Happiness (2021)

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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The Meaning of Happiness

I really enjoyed watching this drama. Zombies/infectious disease, police/military, romance, family values! This drama hit many of my favorite elements in 12 1 hr episodes..
Acting
The main leads are childhood acquaintances and it’s your standard boy likes girl while girl is ignorant of boys feelings. The male lead really nails the looks of burning intensity. I could tell from the first episodes that he really cares about her even though he claimed not to. The female lead relies upon him and he truly is her source of happiness. Putting two people in a survival situation brings all types of feelings to the surface. I’m glad she didn’t deny them once she understood the direction of her heart.
There were many villains. The infected people or zombie like people actually weren’t the most evil. This how really displays how the evil of human nature can make people more of a mo step than even zombies. We saw many different types of greed surface as the characters are quarantined inside an apartment complex.
Storytelling
I would have liked this element to be more expanded. We spend a lot of time with the charectors in group discussion. There are a few side stories of adultery, drug dealing, and murder. I would have preferred to delve into those stories more and how this virus affected them vs. group discussions in the gym. I loved that these were the traditional zombies and this happened in a post Covid atmosphere….you can see how nonchalant the residents are because of past experience in dealing with the pandemic. For this reason, many people were more cautious but some also treated the virus like they already knew what to do.
Production
This was a nicely done show. I can tell that effort was placed on making scenes as realistic as possible without going overboard. The scenes primarily happened in 2 locations..the complex and the shutdown school…there was a fair amount of blood shed but it limited use of weapons.
Rewatch value
I’d binge this again in a year.

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I will try to review it with a little spoiler as I can. As it is hard to review it without any.

The plot:
I like the concept that fits to what’s happening now- virus, lock down and quarantine! So relatable, right?

And this might possibly happen if science fails. Though we don’t want that.

But the plot could have been so much better!

The only silver linings are PHS and HHJ!! Been waiting for their drama comeback!

I really enjoyed the first few episode but it got dragging with the lockdown and how they will survive. And how these people changed into being selfish and frustrating Characters.

People in that apartment are the worst. There are very few people that you can commend.

This should be described as the series with 2 selfless main leads with the most frustrating and selfish other Characters!

The Characters I liked:
- Obviously, The leads, although I hate them for caring for others so much.

- 401- Ms. Na, she’s the only person who thanked Yi Hyun for all the sacrifices and all the things Yi Hyun and Seo Bom did for them. She’s the nicest Character!
- Ms. Na’s brother- even this guy seems selfish, he is the only 'infected guy' that didn’t try to break in the apartment as he is afraid of biting someone. And he tried to restrain himself as much as he can. That’s what it should be, right. But not for others.

The Characters I hated:
- That doctor in 601 is insane. He is the most annoying character. I don’t even care if he dies or gets infected but that didn’t happen.
- That 1202 lady who wants to be the representative is the second worst! Hayss! I just can’t justify her actions. She only cares about money!

I hate almost all the people who were locked down in Bldg 101. They were ungrateful and selfish. Those people Yi Hyun and Seo bom tried to protect so much betrayed them. Do these people even think? Like for real?!

Andrew’s character is just so-so. I don’t understand why he like killing. Was it explained? Yeah, he is a murderer, but why? He just enjoys killing people?

The Actors! All them did great! All of them frustrated me while I’m watching! Haha.

The Ending? Nah. It just can’t end that way. It shouldn’t end with a lot of ?????????????????????
Like WTF, how did this, how did that happen! The Writer just leaves it to our imagination! 😅

I actually still have so much to say but just watch it! I even subscribed to VIU premium just to watch this. It’s still enjoyable! Just nah, with the ending and some dragging episodes!

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Bad writing and unsympathetic leads

No idea why this show has such good ratings. I'm at episode 9 and it just keeps getting worse. Except for the little girl, there isn't a single likable character. The lead couple is a pair of annoyingly condescending pricks and every other character is either a piece of sh** or a complete moron. Also, the idea that a disease could be transmitted by a drug is ludicrous. Drugs cause side effects, sometimes lethal ones, yes, but there's no way a drug can cause you to mutate into some rabid animal. That level of writing should tell you everything you need to know about this show. It's just bad. I'm curious to see how they'll wrap this up but am not getting my hopes up for an ending that makes sense.

