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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Tiring and Frustating
I watched Happiness coz I believe both main characters, Park Hyun Shik and Han Hyo Joo..., I was wrong.The drama premise is about a zombie-like virus, firstly spread by pills then infected people distributed by bite and scratch, but it has its own uniqueness. People who got infected are still able to get back to their human form, as long as they don't smell blood. Kinda like Sweet Home, but the virus is curable in the end. Apocalypse's setting is not my favorite but I still can watch it.
What frustrated me the most is the characters. In Sweet Home, all residents work together to face the situation. The older brother and his ballerina sister, the priest, the firefighter, the gangster, etc... all characters are strong and have special contributions to the drama. Antagonist residents exist but it still makes sense. And they're still willing to join other residents when cooperation is needed.
While this one has nothing but a compilation of useless evil and trashy characters. The one that useful are only both main characters whom the other characters trying to get rid of throughout the drama...., as if all of those characters have no common sense to UNDERSTAND, how much they need these cops in this critical situation
To make it clear, these disturbing behaviors happen throughout the drama, literally from the start till the end. The word "useless" I use refers to their contribution to the story. And these weird characters keep doing their disturbing behaviors, as is they forget that they are in a very critical situation.
Start from a very trashy useless YouTuber wannabe boy who is very rebellious and disregards his mother. He has no job but to play games and live streaming. He humiliates his mother, even mean enough to steal all of their food stock and leave their parents after his mother got infected.
The apartment-representative wanna-be woman, who wanted to get rid of the main characters for no clear reason and I can't even mention which one of her acts is the most disturbing.
A doctor who killed his wife, for the whole drama trying so hard to kill Hyunsik, .... the reason is by killing him, none will come to catch him....??? As if Hyunshik is the only cop who will chase him for his crime. I can't find the logic in which killing the police in charge is the best way to get away with your crime.
The doctor's mistress who only cares to chase for the doctor's money.
The cleaner couple who is very money-oriented.
The cleaner employee, Andrew, who mysteriously wears goggles and masks but then happens to be a serial killer.
A money-oriented lawyer with his useless protagonist wife.
A writer, the other useless protagonist with her useless brother who keeps pestering his sister to give away her apartment because he lost him and he needs a place for him and his family to stay.
Hyunsik's partner who can easily betray him for no reason, and gets easily forgiven.
A girl who has to stay at home coz of her sickness... but never shows her symptoms. She has no contribution but stays at home and be Han Hyo Joo's playing mate.
Seriously, if you delete one of those characters, it will have no impact at all.
To make it, even more, weirder, for the whole drama all characters keep believing and follow the doctor and the representative's words, even though the cop couple has already proven that they are not only can handle the situation, they also can communicate with authorities outside, which make them know what they should do. Such as how long the quarantine will last, how the food will be delivered, etc...
But, these residents, instead of believing the cops, they sided with the antagonist duo and conspired to kill the cops, even using Andrew's service to get rid of all the cops... as if living with Andrew, a murderer is way better than the cops. I can't accept the logic.
This antagonist duo is even able to convince the whole residents to kill resident 1501 for his food stock... People can turn their survival animalistic if they are in extreme condition, but they're not even that starved yet!!
Until the last episode, those whole antagonists really did not pay enough for torturing me for 12 eps. The trashy YouTuber can come back to his parents with no consequences; the doctor and the representative are jailed, but unclear for how many years; the brother becomes a test subject for the vaccine; the cleaner, the lawyer, the mistress etc status also unclear
I kinda regret investing my time to watch this drama. All characters, besides the main character, are very frustrating and just contribute to my stress and anger level.
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Not what the synopsis promised
We go into this drama with the promise of a world that focuses on the aspect of a new strain of virus spreading throughout the city with a social aspect between apartment levels. While the concept of it was unique, the execution of it was lack luster. The first two or three episodes start really strong, with the primary focus on the development of the virus. But then we move to the apartment, where you'd think there would be some sort of focus on the economical differences between apartment levels and how it affects surviving the spread of the virus, but it has little to nothing to do with the actual show.We get a brief explanation that the floors 5 and below are public rentals, and that the ones above are for the people who paid for the apartment themselves. That's the end of the socio economical difference and plot, there's not dive into the extent of the difference between levels, there's no detail into any sort of survival advantage or perks that the higher levels get, no surprising twist as a result of the socioeconomically difference. I guess the higher level people get free access to the gym, and have a justification to incessantly complain that they should get more during resource division because they're rich. Again, very disappointed that they made this a point in the synopsis as it has no impact on the plot whatsoever.
