[Review] ‘Happiness’, post-COVID zombie thriller
Set in post-COVID-19 Korea, Studio Dragon’s thrilling new drama takes our reality and twists it into something all the more monstrous.
Happiness follows the main characters Yi-hyun and Sae-bom after a novel disease emerges in their city. Image: TvN.
Happiness follows the lives of Yi-hyun (Park Hyung-sik), a detective and ex-baseball star, and Sae-bom (Han Hyo-joo), a counter-terrorism officer.
After a strange disease emerges in the city, the childhood friends cross paths again and abruptly decide to marry so they can secure a luxury apartment. When more people start showing dangerous symptoms – extreme thirst, constricted pupils and apparent bloodlust – the city is put on strict lockdown.
The residents of Yi-hyun and Sae-bom’s high-rise complex must endure the quarantine while treatment is frantically developed. However, with several infected loose in the building and a number of shady characters, the week of perseverance quickly becomes a battle for survival.
The drama is Hyung-sik’s first since completing two years of military service. The thirty-year-old actor was enlisted as a military police officer in the Capital Defence Command in June 2019 and was discharged in January of this year.
Originally a K-pop idol in nine-member boy group ZE:A, Hyung-sik has starred in a list of acclaimed television dramas including romance series The Heirs (2015) and High Society (2015), stirring historical drama Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth (2016), beloved romantic action-comedy Strong Girl Bong-soon (2017), and the Korean remake of Suits (2018).
Hyung-sik is also a member of the “Wooga Squad”, a group of Korean celebrities including K-pop sensation V of BTS, Itaewon Class’s Park Seo-joon, Parasite star Choi Woo-shik and rapper Peakboy.
The friendship group was born on the set of Hwarang, where V and Seo-joon starred alongside Hyung-sik, and was named as a shortened version of the Korean phrase “Woori-ga gajok-inga?”, meaning “Are we family?”
In Happiness, Park Hyung-sik lives up to his A-lister status with a compelling performance as lovelorn detective Yi-hyun. His character shifts between being the voice of reason to moments of reckless heroism – usually in an effort to protect Sae-bom. The contrast could easily have been overdone, but Hyung-sik’s portrayal is subtle and believable throughout.
However, our gallant male lead is not the only star of the show. The apartment building is home to a rich array of complex characters, all full of surprises as the story progresses.
Star of Cold Eyes (2013) Han Hyo-joo is the epitome of cool as Special Operation Unit soldier Sae-bom. Bold and fearless to the end, her character is a highlight of the drama. Her bravery and intelligence is paired with an underlying kindness, which shows itself when Sae-bom cares for a young girl who is trapped in the apartment without her parents, and flashes of vulnerability as her affection grows for Yi-hyun.
Heroine, Sae-bom, becomes the highlight of the drama, Happiness. Photo by TvN.
Han Tae-seok, played by Jo Woo-jin, winner of Best Supporting Actor at the 2019 Blue Dragon Film Awards for the film Default, is another standout character. A Lieutenant Colonel in the health service command, he has the power to solve the epidemic. However, due to career pressure and desperation for his infected pregnant wife, Tae-seok is willing to use any means to do so. His loyalties waver throughout, and we are kept on edge to see whether he will help or hinder Yi-hyun and Sae-bom’s escape plans.
Many interesting characters dwell in the apartment building with our main couple, including devious doctor Oh Joo-hyung (Baek Hyun-jin), adulterous lawyer Hae-sung (Park Hyung-soo), and the peculiar mask-wearing Andrew (Lee Joo-seung), among many others. All play their part in what becomes an unravelling murder mystery, but it is the dynamic between upper and lower floor residents which is particularly thought-provoking.
Happiness’ subtle social undertones
South Korea has seen a steep rise in apartment prices in recent years, particularly in the capital city. House prices have shot up by almost 20 percent since January 2020, and can now cost over 10 times the average annual household income. Apartments are notoriously difficult to secure, and are allocated through a complicated points system.
The South Korean government have made some effort to curb house prices such as raising taxes for owners of multiple homes, improving tenant protection, and strengthening mortgage loan regulations. However, while housing supply may increase in the long term to meet the demand, the current trend in prices is a major issue, bringing attention to the country’s ever-widening gap between social classes.
Seoul’s rising apartment prices have become one of the country’s biggest social issues. Photo by Krzysztof Kotkowicz on Unsplash.
This topic is explored in Happiness by the relationship between the high-rise residents. The building is a newly constructed apartment complex, split between renters on the lower floors and those who own their units on the higher floors. The latter are largely concerned with keeping their apartment prices high for eventual sale.
Many of the characters have their own relationship with class and wealth, lower and upper floors alike. The more affluent residents obsess over retaining their status. For example, lawyer Hae-sung strives to advertise his legal counsel, while scheming with his secret lover Woo Sang-hee (Moon Ye-won) to steal the doctor Joo-young’s bitcoin investment. Haughty resident representative Oh Yeon-ok (Bae Hae-seon) spends the majority of the lockdown promoting her leadership skills in the hopes of being re-elected, but consistently fails to listen to the lower floor residents.
Happiness, as well as tackling gritty social topics, has lighter moments of humanity between the characters. Image: TvN.
It is fascinating what the wealthier occupants will do to keep the renters out of the upper floors. When Yi-hyun and Sae-bom first move in, the door to the upper floors is blocked by piles of bricks – tenacious Sae-bom kicks through them of course, justifying the action as removing a fire hazard. The lower-floor residents have their own worries, like the cleaning staff who begin by diligently continuing their jobs for fear of unemployment and end by attempting to steal one of the upper floor apartments.
For a violent and suspenseful thriller, there are plenty of moments of human decency within Happiness. Rather than tearing each other apart in a crisis, many of the residents show kindness to each other. The infected are given pity, and resources are generously shared – perhaps a hopeful reflection of the world’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. That said, Happiness is hardly as joyful as the name suggests, with plenty of horror and betrayal to get your teeth into.
Edited by Abby White.