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So many plot holes

I thought this started off well, though I’m going to say I found PHS miscast. I never fully bought him as a detective, especially a “bad cop” type.
That is not to say his acting was bad. I just didn’t think he was right for the role.
This may also have to do with not being a PHS obsessive as a lot of fans of this drama seem to be. Actually I didn’t recognize him at first because he put on a fair amount of weight and his face looks very different.

I initially fell in love with Sae Bom’s character, then got kind of annoyed when she made rather silly decisions early on and the show did that typical thing that kdramas and to a certain extent most tv shows do now where female characters are never taken to task for their poor decision-making. She got back on track as the show went on, though.

I took issue with the general attitude both protagonists had with the infected. They were cops, not doctors, so it seemed weird to me how self-righteous and ready to protect the zompires they were from the get-go. I could have understood it after more exposure to them, but from the start it didn’t make sense that they were so ready to protect them at all costs.

The illness makes no sense whatsoever. A drug can give it to you? And then you can spread it to someone else? Really? At certain points you have characters plotting to use the situation as an excuse to get rid of other characters. But when does anybody actually die from this thing? People get bitten and everyone just becomes a zompire. Except when the plot requires otherwise. Why even worry all that much if eventually they’ll all be the same and there will be nobody left for them to feed on? You’re telling me Dong Hyun, who was surrounded by at least a dozen of them, didn’t even die but just came out infected from presumably getting attacked by all of them at the same time?

Finally I get what they were going with regarding the residents (btw even with the excuse they gave, there should have been a lot more residents in that building), but too much time was spent on them and I just wanted more SB/YH relationship exploration. It still turned out pretty satisfying overall, but I went in excited about the contract marriage aspect and then I eventually got very bored of the residents. Why did we spend so much time on the old lady only for her to not appear at all as the show went on?
They were often stupid to an absurd level. Yes, in crises the ugly, and often short-sighted side of people comes out, but these people went beyond that. Who sides with a serial killer against the two people who have shown themselves most capable of handling disaster? I was close to dropping it, but by episode 10 I found myself interested again. Even with only 12 episodes this show sorta dragged.

Still, it had great acting, was wildly funny at certain points, had two likable leads even if they did annoy me, and overall was pretty entertaining. I just don’t think it’s a masterpiece by any means, as I’ve seen a few people claim.

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When stupidity is scarier than the vicious virus.

Not gonna lie, at some point I kind of wanted the drama to end with the end of the world. Watching all these characters behave the way they did make me think: maybe the world would be better without people in it.

That said, what a ride this show was. Not one episode was boring with all the zombies, scheming and danger. Adding great chemistry between the cast made this drama a pure joy. Sure, I wanted the majority of the characters dead by the end, but how much fun was it to watch the chaos unfold.

Happiness has this uncanny, surreal vibe to it - no one reacts to any given situation in a realistic manner, the society deals with it in the most chill way possible, there is little to no information about what the government is doing with the guy working for pharmaceutical company (given he is associated with military)making all the important choices that involve worldwide survival. Nothing about this show is realistic, little to nothing truly makes sense and yet… I liked it a lot.

Production value was top notch. Sure, they overdone the “zombies'' with funny eyes, but at the end of the day, the infected were not supposed to be the scariest part of the show anyway. For me, they were adorable and had many comedic moments. Face covered in blood, but they will be like: I’m fine.

Isaac Hong’s Pain was probably the best song of the whole OST. Listening to the soundtrack while writing the review, it hits me how dramatic it is compared to the drama itself.

The show sends a vaguely clear message - happiness is not defined by where and how, but with whom. It’s the people in your life that can make it or break it. That said, with all the awful characters in the drama, I rather stay alone and not risk it…

Overall, I started to feel far more frustration in the 2nd half, since some of the choices the characters were making (including our main duo into that mix) just made no sense and showed complete lack of planning and ignorance towards the obvious dangers, both in the form of the virus and the residents themselves. The last episode was a bit disappointing, not delivering a conclusion the show deserves. Even with all that, I would highly recommend it. The entertainment value was so high, I will gladly turn a blind eye to the things that bothered me.

