Excellent acting spoiled by plot holes
The story's first 2 eps were great but started going downhill from there.First the entire premise of the disease. Think about it. The fact that a thin sheet of glass is holding off blood thirsty creatures both at the basement and the first floor. Glass that could be easily broken with a real impact (anything from as ramming car at the basement to a thrown chair at the first floor)
The writer tried to cover the hole with an excuse that the zombies did not do this when lucid because they wanted to avoid becoming complete monsters.
Match this against the guy who shows up multiple times at the basement trying to trick them into opening up. He is deliberately trying to enter but apparently if the door is opened for him instead of him smashing the glass, it doesn't count as becoming a monster? Huh?
Then we have the complete failure to account for those who would see the world burn along with them (aka infect everyone since you yourself is infected). These people would break the glass just to allow the disease to run rampant. This is despite the portrayal of many personalities in the block including "he who unmasked at the end and shall not be named" and the doctor of accidental comedy
Other than this massive mobius strip logic, we have the writer letting off the comedy doctor, who despite his first criminal act and being caught red handed in subsequent criminal acts, is constantly allowed to run free. Yes, the writer needs a catalyst to move the story but a *cop* who has handled criminals somehow has a "heart of gold" so much that the doctor is let off. Repeatedly. WTF
Then we have the inanity that is the toilet scene. If the female lead was not a SWAT team member (where split decisions must be made accurately) and is portrayed as a vengeful, consequences be damned woman, then that would be fine. But a SWAT team member knowing a bite is 100% infectious, having an unlocked toilet door that she herself could pass through and close behind her, decides on that.
We next have the consistent and deliberate failure to pass out relevant information. Just the last episode, the old man is told to not open the door for strangers, when a simple explanation of who he was referring to and why, would have made it simple. We can see this in prior episodes. Suddenly blood being used to identify infected is mentioned, despite the fact that the method could have having solved a lot of problems from earlier. Explanations of thirst being a symptom is also only mentioned after things explode.
The motivations of the doctor also ping pongs, from injecting xyz into the water to saying he wants xyz to protect himself. As the deus ex machina, he gets immunity and smarts as and when he needs it. Like the handphone recording, which he somehow knows its effect, to the knowledge of how the priest's sight would be blurry, to complete ability to predict the block rep's response after the supermarket raid.
Then we can see that someone told the writer to wrap it up ASAP because by a miracle, the Mr ABC has the components for cure! Oh wow, in the last episode, such amazing timing. This is despite having a whole country to find one and a failure to find a correct one (showing the probability as being minuscule and the other candidates give effects such as the one the colonel's boss experienced)
Overall the show is saved by its actors (minus the male lead). The doctor's actor despite given illogical motivations portray him well enough that he grabs the scenes he is in and amplified by the male lead letting him go again and again, he can get on the audience nerves which shows his acting is really up to par. The colonel also does really well here. He is the only one who foresaw the scenario and took actions to stop it. The colonel's boss was a just a bit part but the guy acted well enough to make people want to beat him up. The old policeman was actually pretty good in how useless he acted (qv that scene with the screaming handphone). The cleaner couple and the lawyer couple played their parts well enough. The female lead did ok, injecting a lot more energy into the scenes she's in but the male lead's expressions are just stoic, stoic smile, stoic wistfulness, more stoic.
Music and sound wise, there wasn't much to look at other than a few overly heavy handed and thus immersion breaking melancholic songs played at the points where "Be Sad Here" is tagged.
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The Eternal Search for ‘ Happiness’…
Against its seemingly antithetical title screenwriter Hang Sang Woon and director Ahn Gil Ho’s‘ Happiness’ attempted to mirror similar issues from prejudice, isolation and loneliness which occurred particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic period. The unusual combination of genres highlighted a hellish fight to not only escape from the “infected “( the mysterious disease ravaging the population and leaving the infected in a zombie-like and feral state with few lucid moments ), but surprisingly a bittersweet love story between its main leads also .
The TVN drama presented an odd accumulation of fast-paced thrill and tension through its plot twists as well as tender and bittersweet scenes by taking a moment to slow-down the storyline and allow viewers’ to contemplate and soak in events. Yet like most intriguing fusion-genres in execution ‘ Happiness’ could sometimes not escape certain pitfalls of writing errors and character-drive along the way.
Of course ‘ Happiness’ offered viewers a fairly impressive lineup of acting abilities and most notably our main cast. Actress Han Hyo Joo brought forward Yoon Sae-Bom to life through adding an unlikely sweet charm to her onscreen persona ; a professional counter-terrorist operative whose pursuit of happiness by moving into a new apartment proves only to be a blunder during the events of the series. Sae-Bom’s reactions and interactions with others throughout the series could often feel prosaic during early episodes; initially driven for the “sake of plot “ rather than upon reflection of viewers getting to understand more about the female lead through subtle character growth . Nevertheless as the series progresses Sae-Bom provided to be a major asset to the plot and allowed some time to focus on developed sides of Sae-Bom’s personality from altruism to stubbornness in order to present some focus on the importance of humanity and depth within the female lead.
