The thread is now open for spoilers and discussions.
“Zompires” is the word that @Growing_Beautifully coined for the infected people.
Gifs from minhyowon’s tumblr:
She was so thrilled to claim him as her hubby. (Really now, all brides should be this excited on their wedding day.) Too bad that he didn’t see this moment.
Gifs from ingguk’s tumblr:
I like how he gripped her hand tighter while staring at the bloody handprint. Not because it was romantic gesture (tsk tsk tsk), but because it’s an omen that their hands could be bloody just like that in the future, too.
Gifs from silverton’s tumblr:
Pfffft. First, she friend-zones him, then she pouts if he friend-zones her back.
Let’s enjoy the show.
Thanks for the thread and the gifs @pkml3!
Thank you, @packmule3. In one of the last gifs here ‘Okay, let me see.’, as in the gif from episode 1 when he runs to her, he does this sort of flex thing with his shoulders. It seems to happen when he feels manly towards her. 😉 I quite like it.
Oh, I see what you mean, @Fern. He rotates his shoulders kinda like he’s swaggering. 😜 I’m glad that he bulked up while he was in the military. A beanpole male lead is a mood-breaker for me. I still remember the hero in the recently concluded “Lovers of the Red Sky.” His spindly legs made me chortle. 🤣
Nonchalance. I really like their dynamic as a couple. It’s not overkill (pardon the pun 😂). Very much muted but highly effective.
I skimmed through Ep 5. I don’t know why YH lost his cool and went after the cheating husband in #501. SB had to hold him back.
It reminded me that his mom had told SB that YH could become emotional at times. I thought the mom was just exaggerating. But I guess not….
LOL…good joke this shot… this is one face that does not encompass Happiness.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10ROg0dK7eDRAW_ayMfgr8WN-ShGHlVSG/view?usp=sharing
I’ve been educated on BBB.
HTS Decision: What an unorthodox way to buy time, but how come I kinda support it?
Yi Hyun (and Sae Beom)
In a time when concern should be doing what is best for majority survival, surprisingly even SB says that they are not getting paid to do the extra like going out to check for survivors. It is only Yi Hyun who thinks “There must be healthy people in the other buildings. We should see if we can help them.” His, is the only voice of concern.
SB is compelled to go out with YH, ‘As a civil servant’, but she unabashedly asks for and takes Oh’s money for it as well.
Yi Hyun is the one who really keeps the law. He points out that it’s illegal to take handouts (but he does not tell her off loudly), and he wants to pay for the supermarket goods. He does not want the line between lawful and unlawful to be blurred. He does not let the remaining Blk 101 residents get trapped in the supermarket, while SB has no problem locking them in, including the bratty son and Andrew.
His outburst against Killer Oh, is also in line with his sense of justice.
Killer Oh
He keeps his cash in cold storage, literally LOL. He believes he can buy anyone to do anything for enough money. He even tried to get the attorney to go outside for $1,000.
He needs to manipulate the right people to get himself exonerated, but basically believes that with everyone infected, he’d get away with murder, also literally.
In order to get information, and to get Yi Hyun killed, he provokes/manipulates people using money, to find out what’s going on outside, while he keeps himself safe inside. He counted on Yi Hyun being the sincere, honest cop, who would not let the residents go out without him protecting them.
When SB and the others who’d gone out returned, he deliberately increased the tension and fear by playing the sound of his wife’s hissing and banging when she was sick, and puts on the timer to see how long it would take for the residents to turn on each other. (Did he put it out on speakers so that even those outside could hear it?) His purpose was to ‘convince’ the couple downstairs ie SB and YH. He wanted to get them killed. If not by the zompires outside, then by the residents inside. He said “Dead people can’t talk.” What a very evil man he is.
He had deliberately risked the lives of anyone who’d take his money in order to get Yi Hyun and SB killed, while saying until the end, that he had done nothing wrong.
YH figures it out when useless Jung Gook says it was Oh’s phone that made the sounds. He goes up to literally smear Oh in blood from the outside, the way Oh was already tainted by and responsible for the blood of his wife when he was inside. I like Oh’s hysterics, but it’s still too little punishment.
SB stops YH from going overboard, but does not disapprove (of course, since it was more her style than his, going off round the bend) LOL.
Han Tae Sul
HTS still needs SB in the hope of getting a cure, otherwise the Le Ciel residents seem to have been abandoned even by the CDCH (Crisis Management Center), in the same the way that HTS had decided to contain the members of the Next dealers in the disco-pub by locking them in.