Now that we've also shifted into the apartment scenes, we also seem to leave the entire zombie apocalypses as an after thought. All the residents are now trapped in their apartments as if to exemplify them vs the impending zombie doom. This quickly devolves into a 8 episode long slice of life drama where we constantly see random slice of life everyone's life (these slices never change either, it's always the same point) from the lawyer cheating on his wife with the woman who is constantly looking for a passcode to access the doctor's crypto currency all the way to the 3 person family where the mother is infected but is hiding it from everyone. We spend an annoying amount of time focused on the mother who tries to hide her infection as well. Which amounts to the promise of zombie goodness we had expected of this series. So basically nothing. We spend almost an entire episodes worth of time following this woman expecting her to turn and perhaps kill her family and start an outbreak into the apartment, but no she is basically written out from the entire show. It's like she never existed. The family goes on to live in the apartment barely attending the resident meetings that occur every episode as if nothing was wrong. I guess the son gets scared and eventually stays with other residents, but that's it. As for the apartment vs the zombie infested complex, that pretty much gets slept on as well. Nothing happens, nobody really tries to break in, it's like the rest of the zombies in their complex don't exist. We get one seen where one zombie gets in and "infects" on person and then we proceed again as if the entire zombie complex doesn't exist again. Just the discussion of locking up the person who got bit.
Then we have the researcher who obviously is trying to save his wife by developing a cure, but tries to pretend he's in it for the money. Literally fooling nobody, so when he finally shows that he's a good person at the end, it comes as no surprise to anyone. The writers also found it necessary to make illogical/unnecessary drama to make this cure. E.G. the researcher trying to deceive the main characters into getting blood transfusions and suddenly turning G.I. Joe to infiltrate the complex to extract the main character for the cure, but then saying nah it's okay you stay here. When a simple, "hey can we draw you blood, it could save the world," would be equally effective and then the entire drama would just be over.
There's a lot of time consuming, illogical, and boring build up and that always amounts to nothing. That pretty much sums up the entirety of the series. A bunch of half plots that ping pong back and forth that result into no progression. It's as if the plots were just there for the sake of being there. Another, minimum word count scenario where writers wrote the series to be a 2 hour movie, but were then told to extend it to 12 episodes so they just kind of filled in the gaps the night before and called it a wrap.
Overall this drama was meh at best and just every where all the time. It lacked any sort of identity. They just kind of threw out an interesting plot premise, added a strong and attractive cast, and proceeded to just cross their fingers. Now here we are (as of this review) with a score of 9.0 with a story that almost anyone could write so I guess the plan was successful. I can't wait for another drama to be overrated so that we continue the cycle of pumping out the next brain dead story with an attractive cast.
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Tolerable
Story: I like the idea but poorly executed. You would think it’s a zombie apocalypse kind of drama but not really. More like a worse version of covid but here, they were able to find the cure way faster than covid vaccines. But that’s not really the issue, the way how they came up with scenes or different reactions of different type of people with their own motives were pretty annoying. It’s not because they acted poorly but because that’s how they were written. It’s like watching ‘sweet home’ but this is more tolerable. This first few episodes were just okay, middle ones were more thrilling but a major smh and last few episodes were just flat that all I did was fast forward just so I could finish this drama. If I were living in that building, I would definitely not come out of my apartment after getting my groceries. I mean, duh, staying at home is more safe than being exposed outside. But I guess, a drama is more interesting if it’s full of people with complex issues then you add a kid and a kind wife to make it more bearable.Acting: I think they all did pretty good. I was pretty much annoyed with every character, even the kid. Not always, but somehow they did some things that were obviously shouldn’t be done no matter how many warnings they received. Their selfish reactions weren’t justified well that would make you pity them or at least give them another chance. The main female lead was always reckless that made me almost dropped this. I mean, isn’t she supposed to be more logical because of her job?
Music: Nothing worth remembering but still not bad.
