Happiness is a thriller shows the social issues and class discrimination that happens in a sealed off high rise apartment complex when things take a turn for the worse after a severe new disease breaks out. A special agent (Han Hyo Joo) and a detective (Park Hyung Sik) try to maintain order and protect the residents after being trapped inside.
Han Hyo Joo is Yun Sae Bom. She is a skilled special agent who gets the opportunity to move into an apartment complex by marrying her high school friend.
Park Hyung Sik is Jung I Hyeon. He is a detective and the high school friend of Sae Bom. After they marry, they get trapped in their new apartment complex during a disease outbreak.
Happiness was an entertaining suspense drama that uses the premise of a zombie like virus to tackle a variety of issues involving class, morality, human rights, and government power. It’s a fun show that hits the ground running right from the first episode and maintains a great pace throughout the series.
It utilizes its 12 episodes well by taking fairly complex topics and focusing them in primarily on a small group of people trapped in an apartment complex. The show came out right in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic and deals with many of the issues that were being talked about at the time albeit with an even more serious disease involved which requires more serious measures to be taken.
The drama at times had and almost slice of life vibe that had a very relatable quality to it, but then it would flip into suspense mode as issue after issue continues to pop up.
And as our cast of characters gets quarantined in the apartment buildings, we see a lot of bad people turn into absolutely horrendous people. It was a slow descent into some of the worst parts of humanity.
The cast was great at making so many unlikable characters entertaining. So many of them felt very unredeemable. There are a few good ones that have a chance to grow and learn though.
Of course, we have our main duo. Having known each other since high school, they get married at the beginning of the show as a sort of marriage of convenience. They do a lot to attempt to maintain order during the situation which is no easy feat. They are the two that have quite high moral standards, but they also have to come to grips with when those standards may need to be compromised. Nothing is black and white.
There is a nice comfortable relationship between them from the beginning. We do watch that grow as they become even closer and more romantic feelings begin to develop. There’s definitely not a large focus on romance here, but there is a big focus on their relationship and the romantic feelings that blossom between them in the midst of crisis.
I enjoyed the broad scope of what was going on in the outside world and what might go into dealing with such and intense crisis. There are a lot of difficult decisions that have to be made, and it was interesting to see what links people were willing to go to.
If you’re interested in this drama because of the zombie theme, you should know it’s not a typical zombie situation. They have some interesting mechanics with how the disease works which really allows for more exploration of what to do with the sick.
There are plenty of moments where we see the zombie-esque people chasing, attacking, and biting. All that zombie type behavior. But there aren’t a lot of zombie hordes, and the zombie moments are more sprinkled throughout the episodes. It’s a little more chill than the typical zombie story but is still quite suspenseful.
Overall, I found Happiness to be a very entertaining drama. It kept me engaged from start to finish, and I enjoyed the myriad of issues it was able to explore. There are a lot of interesting characters, many who are easy to hate, but also good ones who stand up for what is right.
I did find the ending a little bit lackluster, and it didn’t address everything as thoroughly as I would have liked. That being said, it does wrap up the story and brings a fitting end to all the happenings. Happiness was a fun ride, and I’m glad I finally got around to checking it out.
My Rating: 8/10
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