HTS lies to the authorities that they are working on a cure in the lab.
CDCH Lee Ji Soo to HTS : “You must be aware that we cannot grow anything in a lab. All our test subjects died without forming antibodies.”
HTS : “Should I have said a cure was impossible?”
Ji Soo : “If you say we need a little more time and funds …”
HTS : “Then they’d have said we should kill all those infected. If confirmed cases increase with no hope for a cure, slaughtering is the only option.” (Like culling animals. So the mentality that humans who go mad and endanger others are like animals is accepted?)
Ji Soo is surprised : “I thought you didn’t think the infected were human.”
HTS : “If they bite and kill someone, they must be responsible. Don’t you think?”
(It’s hard to reconcile that when they are dangerous, HTS is ok about shooting them like they are animals, but they are also to be held responsible like human beings, for biting others, although at that time it’s the disease that takes hold of their faculties. He seems to be contradicting himself.)
Ji Soo’s stunned disbelief says it all.
HTS : “We must buy more time. Cordon off a larger area if we must. To save more people, right now, that’s the only way.”
The attitude of the Public and those in Public Office – Exactly as with Covid, the uninfected do not want to be inconvenienced, to lose businesses/jobs, to lose popularity, etc, and protest their rights instead of being concerned for the welfare of the infected or of the vulnerable. Of course when this comes just a year plus after Covid when most are recovering from the losses then, the sentiment against controls can be expected to be stronger.
When HTS sees that the public will not cooperate with the cohort lockdowns, he makes the uncharacteristically reckless and unorthodox decision to use scare tactics. I like it! As long as they can really keep the infected that they let loose from infecting anyone else. LOL.
HTS to Ji Soo who reports that an infected individual got out of the complex : “Let him loose. … Let him go as if he got away so that the protesters see him. Just make sure no one’s hurt.”… “The infected must not be pitied. They must be feared and avoided. That’s how we buy time until we develop antibodies.”
Unnie @GB, you put Han Tae Sul (Sisyphus) instead of Han Tae Seok. 😉
It was obvious that Killer Oh (your tag names rock @GB, including zompires) is manipulating the residents and bribing them with money to go outside to find out what’s going on (and to get them killed off). He thought it was his lucky day that the OTP are joining them. I was SMH why folks would do this when there were already witnesses of the feeding frenzy of the zompires but nobody believes them. Geez! Can’t they just view it from their balconies?
YH turns this as quest for survivors while SB was forced to join him. Interesting how their personas switched this episode. YH is more of the daring and emotional while SB is the cautious and comforting one. We get another couple hug initiated by SB at the end of ep5. I’m biased to hugs so I love to see this progression on the OTP.
SB had the foresight to tell SY to go down the first floor and wait for their return at 10AM. If not for SY’s quick thinking of removing the bar on the door, they would not be able to enter! That was some climax of craziness in those scenes. The older cop was useless though – he should have gone for the door first. He cannot even turn off the cellphone! I hope he becomes useful in succeeding eps.
The other annoying one is the vlogger! I’m glad there’s no signal and he lost his phone too! Hahaha. I wonder where his mom, the old lady went. Nobody is listening to her and she has started to bleed.
It’s scary too that these zompires can turn normal and clean themselves up during their lucid state. So it’s hard to tell a survivor from zompires. Like @GB that I kind of agree with HTS’ direction to let one be on the loose so people will see what the real face of the disease.
Hi @Janey! You’re still awake! LOL the quick tag names … that’s to help me know whom I’m referring to.
You’ve put down what I also had in my notes but didn’t post. I’ll add them here, and you know what… we said almost exactly the same thing about Officer Kim Jung Gook!!!
After watching Ep 5, Jung Gook really starts to bother me. What is he doing in the police force when he’s afraid of danger, prefers to take it easy, and is not willing to back up YH, whom he brought into the force. He did not even have the common sense to not frighten the little girl with news about what was happening outside the apartments. He can’t do a simple thing like switch off Killer Oh’s mobile phone. I hope he does come in handy sometime in the near future.
Also … Smart move on SB’s part to get Seo Yoon to go downstairs if they were not back by 10am. Only she had the sense to open the door for SB and the others to get back into the Blk.
LOL … so close to what you were saying @Janey!
