[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Happiness - Drama" Episode 6

The opening flashback shows that Colonel Han's return to the military was actually relatively recent. Hardly six months ago he was still Director Han, working in the private sector. More disturbingly, this flashback makes it clear that Colonel Han has always known that madness rabies derives from the Next drug. Despite this clear indicator of the disease's origins, neither Colonel Han nor anyone else can do very much when it comes to proactively using this knowledge to contain outbreaks.

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With most of the action being in the apartment complex, as usual, it's striking just how bad a job everyone is doing at taking proper precautions. I have to keep reminding myself that a lot of the character stupidity is just a consequence of not everyone having actually seen what an infected person looks like. Hae-seong nearly gets fooled into making a dangerous mistake just because the cash-strapped lawyer doesn't realize that infected people, during their lucid states, can behave quite sneakily.

It's getting increasingly difficult to avoid blaming the main characters for their complicity in this. Sae-bom and Yi-hyeon have known this entire time that Next consumption is what spawns the disease. They know that opening the door to the outside world for any reason has just become incredibly risky. And over the course of this episode, Yi-hyeon learns that dangerous material has been left inside an unsecured motor vehicle, and it's unclear whether he's actually done anything about it.

The COVID metaphor is starting to go so uncomfortable places. Note how the big poll regarding what to do about a confirmed infection among residents ends up hinging on the sick person's personal reputation rather than public safety. The framing makes no sense- the proposed alternative of locking the infected person on the roof is every bit as dangerous as attempting containment in any other random room. Possibly moreso, since everyone is used to and remembers the basement gym as being off-limits.

After a certain point it's difficult to blame society and class structure for the outbreak in "Happiness - Drama" when so much of the conflict is being prompted by terrible communication and the nonsensical moral scruples of the leads. As Yi-hyeon points out, there's now video evidence that Joo-hyeong is attempting to aggravate the situation for no reason. What possible excuse is there at this point for withholding so much information from the apartment residents at large, when the inevitable outcome is yet another preventable crisis?

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.