Costar Park Hyung Sik’s reprisal of an intriguing role was highlighted through his onscreen persona Jung Yi-hyun ; a suave and observant detective investigator who had shared-history with female lead Sae-Bom from their school days and provided to be one of the first key characters to come across findings of the mysterious disease during a case. Yet whilst Yi-Hyun was undeniably an intriguing character he could often suffer from the fate of many main characters through becoming an inherent “ plot device”; necessary to keep the storyline moving, but sometimes lacking in more subtle character development. Naturally Yi-Hyun did have golden opportunities to be explored in more depth during some key moments in the series but this could sometimes lack greater exploration.
As far as the chemistry between our main leads is concerned ‘ Happiness’ admittedly was a bumpy road- good onscreen chemistry between Hyung Sik and Hyo Joo could often fall victim to more staid cliches and setups which did not always weigh up against the more heavy-hitting moments of the series. Naturally later episodes took a little more time out to focus on some subtle relationship development between the main leads but often this was interwoven with more serious scenes and storyline moments also.
the supporting characters of the drama also have an intriguing part in events of the drama from Han Tae Seok ( Jo Woo Jin); a discharged military informant agent to the residents of the apartment ( some of which are admittedly less well-defined than others.)
Ahn Gil Ho plays upon subtle palette changes and lighting tones throughout the mis-en-scénes of the drama - key scenes crafting an important ambience throughout the series through this setup and pragmatic choice of OST, whilst some quintessential moments admittedly lacked the same ingenuity when required.
‘ Happiness’ offered viewers an intriguing concept with a dash of profundity and romance in between its zombie-style thriller setup- it isn’t inherently terrifying , but director Ahn Gil Ho and writer Hang Sang Woon are able to add a touch of suspense and sweetness in an intriguing and pacy storyline. The writing could sometimes wane through the pressure placed initially upon odd tropes, cliches and setups( especially for our main leads) during early episodes.( Alongside the heavily dominant setting of the apartment growing slightly bland.)However later scenes spent time focusing upon the storyline in more depth; brilliantly brought to life by our main cast’s dynamic performances by our main leads and the interwoven cinematography of the director. The ending was admittedly filled with a few loose ends but did deliver a sense of completion for the series. Overall whilst ‘ Happiness’ wasn’t without its more evident writing faults the drama offered an intriguing storyline with contemplation with a good cast and intrigue for viewers, as well as allowing room for philosophical thought towards the true definition of happiness in life.
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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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This review may contain spoilers
The whole thing was just * and can either be realistic because of how the desease flew considering the plot itself, but the implementation of each parts/scenes which just made the drama too complex to believe and understand that there's a lot of questions need to be addressed about what and how are things even settled in just 2 weeks. What makes the drama more unrealistic is... I'd better count them instead. Firstly, I've observed that the situation outside is too normal knowing that those people seems to having no problem at all and no fear you could expect them to be in the mid of a very serious desease. Secondly, how did they even handled the situation when the drugs has to spread, and I would've believed if the virus occurred in various places since the virus started with a capsule of drug supplement and no idea of where, which, or who are the people took the drugs . Thirdly, the drama seems to only focused in one setting and lacks details. Which is why maybe some of the viewers came with such negative opinions.Overall, I didn't enjoyed watching the whole thing. The concept was interesting, the cast are also impressive, but the story and the flow of the whole scene was something that did not meet our expectations.
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It's so bad I want to give you a zero...
Honestly I watched this because of the ratings it has here and I feel kinda lied to. The writting of this show is really bad. Some scenes felt dull and a bit forced to be honest. It had a good cast but sadly the story just did not make the cut for them. The music didn't match many scenes and was a bit cringy.When you feel attached to the characters in a zombie apocalypse type of show you know its a good one and I felt nothing on this one. There are other more exiting zombie kdramas and kmovies that are way better (like Sweet Home or Train to Busan).
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Just a watchable drama
One of the most anticipated kdrama of the year just for the come back of actress Han hye joo, and in the end it's finished with pretty decent watchable drama with nothing in particular. Ongoing watching experience is always different comparing to a binge watch so i don't know how you will feel if you watch now. But even for the ongoing time this drama failed in many factors even though they had all the liberty to bring out an outstanding show.A zombie drama always sound interesting, but here the situation they were facing was not a serious problem at all. Also the screenplay was not so well written it includes many dragging moments and most of them were unwanted. The first episode was very promising but it never continued that promise, after 9 th episode the gear shifted slightly faster but still the dragging feel you boring.
Everything completely scattered, no proper characterisation, no intense situation, they must create a do or die situation inorder to keep the audience on the edge. But it failed. Still it's not a bad drama, it's a watchable drama, there were some thrills also the background score played a big part to minimise the demerits.
