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.
Esta resenha foi útil para você?
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.
Esta resenha foi útil para você?
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!!!Esta resenha foi útil para você?
Good Enough
Korean Drama "Happiness" is a dystopian drama that feels, nevertheless, close to home. The drama doesn't focus too much on the horror aspect, with the zombie-like disease, that could have been easily overused with loads of gory scenes and bloodbath.Rather, the drama opted for a more character-centric story, with the focus being maintained on the neighbors and their dynamics when a crisis hits home. The addition of the corporation mystery, along with the family drama, were all a nice touch that added more twists to the main plot.
However, the drama missed making the conclusion clear, or more dramatic. Everything was actually too conveniently solved when everyone was straggling to come to a conclusion all throughout the drama. Also, the drama felt like it was missing something, like the story needed something more to leave a bigger impact.
Nonetheless, the performances were great and aided the entertainment value of the drama a lot. The CGI were also well made.
So, overall, 6.5 out of 10.
Esta resenha foi útil para você?
Esta resenha pode conter spoilers
Good start
This started out well, with a stylish opening sequence, a less common take on a monster theme, and a cool FL (Han Hyo Joo, who I almost didn't recognize - I didn't like her much in W, but she's great here), who continues to be cool all the way through! - and doesn't turn into a crying fainting jelly, as so many of them do. It is a fairly silly plot with many holes, but hey, it's a monster show, I can hand-wave that if the pace is good enough to glide me over them. Unfortunately, the storytelling in the middle fell rather flat. There are a lot of side-characters - naturally, as it's the story of the apartment block - but none of them felt compelling: no solid arcs, just randomness and dead ends, and too much time given to the least interesting and most annoying of them. (actually that was almost all of them! and they killed off 15th floor guy, who I kinda liked) The spurious melodrama with these unappealing goons messed with the momentum enough for me to get bored and abandon it on-hold for months before finally finishing it. It does pick up towards the end: the last two eps were better, and the finale tied up some of the essentials, including the romance arc, but that felt unsatisfying to me and I would have liked to have known what happened to other characters.Still worth watching, but I'd keep the skip button handy.
Esta resenha foi útil para você?
Esta resenha pode conter spoilers
Featuring Baek Hyun Jin's insanely dramatic shrieks
Before I talk about the show, let's talk about Baek Hyun Jin and his screams/hollers/shrieks... that little dude is part Velociraptor, right? He makes noises I have never heard a human make on screen or off. It's massively entertaining and only sometimes obnoxious. I've seen him do it a few times in other dramas, but Happiness provided him with a great many opportunities to implement his raptor shriek, and it fit very well with his character's cowardly evil personality.Happiness was ok. It was, for me, just a tad over acceptable but not epic. As other reviewers have pointed out, there are a lot of minor inconsistencies, plot holes, and confusing logic leaps. There are some elements I just cannot wrap my head around the logic of....like why was this apparently government boss dude the literally only guy in charge of the whole outbreak. I can't think of any government that would work that way, there would be lots of officials involved in an operation of this scale. Also why did the relationship develop between the detective and this military boss dude, that part really seemed to stretch the bounds of logic for me. Why too, if the side character brother also had antibodies was his wound purple and diseased looking where the FL's wound was not, where they multiple times in the script bring up the color of the wound's surrounding area as an indicator of infection.
The direction crew did a really terrible job with consistency, so many shots will have the actors holding a prop in their hand from on angle, but when it cuts over to the next angle the prop is gone or in the wrong hand or different. It's pretty jarring and there are multiple examples of this in every single episode. The attention to detail in this Kdrama was pretty bad, and those things break immersion which definitely reduces my impression of a drama.
The acting was pretty good, there were a few sort of one-note bland characters and it was a little disappointing that they didn't delve into any of the backstory on side characters at all, which made it difficult to connect with them emotionally. The ML and FL had good synergy. The FL especially did an awesome job representing her character's personality consistently, so you truly believed her as a character. The action scenes were pretty well done for the most part, though there seemed to be some inconsistency around when a lead could attack a gun holding person vs when they just stood there at gun/knife point. There was a really awesome scene the ML does (or his stunt double probably) where he in one swift move drops to the ground and grapples the preacher zombie's leg, spinning around it to take him down, it was pretty badass.
Overall, it was a pretty good show, though the lack of consistency in the script and directing limited the potential of the actors. Even so, 90% of this drama takes place in hallways, and it's pretty impressive that you can keep people immersed well enough that they remain watching with such dull scenery.
Esta resenha foi útil para você?
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...
Esta resenha foi útil para você?
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.
Esta resenha foi útil para você?
Amazingly executed apocalypse drama
I really like apocalypse dramas but this one was just really well done.When I first heard about it I was gonna watch it for Park hung silk and Han Hyo Joo, but after I watched the first episode I was so hooked and as every episode came out it slowly became one of my favorite apocalypse dramas and here’s why also NO SPOILERS AHEAD.Characters
Our Oppa Park hung silk plays the character of Jung Yi Hyun. He is the type of male lead that is mean to everyone else but not for his girl, and he would do anything to protect her.He has anger issues especially when someone comes for his precious wife.
And then we have the amazing Han Hyo Joo playing the character of Yoon Sae Bom. In this drama she is a very bad ass girl boss, she’s the female lead that helps the male lead keep his emotions in check. Yoon Sae Bom is so funny in this drama she helps others and takes action in a crisis
Plot
The reason why I think this drama is interesting is because this infectious disease which is happening by pills but also if you get bitten or scratched then you turn into this creature/ zombie thing. But what stood out to me was that they can switch back, for example the zombie could be biting someone and then all of a sudden they are very confused why they are doing this.But at the same time they’re fully aware that they just ate someone. So it was very interesting in the aspect that people are hiding the fact that they killed someone so that they won’t lock you away.Every episode takes you by surprise.
Romance
I love this couple so much they were so refreshing to see.There dynamic is literally becoming one of my favorites, it’s so realistic and there is just no pressure in the relationship between them. A casual friendship where intimacy isn’t weird, they can depend on each other, don’t hesitate to save each other and know each others family.So in most romance dramas everything is just so up in the air and everything has to mean something.For an example if he calls you pretty, its like ‘omg does he like me, what does this mean’ like he literally just gave you a compliment why does their have to be so much pressure in the and I don’t mean it in a bad way like I enjoy those dramas as well but it was just nice to see this couple progress through the drama.
OST
The soundtrack isn't important but I have to talk about it.Who ever picked the music for this drama obviously did not read the script. The music was always so calming like I have actually heard it in meditation videos and sometimes in the background of you-tubers videos to avoid copyright claims. Like for a drama so intense you could have picked more upbeat music. But in the positive there were some good songs that I liked and some that did fit the action scenes.My favorite song in the entire OST is What Lies Ahead-Joe Layne and it's a slow calm song, so yeah I'm a hypocrite 🥸😂.
Note:The title is very misleading so if you like happy dramas with romance and fluffy characters this isn’t for you. But I still recommend it even if you not a fan of the thriller genre.
I totally recommend this drama. And I hope this review helped😁.
Esta resenha foi útil para você?
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.
Esta resenha foi útil para você?
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!
Esta resenha foi útil para você?
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.
Esta resenha foi útil para você?
