A post-covid blood sucking zombie survival drama called Happiness? Yes, Please.

"Happiness" seems like an odd title choice for a drama about blood-sucking zombies but it actually makes perfect sense. Like most popular zombie/plague/monster invasion stories this drama is less about actual zombies and more about human nature and survival instincts. The concept seems pretty far-fetched when you read it but the way it plays out is pretty realistic. Since we can all relate to how out of nowhere this covid pandemic felt, the randomness of "madman rabies" seems pretty legit and timely. I don't like to add too many spoilers, but I think anyone watching should know at least the basics of what they are getting into. If you're a fan of movies like "Train to Busan" or "The Mist" then you will probably love a lot of things about "Happiness". The story can be a little cliché at times, and more eerie than scary, but what I enjoyed most were the characters, especially the main leads Han Hyo Jo and Park Hyung Sik.

First, I have to applaud Han Hyo Jo as Yoon Sae Bom. If you are looking for a drama with a strong bad@ss female lead you found it and she will not disappoint. Sae Bom is impulsive and hilariously reckless, but her bravery, loyalty, and smarts make her the clear hero of this story. She is matched with Park Hyung Sik as Jung Yi Hyun, who is an equally brave and impressive hero, but it's clear from the beginning his first thought is always the safety of Sae Bom his "lifesaver". Some may wonder if this drama is at all a romance. I would say yes, but not in the way you may expect. These leads have amazing chemistry throughout, from the very beginning, but there are no cutesy moments that distract too much from the main story. Instead, it just adds more depth to their friendship, and higher stakes to what motivates them as a team. Seeing even the small ways they cared for each other made me care even more about them.

The rest of the cast is filled with many over-the-top and duplicitous characters. They are hilarious, and frustrating, and reflect the good and bad in all of us, sometimes to the extreme. I know that everyone would like to think that in a situation like this they would be considerate, responsible, brave, empathetic, and heroic but stories like this reflect what we may not always want to admit, how selfish, greedy, fear-driven, and irrational we all have the capability of being when it comes to our own survival and happiness. Good people may make bad choices. Bad people may save lives. This is what makes this drama fun to watch and hard to predict. You can't always tell what the characters will do or read their true intentions. There are a few clear villains that are fun to hate, but I think almost every character (besides cute Seo Yoon) did something that made me want to yell at them through the screen at some point.

Would I watch this again? Definitely. The story would probably be less exciting the second time around, and some parts of the plot are messy and choppy, but I think it's a great survival thriller with a great, although slightly heavy-handed message about happiness and what makes life worth living. It's also a great bingle length. I was a little sad when it was all over but at the same time, 12 episodes felt like the perfect length. I also appreciated the ending even if it felt rushed.

It's worth mentioning that the soundtrack is really great and compliments the various moods in the plot well.

Overall, this drama surprised me. I wouldn't call it my favorite drama of the year or even add it to my own favorites list but I understand why it's so popular. It's the perfect drama for these quarantine times. It's not too scary, and it leaves you with the perfect amount of schadenfreude reminding us that things could always be waaaaaaay worse. It also humanizes the crazy zombie transformation which made me overlook the cheesy makeup and instead see how we sometimes villainize and ostracize sick/infected people instead of helping and supporting them. "Happiness" also doesn't go too far with gory violence. It's pretty tame, besides lots blood, scary sounds, and some jump scares. It's the perfect balance of genres for a broad audience without being too frightening, too romantic, too melodramatic, or too silly yet I laughed, jumped, felt butterflies, and even teared up at least once. I'm sure this drama will definitely make people think twice about who their neighbors are. It certainly makes me very suspicious of too many empty water bottles... o.O... The premise isn't very original, but it's still effective. Maybe it's time to watch "Sweet Home" next? I never thought of myself as a huge fan of this style of drama but this one left me thirsty for more... in a good way. ; )

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I'm not sure what made me watch this drama until the end since I hated it from the beginning. If you aren't sold by episode one, just know that the plot only gets more ridiculous. My issue was that I didn't like 95% of the characters, which makes it hard to like the show obviously, but there was just enough suspense and a main character that peaked my curiosity enough to make me want to keep watching, and that's Jo Yeo Jung as "Ms. Perfect" herself.

I think Jo Yeo Jung was perfect (pun intended lol) in the role. She was the perfect balance of sweet and sinister to make her an interesting character, so I kept watching to see what her story would be. The more her story was revealed the more cliché and uninterested I became. Then her crazy manic stare would pull me back in. I wish she was who the story focused on, but the real center of the drama was Go So Young as Shim Jae Bok. I did not like her character, and It was hard to sympathize with her the more the show went on. I think the point was to create a strong character who was no nonsense, but instead she came across as super critical, extra paranoid, and in a constant bad mood for 20 episodes. Reading the synopsis I see what the plot was going for, but I think it failed because the main character never changes. Because she was such a negative neurotic nancy, her one note paranoia throughout the show got old quick, and was frustrating to watch. It also made it hard to see her in any romantic situation, including the one they tried to force with Sung Joon. It the beginning they had a banter that was ok to watch, but it lead to zero romantic chemistry. You know it's bad when the romantic climax is hugging it out.

