, this drama offers a great portrayal of a loving relationship. The main characters are both so supportive of each other, it is a joy to watch. Also, please let there be more shows with strong female leads like this. Many shows start out with a spunky girl who, after a few episodes, becomes weak and forgets she has a black belt in karate. Not in this case. Our heroine stays strong and committed and does kick butt until the last episode.

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A somewhat original take to the usual zom-dramas.

1. Originality: I would say this quite original in its concept, the stakes are raised by having them getting quarantined in their apartment complex with no real help in sight. This is similar to how Train to Busan raised the stakes, by getting the characters stuck in, well, a train. Like the movie, it also deals with human nature, prejudices and divides coming into play it apocalyptic situations, however unlike Train to Busan though it also branches out to the politics of creating a cure and the greyness at play within relief efforts. I also loved the concept of the "disease" happening in episodes, so the patient comes back to their "self" and have to accept and go through their guilt. I felt it was a great way to comment on the COVID epidemic too.

2. Setting: The setting while done well, felt too easy. Like, none of the characters tried making a run for it, even with zombies all around them?

3. Characterization: I do not always feel the need to agree with the main characters to like a fiction. That being said, there were quite a few moments where I felt the main characters could have solved miscommunications within the people with just more and clear communication. They were very rigid with having things go their ways, even when a patient was visibly a threat. I agree with humanising a patient but that shouldn't be done with clear threat to others. Also, I guess since it was a series instead of a movie, too many decisions felt naive, a little too many times.

4. Conflict and Plot: Again this critique comes from this being a show but almost all apart from a few handful characters were just frustrating to watch. I understand the politics, and I understand that every human is grey. But these people were way too dark of a shade for me to tolerate them.

5. 5. Emotional/intellectual payoff: I only have three things to say: a. guy falls first and harder, look! a loser in love b. best friends to spouses to lovers c. couples who are violent together, stay together! 100/10 i will be binging edits for the next several days they are my parents.

6. Theme: As covered in Originality, the overall theme of critiquing our humanity, or lack thereof, in wake of any crisis is very intriguing subject - I always love stories exploring it.

7. Treatment: Given my critiques, it does feel stretchy in the middle. It could have been a 8 or 10 eps drama and would have told us the exact same story.

You would think I hated this series, but honestly despite all my above complaints I still binged the series and was obsessed w the main couple -- so make of that what you would.

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Great Drama!

Titled "Happiness," this drama was anything but happy. It revolves around people turning into zombies following a post-COVID outbreak. The story takes place in an apartment building that is placed under quarantine after the residents become infected. As the days progress, the residents descend into madness, committing increasingly atrocious acts. The plot moves swiftly, and the actors' performances are outstanding; I found the villains utterly detestable.

Despite being misled—expecting a typical romantic drama due to the title—I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. Although there were only a few romantic moments between the main characters, I still found the drama very captivating.

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Another take on zombie hype train. Was caused by narcotics, by a disease or by something else?

Loved this one. Another take on zombie hype train. Was caused by narcotics, by a disease or by something else?

Actors looks good and acts well, even the ML and FL had a good on screen chemistry. Visuals are really good too if not great. OSTs fine too.

I like the fact that although this is a paranormal fiction, the creators managed to showcase human nature really well. That humanity is capable of both cruelty and selflessness.

The show didn't revolved around just zombies, darkness and death. It was about the people living and surviving in a chaotic world, trying to find even a bit of happiness. So I think it has an apt title.

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