Felicidade (2021)

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!

Leia Mais

Absolutely genius drama

I just wanted to write this review because there are many people try to hate this drama without even watching it to the last and they say a strong FL is reckless and stupid. Why is that? That is her character flaw she grew up in a unhappy household. So that is why she is like that. She is a person who act frist and think second. You people probably didn't read any articles and any interviews before this drama released. That is why you never really understand about where she coming from. There are so many hidden things in this drama so watch it frist and then write reviews and rate.

About episode 3
There are many people talking about why yoon sae bom open the bathroom door without thinking? So this is my explanation. Firstly she took the responsibility to talk to that infected person that is why she slowly opened that bathroom door and talked to that women slowly but the husband of that woman pushed her into the bahtroom and closed the door so in that situation she was facing a crisis .so she had to do something to protect her self from that woman. So that is why she opened that door and she know she can control that woman. . That is why she follow up the woman after released her.The infected woman only went after her husband because of anger. And other thing they are talking about is "main leads know exactly what happening and they don't want others to know about it", but that is completely wrong.From the beginning they have signed a secrecy declaration that is why they can't reveal anything to public. Please give attention to the minor details before talking about this drama. Director and script writer knew people will not give much attention to the minor details that is exactly why they added that minor details.

There will be so many plot twists in this drama. Watch the drama until the end and then judge.
Director and the script writer are geniuses and the actors are considered as best actors never let disappointed people. So don't be disappointed with only three episodes
Lastly i have to say don't judge a book by its cover

Leia Mais

WARNING, THIS IS DRAMA NOT HORROR

For those wishing to see gore and horror, look somewhere else. After finishing the series, im still left wondering why it is titled Happiness.

Plot is set after the COVID pandemic and has creepily touched into our real world nightmare - what happens if after all that we faced through this pandemic and all the medication (vaccines) we are taking take an even scarier side effect?

Im just excited to see Park Hyung Sik in his first drama after his military service and he looked even dashier and manlier here. He has become an even more believable and charming leading man. It has also been a while since Han Hyo Joo's last drama and this beautiful actress fits the role perfectly.

Coming in, i thought it was a mix of Sweet Tooth and Alive. The first few episodes were engaging , however, they werent able to keep the momentum and the middle episodes felt like fillers. I wonder if something happened during the production that made them turn around and change the focus of the story, but what started out as a heartpounding scary series turned into a melodrama.

Almost all secondary characters in the apartment are annoying and felt disposable, and I couldnt care less if any or all of them died. Also their repetitious routine of going up and down the apartment to have uneventful tenant meeting bored me and is tiring to watch. Even the main characters sometime feels like bullies and too self righteous.

Im not sure if they sold the drama as a post apocalyptic drama or horror but there was just not enough horror element but instead too much of telenovela drama. I also would have wanted more screentime for the Lieutenant Lee Si Joo because aside from Yi Hyun, she felt like the only character with an untarnished motive, which in honestly, the show lacks.

I think the experience would have been better if it is shown in Nelflix with a one time binge drop of just 8 episodes. The ending was also a bit anti-climatic, i was waiting for the big Zombie attack which didnt happen, at all. But also to be honest i still would have watched 16 episodes with just Hyung Sik doing nothing but being his handsome self.

So again, why happiness? Was it intended to mean as a quest for happiness or was it a commentary of how all people seem to be unhappy with the situation they are in? I am still not sure.

Would i rewatch? Yes definitely. Would i reccommend? Of course.

Leia Mais

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.

Leia Mais

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!

Leia Mais

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.

Leia Mais

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.

Leia Mais

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.

Leia Mais

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.

Leia Mais

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

Leia Mais

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.

Leia Mais

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.

Leia Mais