[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Happiness - Drama" Episode 8

The supertitle of D-3 that opens this episode up underscores a fundamental yet obviously flawed assumption made by all too many of the apartment complex's denizens. Namely, that martial law will lift, as will the quarantine, despite the absence of any obvious change in the larger situation. Sae-bom and Yi-hyeon are expecting the worst and hoping for the best, which is why they're collecting rainwater. But other characters are dismissive of this scenario, even spurning tap water as beneath them.

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I mentioned in my last review that the apartment complex feels awfully empty, despite the large cast. The script notes here there's a reason for that- not everyone was home when the lockdown started. None of the higher level residents who look down on the staff even have real jobs. Joo-hyeong was a disgraced doctor. Hae-seong was an underemployed lawyer. And Representative Oh was apparently running some sort of real estate scam.

Despite all of these characters having clearly failed in their aspirations to become the upper echelon of South Korean society, they cling to the idea of life going back to normal. This is despite that situation actually being quite bad for them. They're motivated entirely by a petty, short-sighted desire to maintain authority, all in the belief that the social system will save the day and they'll be rewarded with their desired positions.

That Sae-bom and Yi-hyeon personally know Colonel Han, the authority figure behind the martial law, simply does not occur to any of these people as relevant to their petit bourgeois aspirations. Nor does it occur to them that their inhuman disregard of the service staff in this worsening situation is straining their authority. In typical fashion Joo-hyeong manages to pointlessly antagonize people again, and is only saved from the latest exposure of his willingness to put everyone in danger from yet another pointless power struggle.

"Happiness - Drama" is rapidly approaching the point where I'm rooting for the more antagonistic characters to die just because they've gotten so inexorably annoying. They're not even smart, despite smugly acting like they're the most brilliant people in the room at any given time. Their obliviousness is only made that much more stark by the late interlude where we see how Colonel Han treats people who he thinks are more trouble than they're worth. The military isn't protecting Representative Oh from Sae-bom and Yi-hyeon. To the contrary, Sae-bom and Yi-hyeon are protecting Representative Oh from the military.

Review by William Schwartz

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"Happiness - Drama" is directed by Ahn Gil-ho, written by Han Sang-woon, and features Han Hyo-joo, Park Hyung-sik, Jo Woo-jin, Kang Ji-eun-I, Lee Joon-hyuk-I, Park Joo-hee. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2021/11/05~Now airing, Fri, Sat 22:40 on tvN.