Notes on some of the other characters
We have an added person in Block 101, the supermarket Cashier, Lee Bo Ram, who was cowering in fear and did not seem to have been bitten. So there are now 22 persons in Blk 101.
Gym Guy Kim Seung Beom – did he call Rep Oh Noona?? She knows his history, and she got him the job in the gym so that he could get close to the residents. Hmmm…would that be because she wants to know if she’s popular and will be ‘voted’ in as Apartment Rep again? Whatever their relationship is, they are keeping it a secret. Rep Oh “From now on we never knew each other.”
Bratty son Kim – does not consider the welfare of his parents. He wants to grow his online follower base and get more money for his videos. Well, dropping his phone outside the Blk puts paid to his ambitions. Of course he may risk his life to get his phone back. It would be a pity if he gets mauled and that affects his aged parents. Other than that, good riddance to him.
Mistress Sang Hee – aligns herself with anyone who can pay her or who can be useful. Her main tactic is to seduce the men. Even YH is par for the course.
Elderly mum Ji – is worried that she’s infected but is afraid to find out properly. This is similar to how many of us prefer to self-medicate at home rather than go to the doctor to confirm if we need to be isolated.
Jobs and Class Division
The class divide that should be eradicated still exists. It matters that one has a job. It matters what the job is, it matters that one is good at one’s job, and it matters from which location the job is executed.
The attorney dismisses the witnesses if they are not from the owned apartments, meaning that he preferred to hear from people who owned their apartments “who can make sound judgment…” implying that those from rental units are unsound. Obviously his professionalism is nil, since he makes such an irrelevant connection between reliability and social status.
From the cultural perspective, and actually in many parts of the world, one’s job gives one standing. Writer Na protests his snobbery and says her brother is a Senior Manager in a company whereas the attorney merely works from home without a proper office. Thus raising her brother’s ‘status’ compared to the attorneys.
She herself is a novelist and to that the attorney demanded to know if she had any successful publications (yes she had successful works, 2 of them being “Love is Joint Property”, “I’ll Be Working Out.”).
Sadly in a time when survival is paramount and uncertain, when being united is most crucial, and where it’s those who cooperate would survive best, people still remain divided on their social status.
The only scenes of hope: when writer Na and the attorney’s wife Shin offered food and clothes, and when the external cleaners shared their food with the Management’s cheerful cleaner.
Watching Red Sleeves at the same time as this show, and seeing how the girls felt about getting the ladies out of the enclosed courtyard before the tiger arrived, reminded me once again about what was lacking in Happiness. Feeling… emotions…some relief/tears. Again, perhaps after dealing with Covid, everyone is inured? Our rescuers and those fighting to survive take everything rather matter-of-factly in their stride. Even after a great scare, the reaction is still calmness.
Dang it.
I said that Penthouse Guy is most likely the one person in the whole apartment building who’s prepped for zombie apocalypse, and that he’s willing to share his stuff in exchange for swag (or free items/promotional goods).
In this sense, he’s an asset.
However, that doesn’t mean that SaeBom should enter his condo by herself. 🤦♀️ How did this person become a counter-terrorism agent? How is she reckless? How is she so hare-brained? Grrrr. Her character is so frustrating.
That said, I don’t think Penthouse Guy bit her. For one, it’s only Ep 6, so she still has to stay alive for 6 more episodes. For another, Penthouse Guy changed into a tacky Hawaiian shirt. Instead of his typical hazmat suit, he was dressed up differently when he answered the door. Sure, it’s possible that he changed clothes because of blood splatters, but I think he dressed up to entertain SaeBom. We’ll see next week.
@Pm3 – the characters are frustrating, the only ones I really like are YH and the little girl SY. SB I thought is changing since she was cautious and less impulsive in ep5 but it looks like her tendencies still appear. The rest unfortunately can be zompires fodder. The best way to survive is to stay put but these residents have other motives that put others at risk also. I am waiting for the ep6 subs.
I really like this show despite it being anxiety inducing for me. I’m currently watching the scary parts between my fingers.
Anxiety inducing moments:
– The scary parts you know are coming but can’t stop watching
– Frustrating supporting characters (already mentioned by @GB, @Janey)
– Empty shelfs (because I never thought I would see the day in real life)
– The ugliness and selfishness of the characters (humans)
-@GB “The class divides that should be eradicated but still exits”
-Killer Oh who is trying to cover up his crime by killing everyone else
-Building Rep who desires “meaningless” power
Despite that, i’m still watching lol. Waiting for ep6 subs as well.