Try it if u interested :-)
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This review may contain spoilers
DON'T DROP THIS DRAMA BCZ OF FIRST FEW EPS. IT'S 9+ / 10 LATER !! :)
Zombie / Disaster / Survival themed Sci-Fi movie lovers will definitely love this drama (I enjoy watching such themes).If you are bored to watch anything serious and is in a mood for light-hearted drama with this Zombie theme to pass your time, u can go ahead n watch this.
**** EPISODES:
First 3 eps are OK, lil slow n didn't capture my interest much.
There's no much of Zombies' Attack & Chasing in these eps, except 1-2 scenes.
Just the Introduction of the characters n building the background for the actual story took almost 3 hours (3 eps, uff :/).
But continued watching for the Zombies (hehe) n it got Interesting only from ep 4.
It is VERY INTERESTING n CAPTIVATING from ep 7 👍🏻
**** PLOT :
This is not exactly the usual Zombie theme (usually, Zombies are like dead ones, walking).
This is about a Virus Outbreak, making the infected people look like Zombies with characteristics like biting healthy persons and drinking their blood.
So here, the Virus Infected are Blood thirsty beings, feeding on humans for some time only n remain as humans for remaining time -- This is something New n Different from the usual Zombie movies 👍🏻
And the Plot is mainly about the adventures of the main characters and a bunch of other characters with different personalities during the lockdown in their apartments due to the Virus Outbreak, waiting to find a cure and with a very subtle romance side track of the main leads.
If you are expecting a lot of Zombies attacking one human, chasing n running across the streets -- No, it's not that.
"Many Virus Infected' vs One Human -- You can find only 2-3 such scenes.
This is in confined space and One Infected vs One Human, all the time.
****
Direction, Production n Pacing are Good enough.
Never expected a confined space like an apartment can give such a Story full of Suspense in this genre -- The Suspense like who will be infected next n whether they will survive or no, is built very well.
Plot is not super strong or emotionally engaging but the suspense kept me looking forward to further episodes and this is FUN TO WATCH!
Story Narration is lil poor or boring at times but overall, I enjoyed and loved this alot :)
Infected people -- their Make up n Acting is Very Good.
OST - Opening theme music is Very Good.
**** CHARACTERS:
Started watching for Hyung sik Oppa but wow, Hyo Joo is the FL! :)
(didn't check the cast before, hehe.. she is my fav in the drama "MOVING").
Love Badass FLs only when they act bold n logical/smart but can't tolerate the arrogant types.
So didn't like FL, Sae Bom in initial episodes -- it didn't look cool or bold, it looked arrogant :/
Anyways, She got better from ep 5 and is actually One of the Best characters in this drama, loved her character in later eps alot :)
Loved ML, Yi Hyun -- He is more logical n smarter than FL.
FL is bold but acts immediately without second thoughts at times of need, whereas ML assess their next moves n the situation before jumping into action 👌🏻
From Ep 4, ML got more screen time.
Till ep 3, he has very less unlike FL.
The Power couple - Smart Yi Hyun n Bold Sae Bom, managing the Chaos n the investigations in apartments during the Virus outbreak n lockdown, play the Good cop and Bad cop very well, hehe.
They are Sweet together.
They are more like Friends, Besties or "Partners in Adventures" than Romantic interests until the end (though his is one side love from schooling).
Hyung sik n Hyo Joo, in Action roles (Police detective roles), are Very Cool together.
Give this pair more Crime Action dramas, please! :)
Lil gal is smart.
Loved these characters -- ML, FL, their police frd, lil gal, Sister brother duo, 15th floor guy, cleaning lady (curly hair one) n supermarket gal.
At times of troubles, how people react n act, can be seen by each character --
Some act bold n try to restore balance in the chaotic scene (ML n FL),
Some try to take advantage (Lady who wants to be the apartment committee president),
Some remain silent,
Some give up,
Some are selfish (old couple's son), Some are greedy, manipulative n pure evil (that doc guy).
Everyone's true colours, whether selfless or selfish, are exposed only during such times.
**
It got Interesting from ep 4, when the Lockdown started.
And more interesting from ep 7 with apartment politics and manipulations among themselves during the lockdown.
Every Lookout/ Search for infected people, is like a Mini Adventure.
Eps 10, 11:
Virus outbreak turned into Murder Mystery and Mass Murders drama, haha.
Humans are the Real Monsters in tough times.
They are more dangerous than Monsters in such times bcz of their greed, selfishness n evil manipulations.
Ep 10 -- Murder mystery of Who killed the Cleaning lady n the Mystery of where the 15th floor guy is, are interesting.
Suddenly, there's a Serial Killer suspicion too, haha.
Ep 11 -- Even "Plot Armour" couldn't help ML, Aigoo! ;) :(
BTW, I find it funny for this drama to be named as "HAPPINESS" -- it's so random, there's Nothing emotional or happiness in this plot.
**** RATING:
My Rating is 9.5 /10
bcz it's not at all boring from ep 4, for this genre.
(0.5 less bcz of the first 3 boring eps).
Give me S2 with our power couple going after another trouble to solve, am happy to watch them :)
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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!!!Was this review helpful to you?
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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