Maybe this is just not a format I like, but for me The Happy Loner left me feeling underwhelmed. This is like watching a rom-com literally in fast forward and only stopping at certain scenes. Things escalate quickly, when they normally would take time to develop, so I had a hard time relating to and caring for the characters completely. The story is pretty simple, so it's not as if it needed more time to be told, and even felt draggy at moments, so it must be that I didn't like the story or characters enough.

The concept is simple. 2 neighbors who are complete opposites, one who avoids people, and one who is overly friendly and clingy, end up getting involved in each other's lives. The "Happy Loner" Ji Yeong, who I think Min Hyo Rin did an excellent job of playing, is often relatable in her extreme melancholy... I'm talking emo levels off the charts... but I have mixed feelings about the character's development. I initially liked her cold and abrasive style, and then seeing moments where she becomes more vulnerable, but by the end I felt like they just wanted a certain ending and made her fit accordingly. Gong Myung plays Byeok Soo, a character who should have annoyed me more, but he grew on me, and I ended up really liking him. What didn't grow on me was their romance, and that's probably the biggest problem. I did think they made a cute enough couple, but with not enough chemistry to justify where the story was heading and how quickly it got there. Instead of being moves, I rolled my eyes.

Now, If you have ever felt so depressed you wanted to be cut off from human contact, or if you have ever been in a relationship with an extremely guarded or emotionally unavailable person, there will probably be moments and words that resonate in this drama. However, the scenes themselves often felt kinda shallow, which didn't match with the depth I think a story like this deserves. More time was spent on their insignificant exes than on their backstories, which weren't made to be significant enough. Oh, and don't get me started on the unethical sharing of the psychiatrist, which was extremely annoying. And that reminds me to mention the supporting cast... almost every single one of them was completely forgettable. They were more like cardboard cutouts just there to move the story along.

The short story aspect makes it hard to mention much specifically without "spoilers", but I will just say that if I enjoyed this more my rewatch score would be much higher.

Overall, I wanted to like this more than I did. There is a hint of what could have been a much better drama, but since it's only 2 episodes it's still worth a watch if you're curious enough about the subject of dating when you have issues.