Maybe YH had to snap and evil dermatologist was just the release valve he needed? But yeah, a bit overkill smearing the blood on him.
Hmm… I agree… why did SB just head up to the Penthouse guy’s apartment alone? 🙄🤷🏻♀️ But somehow I think he may have stocked up on the pill but he might not have taken any? He’s a doomsday prepper. He stockpiles. And will only use it when necessary.
Everyone else is just plain dumb…the checkout chick? The Vlogger? They deserved to die. 😂😑. All that for a phone and money?
So does snooty Ahjumma (who looks broke – her apartment was bare. Her snobbery is a facade) and her fake Bible Belt graduate hubby.
What’s with the brother of the writer who is so fixated on her apartment? He got bitten in the end.
Sigh…do I sound horribly cynical? 😑. You would think that post COVID humanity would’ve taken away some lessons about what’s important? It doesn’t look like it so far with some of the people portrayed here.
What’s dermatologist husband from hell going to do with the pills? Feed them to his mistress? And set her on YH and SB? Will he take them himself? Surely not? Sleazy lawyer may end up as collateral if mistress takes the pills and he decides walk into her arms. Serves him right. After all his wife has done for him. 😒.
We’re halfway through the drama and we’re losing people faster than I thought we would. Still love the interactions of our intrepid couple.
@nrllee,
To me, YH’s snapping and smearing the evil Dermatologist-cheating husband-killer Oh (what other tag can we use for this fellow?) and Scumbag, was to demonstrate that he’s human after all. Wasn’t he telling SB earlier before they set off that accepting money was a “violation of the law”? 🙂 So, after returning from their mission, he discovered that Scumbag Oh played the recording of his wife’s shrieks to get them killed, he lost it. At that point, YH wasn’t acting like an incorruptible police, but as an enraged man whose wife and team were endangered. He took the law in his hands.
SaeBom became the cooler head of the two.
I thought the writer was keeping it real then.
About the Penthouse Guy, did he really stockpile the pills? I skimmed through parts of Ep 6, so I must have missed that revelation. I might have time to watch it later on the flight.
Who else has a stockpile of Next? My goodness. Does the apartment Rep?
Lol. I know, right? We’re losing people in Apartment Building 101 so fast, it reminds me of my Super Bowl bets. 😂 I can never guess the winning football team bec my favorites always get eliminated early.
I had a glance at Episode 6. My eyes hurt from wearing my spare spectacles and from eye-rolling.
Eye-rolls
1) SB scolds Yi Hyun for touching blood (and smearing it on Killer Oh) which is pretty rich since she intentionally scooped blood on her finger and almost tasted it herself.
2) The arrogant ones are the worst. The owners of apartments, like Rep Oh and Attorney Kook seem to be desperate to make money. So, they are not well off, like Killer Oh.
3) SB has seen that Min Ji couldn’t even open the bathroom door, and that she was able to hold back a truckload of zompires with just a pole, but now she tells YH that the desperate zompires may crash a car into the glass wall to break in, as if they can even open a car door.
4) YH hears that Killer Oh knows about the pills in the car (which is not even locked) but he does nothing about it quickly, and so dear Killer gets his hands on them.
5) SB’s craze for food gets her to stupidly enter Unit 1501 just to check out combat rations!!! I believe she didn’t even carry the baseball bat with her?
6) HTS and Writer Na just watch their loved ones get bitten without making a move to shout, run, throw a shoe…anything? HTS is supposed to be something of a military man?
The bright spots:
1) Attorney’s wife Shin and of course Elderly Mum Ji refuse to be browbeaten by their family to vote Seung Beom out.
2) Unit 1501 Kim comes down just to vote against kicking Seung Beom out.
3) It’s possible that those who do not get a taste for blood will recover more easily .
4) YH is still the caring ‘husband’.
Hello everyone,
I really enjoyed the episodes. I shouldn’t be impressed like @nrllee with the idiocy of people who made the zompires enter their apartment building for a smartphone.
Really? Young people who should be careful with the outside world, since they have seen the danger, have as gods money and fame. I was very disappointed with them. The writer’s brother was bitten because of them.
The lunatic killer went to the gym, in order to find out about Next and he abused the gymnast because he could in such a way, that the gymnast’s repressed symptoms manifested. The killer was not bitten. Instead the killer took the Next stash, but no Zompire was in the garage to get him.
