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Ha! This couple is my antidote to the sickening aegyo put on by the couple from “Hometown Cha Cha Cha.”
Let’s enjoy the show!
32 Comments On “Happiness: Eps 7 & 8 Open Thread”
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I love them very very much! #HyunBom
So happy that is Friday tonight! Thank you @Packmule3! *super excited*
Thanks @pkml3. Hi @Cleo!
I wonder if I can get the episodes subbed early. Usually I have to wait until tomorrow. All the fun drama stuff happens on weekends!
@GB Unnie,
The subs are late in this one. I watched them Saturdays and Sundays, but still. Things will be weird in this one. The Colonel will bring havoc with him.
I have seen some stills from tonights’ episode.
I forgot to add here:
If they turn off electricity, does the building have its own generator? Will their key fobs and smart locks still work? I hope the stair wells are still lit with emergency lights
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
As expected, the Penthouse Guy is just a hoarder. 😂 YiHyun went overboard for nothing.
Hello everyone!
BOD contributors write an interesting views, thanks to all of you! I like your spoiler @PM3 ha ha. At first I find SB’s move crazy to enter the Penthouse Guy’s room but later I guess she probably had that profiling instinct that the guy is safe to entrust her life alone in that room. I just hope SB will always have that lucky instinct to spare her life with mad disease.
@packmule3, Agreed-this couple is so realistic. One can tell that they are friends and even though theirs is a marriage of convenience, they are more loving than some couples who live in the building. Speaking of their building, I spent my teens in a middle income co-op complex that was originally built by garment making unions. That being said, I find so much of the tenant interactions very realistic and done well. Elevator encounters bring people together but can also exacerbate antagonistic behavior. Your floor neighbors can either be close or completely unkown. Noise sensitivity is an issue, especially if it seems like elephants are trampling above you. Elevator malfunctions can be especially debilitating if 6ou can’t ambulatory well and/or require a wheelchair. Building blackouts can also affect whether there is hea4pt and water. Common areas are natural meeting places and gossip centers. The high rise becomes a small town(or even a small city depending on the population). And even in my middle class building there were some wealthy people who lived there and paid a surcharge for the priviledge. We knew who the judges, attorneys, business people were-it was impious on the elevator. I had a school friend who was in the music class. She had to carry her cello to and from school. Even when she didn’t carry it, she was known as the cello girl. So Happiness, although set in Korea, gets kudos from me for its universal depiction of everyday apartment life, from just living in close proximity to others, to knowing more or less about neighbors based on impressions gained in common spaces, to neighbor nuisances and more. It does a great job showing social stratification and the influence of people and money. And it also makes a realistic statement about childcare. Our little girl was home alone; a not uncommon situation in my day where families also left children in the care of their older siblings. In current American cultural norms this would be considered child neglect. But in my day this was the norm, particularly if you came from the non-prevaili n g ethnic group. So our little girl could also be expected to be the equivalent of the latchkey child.
Bravo, Happiness, for, from my experience and those of my age cohort peers who grew up in my neighborhood, it’s very true depiction if what it is really like living in this type if apartment complex. (Those staircase scenes are so good and while I didn’t have electronic monitors to see who was at the c door, I had peep holes, that also provided a great way to be nisy(especially when I wanted to avoid the boy who lived across the hall who pushed me up against the wall and gave me my first very horrible first,forced sloppy, kiss-yuck).
Oh dear @OAL! What a horrible first kiss experience!!! I’d have run past that neighbour’s door forever and maybe carried a bat with me to ward him off!
Well, Show has it’s good points and makes its comments on society. However I keep seeing the stuff that bugs me instead. Just 1 case in point… there were alternative ways to get Sae Beom to go to the lab or wherever it was they wanted her to go.
HTS didn’t exhaust all possible means of getting her to go like 1)asking her to go, 2)bribing her to go (she could see her mum) but he goes for a most improbable 3) he lets loose a zompire on her, then sedates her, then instead of getting a helicopter to get her off the roof of the building, he needs to get her down to the basement to drive off with her.
