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Happiness: 6/14/2025 - 6/21/2025
I am a sucker when it comes to zombie shows or movies so my opinion is gonna be very biased. However I will forever recommend this show to people. This is because simply put it was done amazingly. The zombie aspect was quite unique and I liked how the zombies could hide them self adding another sense of thrill to the show. I also really loved the romance, while I know it wasn’t the main plot it was so present but asl so fitting. The way to two leads just perfectly worked together was chemistry some romance shows can only dream to have. Overall though this show was amazing, I loved the ending, I loved the romance, and I also loved how bad ass both characters were.Was this review helpful to you?
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This review may contain spoilers
depsite some people having bad views about this drama, i genuinely enjoyed it!! at first, the chemistry between the 2 main characters was slow and then their relationship developed further as they relied on each other. one of my fav things about this drama was their relationship, they were sooo cute together and i love how they both supported each other. now onto the story, i felt like it kind of dragged on and there were loads of gaps. for example, they didnt show how yihyun was cured etc i was very curious about the story of the characters after the lockdown was lifted. i did give it a 10/10 despite these points, as i believe the cast, acting, romance and the story were worth the watch, its just a few points that could have been better. i really enjoy zombie shows you cant really go wrong with them, especially the whole apartment dilemma. overall, it is a very solid drama worth watching, has amazing characters, and i did cry a few times lol. Was this review helpful to you?
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When Zombies are sort of the Least of your Problems
My Rating: 9.5/10(My daughter, who’s in her 30s, gave it a full 10/10. She doesn’t typically like zombie movies at all, but she really enjoyed this one.)Review (No Spoilers)
I am not normally a zombie movie kind of person. The genre has just been done so many times. But this was good because it was a different take on zombies. There was also more to it than just fighting zombies. There was a romance. A lot of interpersonal relationships and conflict. The characters were well developed. I recommend it to zombie fans, of course, because even though it isn’t the “classic” zombie movie, it is definitely a fit for that monster-movie vibe in that aspect. It’s not very sad in the traditional sense, and it ends well—wrapped up as happily as it could be for a movie of this type.
Spoilers
What made the zombies so interesting was that they weren’t undead—no reanimated-corpse vibe at all. They weren’t completely mindless either. It was a fresh, different type of zombie that gave the whole story more depth and surprise. Yoon Sae-bom is supposed to be special forces, but she rarely does anything that would show she has the skill to that caliber. Her husband, Jung Yi-hyun, who is a beat cop, seems far more specially trained than she is. I wish she had been more of a badass. When Andrew the psycho had the gun on them, both had so many opportunities to take him out, especially her as supposed special forces. They didn’t give a lot of tender moments with the couple. I think they liked each other from the get-go—I mean, that is why she married him. I also wish we had more of a view of what was going on around that building. They did a great job of showing how shitty some people would be in such a situation. All the greed, selfishness, envy—all comes out. We really did not get the “normal” either. Not even sure who the other antibody carrier was. And Han Tae-seok, the soldier-scientist guy, went through all that to save his wife and it seems it didn’t really save her. Where did this virus come from? The pills? Who made the pills and why? I had some questions. That is why it was more like a 9.5/10 for me.
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A Fresh and Addictive Zombie Story
I watched Happiness together with my husband, and honestly, we really enjoyed it. This was one of those series that you just keep watching — “okay, one more episode”… and suddenly it’s late. We really binge-watched it.First of all, I just love a good zombie story, and this one felt fresh and original. It’s not just about the zombies, but also about people, fear, and how quickly things can change in society. That made it extra interesting.
The main characters, played by Han Hyo-joo and Park Hyung-sik, were honestly so good. They are both strong and cool characters, but in a very natural way. Not over the top, not exaggerated — just believable and solid. That made it easy to root for them.
And their chemistry? Really great. You can feel the trust and connection between them without it being overly dramatic or forced. It’s subtle, but strong, and that works perfectly for this kind of story.
What I also really liked is how all the characters are written. Even the side characters feel real and have their own personalities. You see how people change under pressure, and that makes the story more intense and sometimes even frustrating — in a good way.
The story itself is super exciting. There’s constant tension, and it really keeps you on edge. Even though most of the story takes place in one main location, it never felt boring to me. They managed to keep it dynamic and interesting the whole time.
Overall, this is just a very solid, entertaining, and well-made series. If you like zombie stories with a bit more depth and strong characters, this is definitely one to watch.
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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.Was this review helpful to you?
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.
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this could be a better drama
at first when i found this drama i was excited , i like horror zombie apocalypse theme like this, but after going half of it i found the story are really boring , i even almost fall to sleep when watching this drama , they should fire the guy who killed this drama story , althought the idea was really good one with different kind of zombie that can turn back to human , they should explore this much further or maybe look for idea from others movies or dramas like train to busan, all of us are dead etc , at least the zombies there are much "lively" compared to this , the story got really boring to me when it reach around epsiode 6 ... the story become really slow , also i really dislike the char of ML and FL , they both are to naive and stupid , the char they played in this drama are to far from reality , when someone want to kill u would u just let them free to do it ? they let the doctor run free and do whatever he want , also other bad char too , and i so furious when the stupid friend of the ML take side with other but the response of the ML and FL are just....flat , they should be really angry with him or punch him , there are other flaws to in this boring drama that u will find it urself when u watch this boring drama ,also i dont feel any chemistry at all between the FL and ML ,and maybe this just me but everytime i see they both in this drama they both always try look so cool and good with the way they walk,speak,act ,run etc ..their act are so below standard, so i confuse how can this boring drama gt 8,9 lol , i wouldnt recomended this to someone who this is a good zombie drama like other , this is my personal opinion only , all of us are dead are much better than this ,Was this review helpful to you?
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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.
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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...
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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.Was this review helpful to you?
Audience pleaser
I always loved Park Hyung Sik and his on-screen chemistry with his female co-stars and thought nothing can triumph his chemistry with Park Bo Young in Strong Woman Do Bong Soon but I was proven wrong. His relationship with Han Hyo Joo in Happiness was very convincing. She adds a lot to the series and her portrayal of Yoon Sae Bom was beautiful.I was a little unsure about the whole pandemic/zombie setting with the amount of zombie shows that were recently released. However, the show's execution of the topis was very entertaining. The drama also contains a few funny bits.
Not to be missed. In my opinion, it's an audience pleaser.
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