Also, I am glad that common sense won and they didn’t abandon the gymnast who was infected. The lawyer wanted his wife to back him up. But lets the dermatologist to manipulate him. I mean seriously? Your woman is undereducated because she had her own opinion, but at the same time, you are so pabo that you went in -1 to open to a zompire. Because he said he was a client.
In two episodes we can see how rotten such a mini group is. The building representantive who looks down others and dreams about grandeur is basically poor. She deliberately brought water to her little brother, he called her noona after all, in order to attack the others.
I mean what we learned from Covid? Instead of unity, everyone is doing whatever he / she likes according to their class. Some want money, others want power and fame and some are just lunatics who want to the world to end. Even those who are trying to keep the law, can be sentimental, when their loved ones are in true danger and makes us humans.
I haven’t seen anyone commenting on Episode’s 7 preview. So the Colonel wants Seo Bom to get bitten, in order metastoicheiosis to happen to her blood, in order to find the cure. I do hope that Yi Huyn will kick his a$$, if that is in his mind.
P.S. Happiness and The Red Sleeves are making me happy so far. I am waiting for their new episodes every Friday. 🙂
Hi @Cleo
I hope your elbow has improved, since you are able to type more today.
I like Jirisan and Red Sleeve, and will keep watching Happiness for fun.
I didn’t see the Ep 7 Preview, but nevermind, I’m sure I’ll find it easily. 🙂
@GB Unnie,
Yes, my elbow is much better than the other days. Still, I am not overdoing it. I know that is not healed completely, so I am taking one day at a time.
You can easily find it, at the end of the episode 6.
I will try to respond one post at a time. Kalinixta my agapimeni!
What I found relevant is that nonbelieving attitude. People don’t change. They are complacent until suffering a loss close to their hearts. Starting from HTS to the residents in the apartments.
What is rotten inside shows through during crisis time:
Look at the lawyer – he was just minutes away from being bitten. No remorse. No appreciation. I didn’t see him thanking SB afterwards. Thinks he is smarter than the others. Disloyal to his wife who effectively saved him.
The convenient store worker consistently prioritises money over safety.
The youtuber wannabe still consistently prioritises his phone/followers over family and safety. Consistently ignore his parents. I wonder if the mum will bite him eventually after putting up with him.
The brother still covets after his sister’s apartment. He consistently undervalues his sister opinion, including the noise from the stairs. He paid the price of being bitten.
After the voting, we can see a division of the good people (9) and the bad people (10). The brother from the bad people team is the first to go. I am wondering if the rest of the 8 will be killed off as a consequence being self-centred.
Equally What is good inside will come through during adversity:
Andrew is brave. He went back to save the terrible youtuber.
It was nice to see that the base ball face protection shield is for SB after all. YH gave SB the gun (the better equipment), he had the baseball bat (the lesser equipment). He brushed it off saying because he was an almost pro. Fortunately YH saw through it and hopefully understand his love.
I like to think the Penthouse guy is good because he voted to keep the gym instructor. He was willing to walk out of his apartment despite his fear to save another human life. I hope the potential Next purchase is just for cliff hanger. I agree that his stockpile would be useful to help YH and SB to survive eventually.
@packmule3 yeah I agree about us being shown YH’s human side. Also we’re not actually shown that Penthouse guy is stockpiling the pills. But we’re shown that he’s definitely a Doomsday Prepper (from his conversation with SB before he invited her into his place). We are also only shown another gym trainer guy trying to sell him the pills but not him (Penthouse guy) taking them. The gym guy who turned had just walked past outside and overheard the conversation – he wasn’t the one who tried to sell Penthouse guy the pills. So I am just wondering (thinking out loud) if he (Penthouse Guy) actually took them or he just decided it was a good idea to have them handy? 🤔. Or did he turn down the pills?
@GB I agree it’s inconsistent about the abilities of the zompires when it comes to opening doors and driving cars. The problem we have is that they aren’t always in that zompire state. They have moments of lucidity when they can do normal human things like push buttons and drive cars and sweet talk dumb Ahjummas with delusions of grandeur. 🙄. So in theory, if MinJi were in her lucid state (gym guy was only in his zompire state for 15minutes?), she should’ve been able to open that bathroom door? Or was she the exception because in theory she was quite literally dead due to the head clubbing? And had she returned to her human state she would’ve died. Which is pretty much what happened in the facility. She returned to her human form and died. But then how was her cheating husband supposed to know that? He seems awfully calm for someone who freaks out about catching the disease?