The good or main plot points that are supposed to be garnered from this… I can think of one. It establishes that the infected can ward off sedatives pretty fast and heal fast. We also know that the dead become undead. It may be a sign that the virus had gone up to SB’s brain.
The only other great thing about this scene with HTS is that we get to see Park Hyung Shik (or his stunt double) doing a mean jump on car and slide down windscreen move with gun trained on HTS, that was pretty nifty.
At the end of this fiasco, SB was perfectly happy to give her blood… so why?????
Did they want to just keep her away from the rich who’d find out that she was their ticket to a cure? But that way of grabbing her did the opposite of hiding her well. It made it even more obvious that HTS valued SB for something.
@OAL I concur with @GB it must’ve been a horrible kiss experience.
@GB yes it was very over the top how HTS did all that just to get her blood? He could’ve just…err…asked? Or do what a normal person would do? By emphasizing how important it was for them to study her blood to get a cure? For the sake of all humanity? 🙄.
I do have a few questions though after Ep7
– why did the zompires leave fake Reverend alone? After he flashed the crucifix?
– why did the security guard zompire just obey what Andrew without a fuss? Andrew had those fancy glasses on.
Could it be that the reflection of the zompires off the crucifix (I know a bit of a stretch) and possibly Andrew’s glasses turned them off? I am trying to figure out what it was in those 2 situations that could possibly have made the zompires lose their desire to bite their prey.
@nrllee, I was under the impression that Show was channeling vampires in how the cross made the zompires decamp.
Hmmm… being affected by something shining into their eyes? Not as hopeless as vampires who can’t take the sun, but a little bit of bright light hitting them in the retina gets them going? LOL.
Just train bright lights outwards would be an easy solution, but they’ve gone and cut the electricity supply. Sorry I didn’t understand why. I heard that some zompires are in the power plant but what has cutting electricity to do with catching them?
Previous episodes – I also didn’t understand why there was outage for Internet/cable TV and even free-to-air channels and no phone signal. Why? To keep news and social media from reaching the masses? However HTS appeared to be able to watch stuff going on, on TV… so only he gets a special cable link?
I just managed to watch Episode 7 and I really enjoyed it.
I also find that Colonel Han used a stupid way to grap Sae Bom for some blood tests. Still, Hyun Shik nailed it in that scene. The punch was well deserved.
As @OAL posted above, we get to learn a lot for those people.
The worst of all is the killer who is devious and is going to poison with Next those people who live in the apartment block.
The second one is the lawyer who is smitten with the dermatologist. She has a habit to seduce everyone she wants and gets away with it.
The third one is that woman is the Building Representantive who will manipulate through her husband the older cop.
I believe what @nrllee and @GB were discussing is true. The zompires can see in the reflection of a shining object or glasses what they have become. As a result the coscious and humane part of the brain cannot accept it. That’s why they are running away.
Let us see what will happen tonight. The Writer lady took in the i building her infected brother. As it seems, he hasn’t tasted blood yet.
I am curious how they are going to wrap this. We have 5 episodes until the end. Hopefully the three of them, Yi Huyn, Sae Bom and Seo Yoon will become a real family in the end.
Hi, just want to echo how good this drama is. BOD comments add to the fun because you catch so much. On this Thanksgiving week end, sending thanks to you all for making this such a rich, enjoyable, thought provoking experience.
Just watched Ep8
– thank goodness for the quick thinking of YH which thwarted Dermatologist’s plan to infect everyone with spiked drinks 🙄
– not happy about why YH took offense when Andrew drank some of the water they collected on the roof? What’s wrong with sharing? Just as well SB set him right and told him it was okay? I thought Andrew drank because of the water bottle. I still think he has delusions about being a superhero and just like Penthouse guy wanted the Tshirt, Andrew drank from that special water bottle which looked like it had some emblem on it (Police? AntiTerrorism?)
https://i.ibb.co/b1rjqCD/B7-BBF221-2-C5-E-4562-9-EEE-DBD341908-B8-A.jpg
– weak willed detective partner sold them out in the end?