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U DONT UNDERSTAND, IM OBSESSED!!

this show is actually amazing. obviously its a zombie apocalypse type show but I love how its written in a way to centre the show on the livelihood of the apartment community and how the disease is affecting them rather than the show be centred on the disease. AND I LOVE THE MCS, the duo are just MUAH *CHEF'S KISS*. Han hyo jo's character is so nice and refreshing and park hung sik's character is so god send as always (right now at ep 8 - the romance is so minimalistic yet the cutest thing ever, like as an adamant romance kdrama lover I will watch this for the romance) , but someone you cannot miss is Jo Woojin as Han Taesok, I love him as an actor and once again has amazed me!! genuinely I love this drama so much, I'm still watching it but i love it so much!! WATCH IT!!!

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Great cast, poor execution

Honestly, I don’t understand the hype this drama is getting. I had high expectations but something was missing and made me lose interest. I pushed myself to finish it until the end but still.. What bothers me is the lack of explanation of some events, the plot holes, the poor character development. ML and FL didn’t show a great amount of chemistry. Some characters were too much and useless. Many times, their actions didn't make sense at all. Like for real, it made me angry cause it wasn’t that realistic or logical. I know it’s fiction but would you rather trust cops or a murderer? However I would say the cast nailed the acting. The ending .. disappointing. They skipped many major unresolved plots and left many questions unanswered. Although it is a happy ending, I wasn’t moved at all. Seemed too good and easy in my opinion. Finally the music, I enjoyed it. Overall: this drama doesn’t deserve the hype surrounding it AT ALL. I got a headache instead of being entertained. Waste of potential cause the synopsis seemed promising and the cast was great.

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Completed - 2/7/2022 - 8.75

I want to preface that I am usually not a thriller/horror/suspense drama watcher. Therefore, my review is very subjective and I don't have many thrillers as a reference to compare how good "Happiness" is. The reason I am interested in this drama is because of the overwhelming positive reviews and because of Park Hyung Sik. I haven't seen him since "Strong Woman Woman Do Bong Soon" and I find him absolutely adorable. 🥰

For the most part, I enjoy the plot and the pacing of the drama. I think there's a good mix of action and drama in each episode to keep me interested and engaged. Towards the middle of the drama, I feel that the pacing slows down just a tad bit and you could somewhat expect that you will see the repetitiveness of infected humans + neighbor selfishness + leads heroic efforts. Having said that, I think this drama finishes very strong. Episodes 10-12 are very exciting and keep me entertained for the whole 3 hours.

For those who are scaredy cats like me and don't like horror stories and zombies, there are quite a lot of scenes of zombie-like infected humans in almost every episode. So, be warned! I am still OK with it but others might not. Moreover, though there are many "scary" scenes, the main focus of the drama is more about how humans will react to such a crisis. You see human greed, selfishness and evilness all come out when everyone is in lockdown mode. Luckily, we have our leads and a couple neighbors to bring some positive human nature to brighten the ugly selfishness. For some reason, the drama reminded me of Agatha Christie's book, "And Then There Were None".

I enjoy seeing two smart and independent leads. They are both strong mentally and physically, and are such great partners-in-crime, or shall I say heroes-in-crisis. If you are looking for romance, it is understandably a very small part of the drama. However, I do want to see more of the affection shown from the FL to ML sprinkled throughout the drama. I don't think there's enough to show me how devoted FL is to warrant her sacrificing quite a bit for ML in the end. I don't need/want a lot of romance, but just a little bit more would be nice.

As we see greed and selfishness during the lockdown, it's inevitable to have some annoying characters in the drama. This might be one of the few dramas that I would tolerate characters that I don't like, because that's what the drama is all about. I won't deduct points because of them. LOL However, that doesn't stop me from hating a few of them. 😁

Acting is great all around, from the youngest little girl to the amazing veterans such as Jo woo Jin (Infectious Disease head), Lee Joon Hyuk (detective) and Bae Hae Seon (building rep). Everyone is great and I love and love-hate all of them. It's so great to see Park Hyung Sik's cute, shy smile again.

Other Observations:
1. Does Park Hyung Sik seem buffer than before? Such wide shoulders. Must be all that military training!
2. Han Tae Seok as the head of the Infectious Disease investigation should really wear a mask more often. 😷
3. A few scenes have very abrupt cut or transitions
4. They don't seem to use soap when washing blood off their hands and face.
5. Aside from the English song, I don't see to remember much about its OST and BGM.