Questions
– Did I hear wrong when HTS told the lady lieutenant about one of the refrigerated trucks heading to land fill? So he was planning on just burying them alive? 😬 Or were they dead patients?
– Also what was the mistress trying to find in the apartment? I thought she was after the money but it wasn’t that? She rifled through the freezer and didn’t take any? I wanted to laugh when she sat on the couch with a golf club handy after the smearing incident and the dermatologist came out of the bathroom 😂.
@ Cleo hope your elbow is recovering well!
As to what people learn from COVID? We are in transition to be out of lockdown. That makes Happiness resonates well with me.
It brings out a good question – is it someone’s fault to be infected?
Or the real faults are those complaints. Failure to acknowledge the risk. Put themselves first. Wrong priorities. Think less of someone else opinions.
Or can we choose to be like the good team? It’s another human being after all. That human being can be closer to us than we think, or can be us.
As for the teaser of ep 7. I do wonder if SB will be infected next to show us we would we do if it is us who are infected. Although, naturally I want her to be safe!
Hi @nrllee Yes, I forget that these bunch of zompires are not like ‘real zombies’ (whatever those are). The carpark basement guy is constantly trying to lure Blk 101 residents out. I wonder why he so desperately hovers near 101. Maybe they are the only foolish ones who don’t realise that everyone is smart enough to stay in their apartments in all the other blocks.
He and the security guard zompire have managed to find their way into the Blk 101 stairwell now, so essentially he has access to all floors, unless there’s a way to lock the doors from the lobby side.
Killer Oh seems to like teasing and playing his games. He had several days in his apartment after killing his wife. Maybe he tried various ways to control his ‘undead’ wife and found that he could effectively leave her in the bathroom with door closed, trapped.
I did hear HTS say landfill. It sure sounded like the not yet dead zombies were being carted off to be killed or buried (hidden without any recourse to treatment or supplies). If buried, I don’t know if they’d be killed first then buried.
Lee Ji Soo to HTS : “Where are they headed?”
HTS : “To a landfill. There’s not enough room to house mild cases.” (So it’s the mild cases who are being carted off to be buried and not the severe ones? In the task of triage, it’s always the hopeless cases who are given the lowest priority ie left to die. But it sounds like the opposite here, because they are concerned about not having enough money and space!)
HTS : “Do you still not get what I’m doing?”
Lee Ji Soo : “I do, sir.”
HTS : “I made a choice on how many losses we can stand to take. The time will come when you must decide how much blood you should shed.”
(So he’s decided on a figure… but is he referring to losses in terms of number of lives or amount of money? If too much $$$ needs to be spent then the rest who come/get infected later die?
If in terms of lives … how does one determine the number who should die? Isn’t it the other way around, to triage on who should live? He’s deciding on the number who should die … at what rate? 10 persons a day?)
Count of the Infected Blk 101 Residents
On the 2nd floor, Rep Oh’s husband Sun and Officer Kim Jung Kook have gone to get supplies but Supermart Bo Ram and Bratty Kim come out of the fire escape after having let in, I think, 3 zompires from the basement, and run for their lives, instead of holding the fire escape door closed for dear life. When these 2 kids come screaming to the ahjusshis to run away, of course neither Sun nor Jung Kook can figure out how to react at all, and of course Jung Kook does not have his gun with him, or any weapon for that matter.
Meanwhile the carpark zompire remains at gym level and grabs hold of Writer Na’s brother, Na Soo Min.
List of Zompires
1) 1501 Kim Se Hun (He has Next but he may not be a zompire. Anyway he has got SB in the apartment with him to contend with.)
2) 1202 Sun Woo Chang (He is likely to get bitten. I wonder if he can still pray. He’ll need all the prayers he can manage.)
3) 501 Jung Kook (Possible but not certain. We are not sure if he can fend the zompire off without a weapon. Maybe he’ll surprise us? If he gets infected, Seo Yoon is in danger.)
4) 401 Na Soo Min (He will definitely become a zompire, since he’s been bitten.)
5) 302 Elderly Mum Ji who got scratched (She has not gotten angry enough to manifest anything yet, but her son saw the photo of her bad neck wound.)
6) Basement gym Kim Seung Beom (He’s a zompire but he’s handcuffed or restricted most of the time)
22 people (I include the Supermart Bo Ram) minus 6 infected = 16 non-zompires left.