Rewatch value: Definitely wouldn’t rewatch. This gave me headache for a while.
Overall: 6-6.5. It wasn’t bad but it was not THAT good either. Overhyped, honestly. I have more bad memories than good ones with this drama. You would appreciate the villains’ acting here and some cliche moves were prevented in some scenes however, the bad still outweighs the good. Too many plot holes, unanswered questions and lack of chemistry of the two. I honestly don’t get that special chemistry that others were talking about. The supposed additional twist/murderer towards the last 2 episodes was just poor idea from the writer. I wish they could have done better with his character because he seemed mysterious at first. Same with the guy on the 15th floor. The plot was rushed and it didn’t end well but provided us a HEA.
The gist(for me): Self-control/self discipline is definitely important in life, especially when there’s a crisis. Secondly, family will always be there for you. To help you heal and be your cure. Happiness will start with yourself then with others close to you. No matter how you love your family if you can’t control yourself then you’ll bring them down too.
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Good Premise but Bad Story Building
To be honest, I picked watching Happiness because both of the main actor, Park Hyung Shik and Han Hyo Joo. They have a great acting and I enjoy their past work. Though, I couldn't help but got disappointed by the stories and the character building this drama has.Happiness actually has a good unique premise. It is a zombie themed drama that pour slice of life scenarios into it. It has a great opening that is linked to our current pandemic situation. This drama started by how people overcome and get used to the virus and continued on their daily life. But, a good premise need a good execution.
A story need a character to let it flow. What disappointed me the most, how poor written the characters are. Happiness has two main lead that is a former highschool mates. Both Sae Bom and Yi Hyun are shown as a strong selfless characters with no weakness. Is it wrong for them to act like that? Of course not. But as a viewer, we never get a glimpse of understanding on how both the leads grow into the person they are. There is no introduction of their past and they just suddenly show both leads as a cool detective and officer. I actually expect the drama to give background stories for the leads even if for a bit so there can be a character development and we can connect to the character growth, but nothing until the last episode.
This goes for the supporting roles as well. Each resident have different background and that can be a great foundation for the stories. But again, there is no a scene of process of building the character with depth and they are shown as frustated selfish characters just because they are trapped in quarantine. They give us a poor written villain over other poor written villain over other else poor written villain and stuck them up in one place.
How about the apocalypse setting? At first I am truly interested with the setting and I actually link the virus outbreak in the drama with the title of 'Happiness'. I thought the 'Happiness' emotion might be related on how the infected could bear the virus, but again there is no explanation. They don't give any scenes about the virus, the illegal drug, or even the symptoms.
In fact, Happiness actually casted many great actor and actress that played well with the acting that can make you stay to watch and that is my reason to finish this series. But, there is a lot of scene that against the flow of logic established by the story's plot. If you are not bothered by illogical, unlikely or impossible events, you can begin watching this drama.
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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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Frustrating characters...
For six weeks - six whole weeks - I was waiting for Sae Bom to finally do something about those frustrating residents and that last one hit to the balls was surprisingly disappointing. Although I understand people can turn into monsters in inhumane circumstances, the fights between the residents frustrated me week after week. For me personally, the show was too much centered on the residents and some annoyances could've been solved if only the reasonable residents and the main leads would've spoken up. In what world does one stuck-up lady has so much power over so many people? And can someone just put that doctor in his place for once? And how come the government and the military weren't more involved? If the rest of the country wasn't in lockdown anymore why didn't they try to contain the situation on the inside? At least provide them with water and food?! It was simply too unrealistic for me. That combined with the annoying characters just ruined the show for me, unfortunately.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
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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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Infuriating characters & plot holes, but entertaining all the same
Likes: Park Hyung Sik and Han Hyo Joo. I'm fans of both. I think they did a great job with the acting and convinced me that they are both tough characters that could take down zombies and criminals. Doesn't hurt that they are both pretty to look at. I thought they had a very cute chemistry. The doctor was also pretty standout in making his character so despicable. I thought the zombie production and actions scenes were also nicely done.Dislikes: (SPOILERS AHEAD): The HUGE and obvious plot holes that took a lot away from the story because it made the characters look a bit stupid. For instance, the huge one...Why go through all this manipulation and trouble when you could have just asked Saebom for her blood. Everything about her character would have suggested she would do this freely with no objection. That's just lazy writing imo. The writer should have found some reason why they thought Saebom would be resistant to giving her blood. Then the story would have made more sense. Next problem were the infuriating side characters. They were incredibly frustrating mostly because I couldn't understand their actions. I don't have to agree with it, but I should understand why a character is driven to their point in stupidity. There should be a tiny basis of realism in their motivation. Too many actions were just too inconsistent. For instance, the fear level. One minute they are scared to death because they see a zombie turn, then the next they are walking around like nothing is amiss, I mean wouldn't they try to carry something for a weapon or wear some sort of makeshift protection, esp since they don't know who is infected? That goes for the leads as well. They walk around too cavaliery like they are invincible. Sometimes they carry a weapon, sometimes they don't That's just poor direction, The director should have maintained a certain level of fear and caution throughout.
