A few months ago, I
watched a Korean TV show
called
Happiness. While
it had several stretches of logic, I found its treatment of the
psychology and dynamics of severe disease outbreaks quite
interesting.
Despite some superficial similarities, it’s different in flavor from
the more extreme, action-packed zombie genre that has of late become
quite common in Korean drama (with excellent examples such as Train to
Busan, Kingdom, and All of Us Are Dead). Overall it feels more slow
and realistic in its pacing, and it’s not strictly a zombie show; it’s
closer to a vampire show in that the infected people are still very
much alive and have some ability to control the damage they inflict
upon others.
I was thinking of possibly writing a review of it, but it didn’t seem
competitive with other uses of my time. So I was glad to see one of my
favorite
reviewers
write a thoughtful and detailed review of the show that covered many
of the points I wanted to explore. The portion of the review that I
want to highlight is the “THEMES / IDEAS / SOCIAL COMMENTARY” section;
many aspects seem to be allusions to the COVID-19 pandemic viewed
through the lens of the drama’s writers.
[Linkpost] Review: Happiness
This is a link post for https://thefangirlverdict.com/2022/02/10/review-happiness/
A few months ago, I watched a Korean TV show called Happiness. While it had several stretches of logic, I found its treatment of the psychology and dynamics of severe disease outbreaks quite interesting.
Despite some superficial similarities, it’s different in flavor from the more extreme, action-packed zombie genre that has of late become quite common in Korean drama (with excellent examples such as Train to Busan, Kingdom, and All of Us Are Dead). Overall it feels more slow and realistic in its pacing, and it’s not strictly a zombie show; it’s closer to a vampire show in that the infected people are still very much alive and have some ability to control the damage they inflict upon others.
I was thinking of possibly writing a review of it, but it didn’t seem competitive with other uses of my time. So I was glad to see one of my favorite reviewers write a thoughtful and detailed review of the show that covered many of the points I wanted to explore. The portion of the review that I want to highlight is the “THEMES / IDEAS / SOCIAL COMMENTARY” section; many aspects seem to be allusions to the COVID-19 pandemic viewed through the lens of the drama’s writers.