Unfortunately, with the basement now open, there may be more than 3 zompires visiting, and adding to the number in Blk 101.
@GB thanks for the updated list. I was a bit confused about that conversation. I think I was so shocked that he was intimating that he would just bury them alive that I didn’t quite pay too much attention to what was said after. Especially because he seemed to imply it was the mild cases that were being carted away? And like you say, it made no sense.
Someone had to be funding this mop up. Pharma CEO to a certain extent is helping fund this. I would imagine that given the number of troops at the facility that the government would surely be providing some funding support too? The class divide exists in patient care as well. CEO (and HTS’s wife) had the equivalent of private suites?
@GB, when the infected are in their normal state, their bodies seem to function normally. It is only when they’re having a zompire fit that they seem to lose dexterity. Murdering Husband, having seen his wife’s disease progress, probably figured out that she was far gone and wouldn’t revert back to a normal state, so enclosing her in an unlocked bathroom was enough to contain her. Or it was a glaring plot hole.
I think SB is right to worry about the infected becoming aggressive even in their normal state. That one zompire is clever enough try trickery to get the attorney to come close enough to get caught.
I wonder how Officer Kim Jung Kook managed to become a police officer and stay on the force if he’s so wimpy. I highly suspect his character is being presented this way so we can witness his sacrificial bravery at some point in the future, probably for the sake of saving the life of the little girl, Seo Yoon. That will be his redemption arc.
Are we surprised about what happened to the writer’s greedy brother? I wasn’t. It was too much a setup, having him stand with his back to the open door while taunting his sister. Are we sad he’s been chomped? I’m not. For the sake of justice I’d rather he doesn’t come back in zompire mode to threaten his sister, but becomes one of the victims that dies of blood loss.
I think by Episode 6 the infected older lady from Flat 302 has figured out she’s got the madman disease. She’s keeping silent because she doesn’t want to be forsaken; she saw how others wanted to banish Trainer Kim Seong Beom from the building. Her strong faith is possibly keeping her from becoming enraged and succumbing to the symptoms. I hope her whiny husband and bratty son don’t drive her to her tipping point. If they do, I hope they’re her only victims.
Apartment Representative Oh and her husband are suspicious. Are they scam artists? It appears they impoverished themselves in order to buy their flat. Is she using her position to skim money? If so, the interior of their flat doesn’t show evidence of it. I’m curious what game she’s playing, having planted her younger relative (he called her noona) as a trainer so he could get close to the residents, knowing he had a history of illegal drug use. Is she so enthralled with wielding power that being the apartment representative is all she cares about?
It was sad to see the backstory of HTS, his pregnant wife, and how she got infected. No wonder HTS responded by assaulting the CEO. I wonder how long ago HTS’s wife was infected. She was at twelve weeks gestation when she was bitten. Will she be alive long enough for her fetus to become viable, even if born preterm by cesarean section? Will the baby be infected, or have antibodies like SB?
Our frustration and irritation with the characters make this drama a trigger to our sensibilities. I like and hate it at the same time! But I can’t stop watching. It’s a commentary on social class, selfishness, lack of community and caring for your neighbor, impunity of those in power (pharma CEO, even HTS) – put these all together in a health crisis and you get death and chaos and suffering. Not the ingredients for happiness.
Well said @Janey!
Remember: SB has been bitten. In Episode 1 the special operations medic trainee left teeth marks on her hand. They healed slowly, but they didn’t fester like the scratch marks on her colleague or the old wife/mom. When SB went to the secret military facility to be tested, she was clear of infection. That’s why HTS had her coming back regularly to have her blood drawn. They were isolating antibodies from her donated blood, probably using it for experimental treatments.
The madman disease affects the nervous system, and once it reaches the brain it can’t be treated with systemic medicine because of the blood brain barrier (BBB). But what if people are given the antibodies before they’re infected, or before the infection reaches their brain?
Because strong emotion, particularly anger, seems to kickstart the zompire symptoms, I wonder if the adrenal gland might be involved. If so, controlling the adrenal gland (is that possible?) might help prevent the progression of symptoms. YH did suspect that Gym Trainer Zompire felt an exciting rush while in his zompire state, and since he experienced it as pleasurable, would likely have difficulty controlling his thirst in the future.
This may be why the infected wife/mom is slower than others to enter the zompire state. If an intense rush of emotion is needed as a trigger, she’s spent a lifetime suppressing her feelings and developing an attitude of self-sacrifice in service to others, particularly her husband and son.