– there seems to be some level of control that the infected have on the progression of the disease? Writer’s brother hasn’t turned yet. And neither has Grandma. Both are so mortified that they could infect others by biting that it acts as a deterrent almost? 🤔
– YouTuber son is…scum…😒.
Thanks for the update, @nrllee. I’m watching Jirisan right now while waiting for somebody to fill me in on Happiness. I wanted to know what “fresh hell” is waiting for me in this episode.
Did they find a cure?
@Packmule3,
We had an almost…kiss scene but #HyumBom got interacted.
They seem to be in a good stage about the cure but we don’t know for sure yet.
I agree with @nrllee, we get to see the nasty faces of everyone here.
I agree that the YouTuber son is a scam and an awful son!
The police officer sold his long time partner and his wife because he is being brainwashed from the Building Rep and her Husband. He is a joke truly. He knows those people since forever and still…
He shouldn’t have his gun at all.
I am happy that YH changed the Next pills with another one. The killer is a psychopath. Let us see how they others going to defend themselves against those evil people.
While I was watching the preview, the next ones to be infected are the cleaning couple. I am glad that the nice cleaning lady left them behind. I am waiting to see what Andrew is going to do.
I mean I was disgusted by their attitude and how mean they are. Rich and poor, all count MONEY as their God and not the well being of others.
I do hope in the next episode their lame decisions will bite them in their a$$es.
When you are unethical, you think you can survive because you have money and power. Little do they know those who survive are those who can adapt easily in the situation and these people inside or outside the apartment building don’t have those guts.
@nrllee @pkml3
Lt Lee gives some prelim results of a clinical trial to HTS – something seems to be working. 72% of the severly ill patients have longer cycles (of being human) and fewer frequencies of their symptoms.
We see SB’s colleague still handcuffed but eating meat and drinking water. He reports that he barely gets thirsty. However he’s changed from being a vegetarian to one who likes rather rare looking meat. He might be recovering.
HTS wants to hide the fact that SB’s blood is still being analysed but to leak that SB’s colleague seems to be progressing. Lt Lee protests that they don’t have enough data but HTS wants to lie that the clinical trial is over.
The quarantine/lockdown, as expected does not end at D-Day but martial law is extended indefinitely. So no electricity or water all the time?
I was about to complain in the previous episode that YH had carelessly left the Next in the car, but it turns out he had replaced the Next with his digestion pills. He caught dear Killer Oh on the dashcam taking the pills. I guess this together with his inadvertent ‘confession’ is supposed to be enough to indict him.
The nice people are still nice and the ones we can do without are still as tiresome as ever. There’s someone (Elderly Mum?) making loud bang sounds in the building. Their beloved son abandons them for the 2nd floor, taking all their food to buy his way into the cleaner’s apartment.
Elderly Dad Kim is still irritating. He wants the cleaners to stay on the 2nd floor to be the first to fed off the zompires before they get to his 3rd floor.
Rep Oh takes credit for leaving water for all to drink when it was Killer Oh who did it to infect everyone. It’s revealed that she’s there to be the Apartment Rep and to embezzle the public funds collected for the building maintenance, etc.
Weakling Officer Kim now has religion and goes up to pray with Rep’s husband and is persuaded to turn against SB and YH.
Lawyer has started playing around with the Mistress Sang Hee and Killer Oh has figured it out.
2nd floor people are charging $200 for each bottle of water.
Writer Na’s brother is hiding on the 11th floor but seems normal.
The cleaning lady and Andrew seem good to each other. Andrew notes that people are getting meaner but he gives Cleaner an apple. No new zompires come around.
YH confesses to SB that what helped him continue after he was not able to play baseball was her. She’s embarrassed.
Ah this is good…
I’m just watching the last part now… The rich and powerful (High up politicians were all infected) stole what they thought was the ‘cure’, Component 13, and had themselves injected with it. It was actually a failure that was meant to be thrown out.
HTS does it again. He gets the rich and powerful infected guys together in a room and then makes sure he beats up an assistant enough to have lots of blood flowing, in order to run another experiment and get more data.
That’s what he meant when he told Lt Kim they needed more data. It was not data on SB’s blood but data on the rich and powerful that he wanted.