Jae Bok also has a crew of female friends who are THE most obnoxious and nosey bordeline frienemies. I guess they were there for comic relief, but I was just annoyed by their bitterness and catty behavior. Even the kid Che-ri came off as a brat. I wanted to skip all scenes involving them.

Most of the supporting cast is pretty terrible honestly... but I will at least give the two main kids a pass.

The most disappointing character was Jung Hee played by Yoon Sang Hyun. I've loved him in so many dramas, and this is the first time I can remember being annoyed by his role and his performance. He played an over the top version of a passive character and then suddenly switched completely in a way I found to be completely unrealistic. Bad writing meets bad acting was a continuous theme for me throughout the show.

The story tries to be a suspense comedy with a makjang plot, and it just didn't work for me. The characters were mostly one dimensional and unrealistic. Characters who should have been gone reappeared, and main characters appeared out of nowhere. The plot was so ridiculously random that it was if they were making up things as they went along. They did manage to create enough suspense to keep me wondering wtf was going on, but the reveals were always disappointing. The cheesy ending tried it's best to tie all loose ends, but I was just relieved that it was finally over. I guess it's obvious that a rewatch is out of the question, unless I just want to confirm how bad it was for a second time.

Overall I kinda wish Jo Yeo Jung had her own Ms. Perfect spinoff, with a better cast, writer, and director involved (this was directed by the director of Mary Stayed Out All Night - which I liked only half a point more). Instead this drama is far from perfect. It's also way too repetitive to be 20 episodes long. If makjang is your genre of choice, you may be more forgiving of this show's flaws than I was, but I couldn't recommend this drama to anyone otherwise.

You know things are bad when the only character you sympathize with and are rooting for is the villain.

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Extreme highs and lows without enough heart.

I know nothing about the webtoon, but "All of Us Are Dead" being another Korean Zombie story was enough to pique my interest. The story itself feels pretty standard, with the expected tropes, yet still unique. The zombies are well done and realistically creepy, but something about this series disappoints and it was hard to put a finger on why while watching. Now that I've finished I think I understand what stopped me from loving this drama, the convoluted back story, and too many main characters that I didn't like or care about. It's hard to get invested in a zombie story if you don't care if they get eaten or not. Don't get me wrong, I loved the concept behind how the zombies were created, but that part didn't get enough focus, and I loved the school setting, but too many moments in this show seemed to drag out with too many characters that fell flat or were too stereotypical. The main one being Park Ji Hoo as Nam On Jo. Yes, she was a realistic teen, but her salty attitude throughout was more annoying than empathetic. Seeing zombies chase students gets super repetitive when you don't care enough about the people being chased.

Nam On Jo is just one of the main group of students we follow through this fast escalating zombie crisis. There's Lomon as Soo Hyeok the strong and crushworthy, Jo Yi Hyun as antisocial class President Nam Ra, and Yoon Chan Young as Chung San, my favorite character, the classic sympathetic hero. The rest of the classmates are a mix of bullies, clowns, snobs, BFFs, and assorted personalities you're likely to find in your average basic teen drama, but because things escalate so quickly some characters felt too generic to make me sympathize enough. In the middle of the chaos, we are faced with who likes who and who resents who, cliques, classism, bullying, bonding, selfishness, and insane revenge but because I didn't care enough about most of their relationships or feelings, I was left waiting for the next "event" to happen to them. I will admit that there was always an epic event on the horizon, often a pretty shocking one that kept me wanting to watch the next episode, but the time in between those events got pretty boring. Maybe I was looking for more chemistry between characters, or a stronger origin story since visually the show does an amazing job. Nothing about the acting is bad, it's just not as emotionally exciting as it was visually exciting. The story itself is definitely heavy on emotional "moments" but they left me dry-eyed when they normally wouldn't so I must partially blame the cast. Unforgettable scenes filled with mostly forgettable characters are the result. There is an extremely memorable extreme bully (with a mullet) but the rest of the cast is pretty generic. Lee Yoo Mi as Na Yeon is one of the few characters with a clear story arc, likable or not. Don't even get me started on the baby, or the little girl... too many wasted and unexplored storylines to count.

Would I watch this again, Oddly yes. I think knowing the story and characters better may make earlier scenes better too. It's a shorter series, 12 episodes, which is also a decent binge length. I also probably missed some important key things in some episodes while distracted by the shock of the zombies. This seems like the kind of drama that may make more sense with a second viewing. I would definitely be tempted to skip many scenes, especially the bio teacher's video diaries, but I know there are probably details I missed while bored. I was also satisfied with the ending, although a little disappointed that the zombie mess had no clear resolution and felt rushed to an end.

