Happiness is a South Korean television series starring Han Hyo-joo, Park Hyung-sik, and Jo Woo-jin that is streaming, on amongst others, Netflix. It’s a post-apocalyptic thriller set in a world where contagious diseases have become the new normal (post Covid-19).
Happiness transpires in the not-too-distant future, when the release of a unsuccessful Covid-19 therapy drug “Next” has resulted in a worldwide pandemic known as the Rita Virus, sometimes known as “mad person disease.” Rita’s victims undergo brief periods of insanity and bloodlust before completely regressing into a zombie-like state. While the South Korean military and police are attempting to control the spread of Rita and Next through comprehensive investigation and authoritative quarantine measures, civil rights groups are protesting, arguing that the afflicted are still capable of regular human interaction.
Not in the mood to read? Watch our top Zombie K-dramas here.
SPOILER WARNING
Synopsis
Yoon Sae Bom is a special agent with a unique combination of wits, fighting skills and fast reflexes. By pretending to marry her high school classmate Jung Yi Hyun, she is able to move into a new apartment set aside for civil officials in a sought apartment complex. Yi Hyun is a detective who is looking into the spread of an unknown sickness. When Han Tae Seok, the chief of the task force tasked with controlling the spread of the sickness, orders the complex to be walled off from the rest of the city, they are stuck inside. Quarantine and disease expose a social rank system, exposing the apartment dwellers’ greatest and worst qualities.
Han Tae-seok tries to keep the mad person disease a secret at first, but as more instances emerge and people become concerned, it is made public. With an increasing number of people becoming infected, Han Tae-seok and his military team are debating whether to save or kill these people. Yoon Sae-blood bom’s includes antibodies that Han Tae-seok hopes to use to find a cure for the condition. Han Tae-pregnant seok’s wife was bitten by the president of the pharmaceutical firm that supplied Next, and she contracted the disease as a result. His quest for a cure is partly motivated by his desire to preserve his unborn kid and his wife.
Does Happiness have a happy ending?
The scenes in the final ten minutes of the show jump forward a year. The vaccination has shown to be effective and has spread throughout Korea. It appears that stocks are on the rise as well, as the economy has recovered from this disaster.
Sae-Bom and Yi-Hyun are also together.
Overall, the concept of this drama was well thought out. The plot and post-Covid environment were quite pertinent to the current world situation. A good series to add to your binge-watch list.
THE SERIES IS BASED ON A WEBTOON – HAPPINESS
Saebom, a Sergeant of the Special Forces, and Ihyeon, a Detective Sergeant of Saeyang Police Station, are high school friends who enter into a marriage of convenience so that they can qualify to buy an apartment together, while a mysterious and seemingly contagious virus tears through their city of Saeyang. Saebom and Ihyeon move into their dream home only to find that the new virus that turns people violent and thirsty for blood has come knocking at their door.
https://www.webtoons.com/en/action/happiness/list?title_no=4120
SPOILER WARNING
The plot of the webcomic “Happiness” and the TV series are essentially the same. The key distinction is in how the “treatment” is administered to Han Tae-pregnant seok’s wife, who was bitten by the head of the pharmaceutical company that provided Next. His pregnant wife’s unborn child has a mutation and growth spurt, bursts the womb (nearly killing her mother), and later gains the ability to control the infected.