Seeing the blood the lot of them turned into zompires in a few seconds. Since they are important people, they are to be brought in alive and be used as test subjects.
HTS proceeds to visit his wife who speaks to him.
I liked seeing HTS interact with his wife. Now I can understand why he was hesitant to touch her a few episodes ago. It’s almost like he needs to keep his wall up because as soon as he touches her and hears her speak all his anguish comes to the surface. His methods may night be considered the most ethical but at least his motivation is reasonable/justifiable/honorable—-or at least I feel like once Hyun finds out his reason he will find it to be so.
RANDOM THOUGHTS Just one comment for the second floor people, It would be inevitable that they’d run out of food and water. Money is made out of paper. You really can’t eat money. All their meanness should come to nought.
Happiness is one great show about how people survive under duress. It reminds me of what we did during the early part of the pandemic before delivery systems didn’t require getting up at three in the morning for times. We did, as family did during WWII and the great depression; we learned to stretch our food.
With elevators out, it is the poorer people who have some advantage living on the Lower floors. Penthouses don’t work if you must exert yourself to get there.These survival details make this drama so good.
I also have to say I am purposely keeping one episode behind so I can read the comments. I know it’s cheating but your comments just add to my appreciation for this drama. I also don’t mind spoilers. When I read a novel, after I read the first chapter, I’ll read the very last page. Sometimes I’ll get the ending but most times, the real ending will be in later chapters. No harm done. In this drama, your comments help me alleviate anxiety.
And last but not least, the “e” in Happiness was flipped back after Ep8. Signifying a change. The ep ended with HTS taking his wife’s hand and talking to her. He hesitated to do that earlier. It humanized her and him. Then the closing credits with the “e” flip in Happiness
😂 You beat me to it, @nrllee. I was going to write about it. Four more episodes. I hope the drama finishes strong.
Thanks for this, @GB. I’ll use it as a springboard for my Ep 8 highlights.
@packmule3 😂. Sorry to steal your thunder. I hope the drama finishes strong as well.
You’re most welcome @pkml3. Just hoping to add more ‘value’ LOL. It was quite a disjointed ‘point summary’ and not a recap. Hope it does not confuse.
From this intellectually lazy poster, @packmule3, @nrllee,@GrowingBeautifully,@birdie007,@Cleopatra, you all rule! You have unpacked so many themes, You make viewing this a great experience.
The production team on this drama does a fantastic job if setting the mood
Whenever they are in the halls, stairwells and garage there is a claustrophobic feeling. The various apartments have decors reflective of the characters. The older couple’s apartment is like a time capsule reminding me of what was in style decades ago, assuming that they brought their old furniture with them when they moved, adding some contemporary touches.Our leads apartment has that just moved in look.
The same can be said if costuming
Out building rep is purposely formal to intimidate the tiff raff and to identify with the so-called elites. The mistress whoskes her living as a dermatologist who is primarily interested in fillers I imagine, is dressed in what I call just sexy enough without being whore like to impress men and her cosmetic clients-,a walking billboard. And even though there is no smellovision, we know she is perfumed.our lawyer’s wife does the smell test but in ep
7 we had the tell tale lipstick on lawyer’s ,sweater.This us not a slapdash production. The attention to detail is impressive.
I’d be interested in learning your impressions of how they handle science, medicine and security issues.
@nrllee @PM3, had to rewatch the flipped e being normal – it started in ep7 and then Ep8 as well. Hope we’re getting to the path to real happiness soon!!! But people are getting more devious, mean and greedy. It will have to get worse before it gets better.
I’m so relieved that the capsules used by Killer Oh were not Next. Very smart of YH to replace them with his digestive meds! Ok, I’m appeased now why they did not disclose the exact info on Next to the public.
@Janey thanks for that pick up that it occurred in Ep7 as well. I didn’t notice it till Ep8. I think I just stopped watching at the end for Ep7 and didn’t bother to wait for the credits or watch the preview.