There were so many plot holes that I can't even count, but yet, I still found myself entertained and waiting in anticipation for the next episode. A large part of that has to do with me being fans of PHS and HHJ. I really looked forward to their interaction with each other. It carried a lot of the drama for me. I enjoyed seeing them be all tough. I also have a love for zombies or disaster type stories too so that also played a part. There was also enough tension to keep me tuned in to see how this would all end. If you're like me, then I would suggest checking this drama out. But if you need a well executed story that makes complete sense, then you may not enjoy this one,
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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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Sae Bom & Yi Hyun's fight for Happiness
or should I say — "watching them together is our Happiness"This drama brings out many versions of humans. It shows how layered this society is… I met a mix variety of people here, those who will help others selflessly, those who may save themselves first selfishly, those who think money is God & everything can be bought even in case of emergency… There are those few confused characters too who are in a great dilemma that if they should help or not…
The drama also depicts that Class discrimination between people from upper & lower class can survive even in such chaos… so the more I started to love the leads, the more HATE I had in my mind for those extra mean characters… by hate I mean I wanted them to just die... If you want to watch this, you need enough patience for annoying side characters.
Han Hyo Joo (as ~ Yoon Sae Bom) is an anti-terrorism trainer & someone who is selfless & fearless. She is kinda reckless at times but she is straightforward. I loved the way she kicks, I was like "Oh my God, that was so smooth!" Definitely a very good Strong female lead. But she doesn't falls under the category of Smart female leads for me cause her decisions were all hasty, without consideration.
Park Hyung Sik (as ~ Jung Yi Hyun) is a detective & a former baseball player who has courage and knows when to use his cop & sportsman skills. He is righteous & strong. PHS has definitely got good action skills. That car slide scene is something I saw repeatedly again and again. He is good at no matter what role he plays. Happiness as Hyung Sik's comeback drama is perfect.
The chemistry of the leads is like so pure. They understand & support each other. They are like one team. No forced romantic moments considering a total action-thriller drama. So, No exaggeration of romance. Just a simple couple who pretended to be a couple but actually love each other a lot deep in heart. Their bond is just precious. I wish these two get more chances of cooperation cause look at them, they look so good together…!! And I'll stop fangirling now haha.
Jo Woo Jim (as ~ Han Tae Seok) is a military informant who wants to help everyone. He plays the hard cold guy role in front of everyone but is actually very caring at heart. There has to be someone who takes the tough decisions & be bad, he chose himself for that. There's one scene when I just screamed that "Oh God, HE IS SO COOL"…… well, there's PHS Oppa in this drama so shouldn't I just cheer up for him more but No, Character-wise, I loved Han Tae Seok more…
Keeping us hooked up… This isn't draggy at all… just a simple zombie drama that goes "little" in-depth with the characters but from the enjoyment point of view, I was personally enjoying watching it. It wasn't very scary in terms of visuals but it did make me nervous about what is going to happen next.
I think I am gonna miss the rooftop of this drama, I just feel very attached to it, I wonder what's so special about that place… then, my only complain here was that I wish they gave more background story for the characters first so that we can connect to them…
Overall, I loved this drama and just that it's thriller and I basically know all the facts now, so I won't rewatch this but what a nice ride this was… Give it a try if it suits your drama taste…
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Marshmallow-Chocoholic
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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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