REVIEW: Happiness
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Re-watch value: 3 out of 5 stars
SYNOPSIS
*taken from MyDramaList*
A deadly new strain of a virus is spreading throughout the city. An apartment building that is home to people from different classes remains in quarantine. Its residents must survive in their new habitat fearing both the virus and the potential conflicts between disparate social groups.
Yoon Sae Bom has good judgment allowing for quick decision-making. She is self-righteous and unable to tolerate injustice. Not having grown up in a healthy environment, she's determined to live comfortably in a complicated world.
Detective Jung Yi Hyun, primarily in charge of violent crimes, now struggles to keep the apartment residents safe. A former baseball player, a knee injury forced his early retirement.
Han Tae Seok was once a military information agent who became a pharmaceutical company executive. He is well-placed to deal with infectious diseases.
RAMBLING
*Beware of spoilers*
I really, really enjoyed this show, and I’ll go so far as to say that I loved it. It was an excellent zombie show (see, Kingdom seasons 1 and 2 for sageuk zombies). I am all into ethical and moral quandaries in survival situations. I have a long track history of watching zombie movies (see, Train to Busan, its sequel Peninsula, #Alive with Park Shin-Hye and Yoo Ah-in, and Hyun Bin’s Rampage for Korean zombie movies), and I was a fan of The Walking Dead—until I wasn’t (until everyone wasn’t)—but Happiness tried to kick it up a notch. The zombies were not consistently zombies; they turned into zombies in episodes similar to an epileptic attack or some other medical fit. So people were basically quite normal for a lot of the time, and then the more zombie episodes they had, the longer the episodes would last and the less time they would be human. I liked the fact that the zombies were created from a failed pharmaceutical drug; that seemed very timely when there are tons of conspiracy theories regarding the origin of COVID-19. The zombies, of course, mutated, which again felt very true to life.
The design of the zombies themselves was pretty cool: everyone got these teeth when they became zombies—the teeth were slightly pointed and had separations between each other, especially the upper teeth. It was all very unsightly and scary looking when combined with their white eyes and general skin discoloration. They introduced the concept of people having antibodies or being immune to the zombie disease (aka, Madman Rabies), and it was realistic to see antibodies being a huge part of the success that you see in the final episode.
I appreciated that the show was basically filmed in the vacuum of this apartment complex. You don’t need to be so global and see the effects of an apocalypse worldwide; I think that’s overdone, and you can lose sight of the microcosm of the apocalypse. The best stories are the ones that are narrow in scope, and this one is very narrow. Here you have one quarantined apartment complex and one building within that complex that is the focus where things get extremely out of hand. There are characters that feel too real at times because they are so selfish and devious that they don’t care how many people they kill or how many people they infect to get what they want. (The doctor ahjussi from unit 601 should rot in hell, and the building representative ahjumma is a joke.)
The two leads Sae Bom (played by Han Hyo Joo) and Yi Hyun (played by Park Hyung Sik!) are so likable and beautiful together. They were extremely knowledgeable about how to survive, about using guns, about having a strategy for keeping these people in line. You could tell that both of them were trained, and that training comes in to good use within the confines of the apartment building. I was excited to see another strong lady character, one that was calm under pressure, one who had a traditionally masculine job (S.W.A.T. for terrorists?). I think Han Hyo Joo is so good at physicality, and no one really talks about that. She’s spent some time doing the action-heavy show Treadstone in the states (if you can’t already tell by the name, it’s a spinoff of the Jason Bourne movies), and I’m beyond impressed with her skills and how she comported herself in Happiness. She reminded me of Sarah Connor (played by Linda Hamilton) in Terminator, or Emily Blunt’s characters in Sicario and Edge of Tomorrow. I need MORE!
Let’s talk love. Their chemistry was palpable from the get-go, but it was a bit of a slow build; there was more platonic chemistry at first. You could tell that they’ve been friends a really long time. They worked together well, and even though they had arguments and disagreements, there was nothing that they couldn’t solve together, as they worked best as a team. They presented a united front in public but had discussions behind closed doors, disagreeing on how to handle situations yet always compromising with each other. They had each other’s backs and operated like a well-oiled machine.
Their characters were super interesting and fun to watch, more than other leads in shows. She’s out here telling it like it is and kicking people in the chest, while he’s holding her back from bitch-slapping people left and right. They’re both kind and giving, but she’s out here keeping score and giving people negative points for bad behavior, while he’s playing the peacemaker. The sidebar conversation of who will play the good cop and who will play the bad cop was super cute and funny. I LOVED their dynamic. If I had to describe their vibe, it would be BALANCE. They balanced each other out; there was equity between them. They were both righteous in slightly different ways, and most importantly, he never underestimated her. She had agency and freedom. He trusted her without him. Although he worried constantly about her, putting himself in harms way for her multiple times, it was often her quick-thinking and resolve that got him out of sticky situations.
Another thing that stuck out like a sore thumb was their wildly different approaches to love. Yi Hyun fell in love with her the moment she pushed him off a building (you read that correctly), yet Sae Bom never truly understood his hidden-in-plain-sight feelings. Maybe she was ignorant about love, or pessimistic about love (since her own parents were constantly fighting), or took his decades of support and care for granted, or just so nonchalant about everything that she didn’t care to face facts and reconcile any latent feelings of her own—but one thing is for sure: the pressure cooker of the zombie outbreak brought them closer together than ever before, and she made the crucial jump to romance. He never at all coerced or pressured her into returning his feelings, or consummating their marriage for that matter. The ball was always in her court, and whatever she gave him was enough to settle his heart.
Which brings me to my next point: Why the title Happiness? Well, for Yi Hyun, he revealed in the final episode that he’s only happy when he’s with Sae Bom. Despite all the drama and bloodshed of their time isolated during the zombie outbreak, he was happy—they were happy. They were partners in life and even death (since Yi Hyun did get infected and become a zombie), and they found comfort and solace in each other. The whole reason for their contract marriage was so Sae Bom could gain an apartment of her own, a place she could call home. In the end, they both realized that home is not a place. It’s all about who you’re with that makes a home. <3
I’ve seen Park Hyung Sik in plenty of shows (High Society and Suits are the only two starring roles I haven’t seen), but that’s two shows (Strong Woman DBS and Happiness) where they pair him with a well written, strong, independent lady. I wonder if that’s part of the reason why I love him so much??
I only have two complaints from the show: (1) Andrew the closet serial killer? Their apartment building harbored a dangerous murderer the whole time? Lol (2) The mutated zombies who could hide their thirst well and decide when to change into their zombie form was a little half-baked. They had this walk-and-talk with the female lieutenant telling the colonel about this new strain, and then they cut to the pastor finding Yi Hyun’s blood all over the floor and trying to lick it up. (This felt exactly like in Jurassic Park when Laura Dern says “Unless they’ve figured out how to open doors.” —cut to a velociraptor opening a door.) Like… the pastor was pretty much it for the mutation, and they neutralized him fairly quickly. Unless they mean to say that Yi Hyun’s brand of zombie was also the kind that could hold off turning and choose when to zombie?
All in all, don’t miss Happiness! If zombies aren’t your thing, then maybe perfectly matched leads, cute boys, and strong ladies can get you through the horror!
Did you see Happiness? Tell me your thoughts in the comments below!
Follow us!