@OldAmericanLady,
Oddly enough, “Happiness” reminds me not only of the recent Covid experience, but also of the the 9-11 attack. Because Pentagon was hit (and the World Trade Center), we weren’t sure what to expect next. So in an “overabundance of caution,” my hubby and I devised a contingency plan in case we had to evacuate and were separated. We knew where each one was and how close we were to the children’s schools so we could pick them up. We made sure all our cars had a full tank of gas (or close to it) and that we had cash (because the ATMs or any electronic services would be disrupted), cases of water in the trunks of the cars, canned foods and can openers, toilet paper, duct tapes, scissors, batteries, blankets, first aid kit… and black garbage bags. The garbage bags were to cover windows and ourselves in case of radioactive dust.
The sense of an imminent threat wasn’t as pervasive or heightened during Covid as after 9-11.
But like how it is shown in the drama, the effect of the lockdown is different for the haves and have-nots. The rich residents like Penthouse Guy and Killer Oh, and the Pharma Boss and his cronies weren’t bothered financially by the lockdown and martial law. But the poor people like the cleaning couple and the Youtuber guy were affected because they ha no income during the lockdown and they needed money. Of course, since money is tight for them, they’ll want to profit any which way they could during this time.
Writer Na continued writing, and the Elderly couple were coping on their fixed income. SaeBom and YiHyun were okay, too, financially because government was still paying them whether they worked or not.
Overall, I think the writer is depicting a realistic human response to the crisis.
@Cleopatra,
I laughed when you wrote, “I mean I was disgusted by their attitude and how mean they are. Rich and poor, all count MONEY as their God and not the well being of others. I do hope in the next episode their lame decisions will bite them in their a$$es.”
I think their necks have a bigger risk of getting bitten than their bony asses. 🙂
@Packmule3,
I didn’t realize when I wrote it that I used mean as a verb and then as an adjective in a same sentence! LMAO!
So very true!
It remains to be seen if they will be bitten in their necks and will have severe symptoms, than others because they have become sinister than before.
In the preview, we get to see a scene where Yi Huyn is in the second floor and he cuts his own hand. His blood is dripping on the floor in order to check who are infected and if they will be transformed into zompires.
@Nrllee,
You have a good eye. Although, I saw the e in Happiness changing, I didn’t acknowledge it. I am glad that you brought it up. Let us see what that means!
@OAL Thank you for your kind words! I am glad you are here with us and watching Happiness, even though you are one episode behind us!
First thought in my mind – they security guard of the Pharma boss is a very dangerous position. So far two got bitten and potentially dead. They should wear more PPE gear!
I am slightly worried about HTS. I felt that he may die at the end. He has killed a few people already and I am not sure if the writer will let him live. @Janey, I like his interaction too with the wife. He picked up her hands this round. Perhaps she is getting better and better and HTS is not afraid anymore.
@nrllee same, I don’t know why YH didn’t want to share the water with the mask guy. It is out of character for him.
@Cleo Yes that almost kiss! Also at ep 8. K drama are getting good at not giving us a standard ep 8 kiss now.
I like the old man who stands by his wife. Knowing she is infected, he just treats her normal, like asking her to set the table. Is that how the older generation express their love and support to each other? He is prepared to stay with her and asked the convenient store girl to go somewhere.
I hope will power can help old woman and the brother to control themselves. The brother has redeem himself in my view. He chose not to go in despite suggested by that terrible doctor. Not putting himself first is always good.
So like, for Zompires to survive:
1. Will power – Not to give into to irrational thirstiness, not hurt others
2. Don’t taste blood
3. Eat raw meat?
4. Quarantine when turned
The other interesting thing of note is that there’s a focus on D-Day in this drama. The whole focus initially was for the arrival of D-Day, everyone held out in hope for that day. Then there was the confusion when D-Day arrived and there was still no phone reception or TV. It’s interesting to see how everyone coped with having their hopes dashed. And then when met with the announcement that lockdown was now “indefinite”. There is no ending in sight now. How did people react then? Those that were happy to share when they thought there was enough to go around (7 Day lockdown). Were they happy to share now? We are shown that cleaning couple decided to turn insular and started to hoard and even charge for water where once they were happy to share and house the older cleaning lady.