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A decent zombie Kdrama but plot action seems forced

Overall: I enjoyed it, I liked the two main actors their screen chemistry was definitely there. I liked about 90% of the plot but some things could have been written better.

The issues: A lot of the side characters made decisions that made 0 sense. Which makes the plot seemed forced for action.

The girl uncuffing the gym guy when clearly he’s infected (and they’ve seen the video) and she’s already running from another infected person. How is an infected person going to help you run from another infected person?

I also dislike how they let the doctor get away with a lot of stuff like trying to poison everyone else and murdering his wife. Wouldn’t you tell the rest of the group this guy tried to poison and infect them? They just completely let it slide and kept him until the end. Also the fact he tried to trap them outside and get others infected on purpose. The level of shit this man did he deserved the death penalty on the spot. He didn’t have the group’s interest anywhere in mind and that is not someone who lasts very long.

I also hate how they threw in the serial killer randomly in the last two episodes. Like what made him suddenly just “snap”. Everyone knew he had something to hide.

Also why didn’t the main characters ever defend themselves from being accused of killing the pastor? They just let the wife (wannabe building rep) build resentment towards them.

There’s quite a few issues with the show and could’ve been written better. If they redid some things to make it seem more natural I think I would’ve given it a 9-9.5. Just some glaring issues in the characters.

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Excruciating episodes of seeing people go crazy either due to the disease or just them being insane

While the story is continuously progressing, it kind of felt boring and lacking plus I am mostly annoyed because most of the characters seems to be villains. More than the disease, people are worse than viruses or whatsoever. When people become greedy and selfish, no other thing could be worse than that. Watching those long 12 episodes felt like a torture and a compilation of how humanity is dead and I was honestly holding on hoping that everything will end well and fortunately it did end well. So a big sigh of relief that I didn't waste half a day for something not worth it.

To be honest, I'm not really into 'zombie' / 'apocalyptic' type of series or movie so that's why it's really rare for me to review it highly unless it really amazed me. Unfortunately, Happiness fell short on my list but big consideration that everything ended well. It still gave me hope and definition the last episode was the best so far.

Acting wise, the characters did well specially the villains who annoyed the sht out of me. Kudos to the well-executed portrayal. The infected also acted well and the action scenes are also of great quality so I commend that. Background music also blends in well with the scenario keeping the tension going and the thrill.

Overall, I feel like the journey of watching it although a bit painful for me, I still enjoyed it. So if you're into zombie/apocalyptic type of genre you might love this more than I did.

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Bloody, brutal, beautifull... ha ha

This drama really has a little bit of everything showing humans at their best as well as at their extreme worst.. Showing us that some people truly are scary, but in a good way...

What I liked about this drama was that its twists where slightly less predictable than I thought, don´t get me wrong some twits where highly predictable and at some point I found myself telling my husband not only what but how the next scene would be cut, sunds and angles... And well I was not that far from it... Even tough there where a few characters that were annoying at times I kind of got used to them and actually started enjoying watching them develop and humorously adapt to their extremely evil nature.... And was a lot less annoyed at the character portrayed by Baek Hyun Jin here than I was in The Devil Judge.


The message here is not very clear but kind of sweet in a way, and so are the interactions, choices and relationships between the characters. Who are the real monsters? Will you try to eat the person you love if you get infected with a virus that effects your brain? Will a person with rabies just bite any one or do they have preferences too? How much stress can a person take before they loose all sense? what is being the building rep really worth? are some people worth more than others?

The female lead is as cool as cool and fun gets, she has humour, she is strong and she does not take any crap from any one..... The male lead is just too cute, also strong but more willing to take crap, actually he is said to have a bad temper but considering the people around him I am willing to say he is more of a saint than anything else. Even if I do not agree with all his decisions...

The kid is sweet and a fun addition to the cast.

All in all this is a show that will keep you biting your toe nails, make your heart flutter, make you laugh at the evil and have you yelling profanities' at the screen while hiding your face from the blood splatter and those bloody teeth... yuck...

Edit: I forgot to mention that I have renamed this drama zoom zoom because they LOVE zooming in and out...

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