If you are a zombie fan, then this is worth watching. At least for some good and terrible zombie survival strategies. If you hate gore and violence but love a good drama, you honestly may want to skip this one. This drama is gory and dark and explores survival instincts, trust, loyalty, and is pretty high on lost faith in humanity points, but without a major throughline besides basic survival, the story is the weakest part of this drama. It is suspenseful, but the suspense is based on who will survive and who won't. There's really great 'WTH did I just watch' end of episode suspense to keep viewers hooked, but the zombie lore was pretty messy with plot holes I would have noticed more if I cared more. Some of the social commentary is pretty heavy-handed and doesn't go deep enough to feel relevant, which I think is this drama's overall issue. The Drama "Happiness" did a better job of telling a zombie survival genre and social commentary story without being too preachy... shout out for Bae Hae Sun for having to go through Zombies again! lol! Although this time her character seemed more like a glorified cameo.

Overall, "All of Us are Dead" is another Zombie drama for our times. Since this pandemic has many people questioning how we deal with a sudden crisis, and Zombie movies are a great way to explore Human Nature and Instincts, the timing of this series is perfect. What I didn't expect was a story filled with high adrenaline-inducing zombies to feel so tedious and I certainly didn't expect to have so many 'rooting for the zombies to eat someone' moments. Arguing, running, fighting, arguing, more running, and more fighting... the fight and zombie choreography is pretty epic, but I wish this drama's emotional moments matched the action. I can definitely see this being left somewhat open-ended for the possibility of a season 2, which I would watch, but not with super high expectations. Not quite overrated, but not as good as it could have been. I just know if zombies come I'm avoiding all teens. lol!

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Interesting concept. Less interesting plot.

Hellbound is a short Supernatural Horror series that takes a very interesting concept and turns it into a less interesting plot. The premise of this drama is very scary, even if it's not so original. We learn in the very first scene that there are people who have been given a death decree by an ominous being and once that day and time comes they will be sent, very violently, to hell. The idea definitely gave me "The Ring" vibes, but instead of a ghost story, this drama focuses on a cult that emerges from this phenomenon called "The New Truth" led by Jung Jin Soo played by Yoo Ah In. I am a fan of Yoo Ah In and a huge fan of stories about cults, so I expected to really love this drama, but it dragged too much and was too open for interpretation for my taste. Instead of being intrigued, I got bored quickly.

At first, there were too many characters for me to follow and care about. All the performances were good, but I felt like I didn't get a chance to really get to know characters like the detective and his daughter, and the lawyer and her mom, besides their connections to the cases and the cults. I felt like there were a few scenes that were meant to be touching but I didn't know the characters well enough to be truly moved. Chairman Jung was the most interesting character initially but I don't think his character was explored and humanized enough either. As emotional as some of the acting was I never cried once. As the sin and morality of characters were questioned it was never deep enough for me to relate to or empathize with besides it just being a horrible way to die. I also wanted the cult members and their desire to join to be more realistic. This brings me to my least favorite character... the leader of Arrowhead. Those scenes were the most annoying part of this drama. The cheesy neon and random yelling was silly instead of scary, and not funny enough to be considered dark comedy.

Would I watch this again? Probably. I know that's surprising, but I'm sure I missed a lot of details binging this the first time. I find cult stories interesting enough to give this another shot, especially if there is a season 2. The open-ended storytelling makes me curious about how others may interpret what happened. I'm not sure if I would binge-watch it in one day again. The episodes felt too long. And I would definitely be tempted to skip every single arrowhead web show scene.

Overall, Hellbound wasn't bad but didn't live up to my expectations. It felt like a really longwinded prequel and less like a fully finished season. Dystopian K-dramas are obviously in (Thanks to Squid Game), but this one seems more over the top and cartoony than disturbing and realistic. By the end, I had more questions than answers but there weren't enough characters that I cared about to make me care much about the answers anyway. Although the visual effects were "fun" I can see the webtoon maybe being better at telling this story than this drama, possibly filling in some huge character holes left in this drama, although I never read it so maybe not. I do like the moral questions some of the characters faced, those were the most interesting parts of the story to me, but I wish there were fewer scenes with arrowhead and its annoying delinquent vigilante goons. This is another one of those dramas that I probably would have liked better as a much shorter movie. I expect that there will be some pushback from religious folks who don't like the idea of god's wrath being interpreted. I can also see some die-hard Harry Potter fans not being impressed by certain parts of the plot near the end. There's also a lot of violence without consequences, so if you don't like violence this is definitely not the drama for you. I would still say true fans of supernatural horror could lower their expectations and still enjoy a lot of what this drama has to offer. I just wonder what a better screenwriter could have done with this plot (and yes, I really liked Train to Busan, but it wasn't a series). A better writer could have written in some more Yoo Ah In scenes, who I felt was underutilized, and could have made 6 episodes not feel like too many. I also don't usually expect a season 2 but this one feels like it really needs one to feel complete. Until then, at least it can make a great "What the Hell (pun intended) did I watch" topic of conversation.

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