The Final Day
Present Day
Yi-Hyun is in a hospital bed, hooked up to machines and having her blood taken. Sae-Bom is there too, excitedly visiting her Mum who happens to be in one of the rooms, being kept under supervision. She’s obviously infected but plays it off as a mild cold as not to scare Seo-Yoon.
Given Seo-Yoon is being prepped for surgery, she asks Sae-Bom to look after her girl just for a little while longer. Unable to suppress her temptations any longer, Eun-Ji turns in front of her eyes.
Meanwhile, Tae-Seok interviews the other residents of the apartment block that managed to get out. Namely that of So-Yoon, wanting to know how many people have been infected. The trouble is, there is a limited amount of time and resources to synthesize and multiply the cure.
With Sae-Bom’s antibodies in short supply, they only have a finite amount to use. Tae-Seok uses one of them on his wife. After injecting her, soldiers show and put him under arrest for breaking protocols.
Tae-Seok helps Sae-Bom escape before being captured. She wears a gas mask and military gear to blend in. She heads for Kang Eun-Ji’s room first, giving her the cure. Lieutenant Lee shows up and helps Sae-Bom escape too. She’s forced to make it look like she’s incapacitated Kim; a stiff blow to the face from the butt of the gun should do it!
Yi-Hyun has already left for work. Kim’s plan didn’t work and now Sae-Bom is looking for him. Tae-Seok rats out his superior, pointing out that she has antibodies and is heading back to the apartment complex. Yi-Hyun shows up looking for him, but there’s bad news. Sae-Bom found out about Kim’s plan and is looking for him instead.
1 Day Ago
Yi-Hyun is on the roof, after killing Andrew and leaving him in a pool of his own blood. He walks away. The Building Rep tries to take his gun but Andrew stirs and holds her down.
The news of a cure and vaccine is breaking out like wildfire throughout the city. People are frantic to find out more about it and what it means for them.
Yi-Hyun wakes up from his injuries and finds Joo-Hyeong, spouting out nonsense about his injuries. To be honest, the more pressing concern is Se-Kyu, who’s still alive but barely. He still has a knife sticking out of him but despite giving the man painkillers and his bedroom, it doesn’t seem like there’s much hope. At best, Joo-Hyeong predicts he has a few days before dying.
Yeon-Ok returns to the apartment complex and confronts the others about what’s going on. She is covered in blood, but there’s a bigger problem. Andrew is not actually dead and appears to be lurking about in the building somewhere.
Yi-Hyun remains vigilant but heads down to the parking lot. There, he finds Dong-Hyun sobbing in his car. He’s bloodied and clearly hurt but – more importantly – still alive. He also hasn’t turned so Yi-Hyun takes him back inside with them. He returns home to his father, sobbing, and apologizes for his earlier behaviour. It’s a really heartwarming moment, especially as he’s hugged and brought back inside.
In the hallway, there was a mutiny. Se-Kyu attacked Joo-Hyeong, which led to him being forced out into the hallway and then being attacked by Joo-Hyeong. However, Se-Kyu was eventually able to escape and this is what happened in between.
In his absence, Se-Kyu begins taking Joo-Hyeong’s things for himself. More importantly though, Yi-Hyun is alive – and at home waiting for Sae-Bom.
Present Day… Again
Joo-Hyeong and Yeon-Ok catch up to their present timeline and Yeon-Ok slides over a weight from the gym, revealing that she is Sang-Hee’s hostage. A power play is enacted, with Joo-Hyeong and Yeon-Ok working together to oust Yi-Hyun and kill him. With Sang-Hee used as a hostage, Joo-Hyeong slashes her and throws the woman at Yi-Hyun, knowing that the blood will make him turn.
Despite rushing back into his unit, Yi-Hyun starts to do just that, becoming infected. Sae-Bom’s words convince him to see the light, promising to stay with him no matter what. And just like that, she kisses him passionately.
With the virus still spreading, the damage has been done. Stock markets worldwide, as well as in Korea, are crashing. Prices of crude oil, gold and raw materials have all fallen. As Dong-Hyun and his family watch the news report this, masked soldiers show up and escort them out of the building. This was all as a result of Tae-Seok encouraging the soldiers to show up at the complex. ..
Interestingly, Sae-Bom isn’t the only one with antibodies in her blood. It turns out Soo-Min does too, which Tae-Seok learns when he arrives at the block and checks out his sxcar. Joo-Hyeong and Yeon-Ok ironically find themselves with nothing. They always wanted to ascend to the top of the apartment block and now they have… alone. And without anyone to care.
The two men on the roof of the tent are fighting and refusing to come down. It’s a surprisingly satisfying sight to see them both with no belongings or dignity left.
Where is Andrew?
The police are still searching for Andrew, who is still unaccounted for. Yi-Hyun remains vigilant and continues to search the building. He finds Andrew downstairs, in a big standoff.
Sae-Bom shows up and eventually decides to cut her hand open, intending to lure the infected man out. It works too, as Andrew begins convulsing, letting go of Yi-Hyun and staggering toward her. He’s eventually shot dead and stopped. Yi-Hyun though, fades out of consciousness as the threat looks to be finally over.
How does Happiness end?
We follow the story of a year as it unfolds, from the moment the vaccine is released to the people who are benefiting from it. We see how it spreads and how people are reacting to it. We also follow the government’s efforts to keep up with demand and ensure that everyone is getting the vaccine.
The two women are together and the men and women from the apartment are meeting their comeuppance.
The ending of the game leaves us with the assumption that everything has gone well and the viral threat is over. It’s not explicitly stated, but it’s implied that the stocks have improved worldwide. This ending gives a good send-off for our main characters! ..
The Episode Review
I really wish the Happiness story was 16 episodes long. While the story manages to wrap everything up pretty well, there are also elements here that haven’t been as strong as they could have. The Andrew murderer subplot, for example, felt like it was included to drum up more melodrama but really wasn’t needed.
The vaccine and curing everyone felt rushed because there were other episodes that could have shown the struggle that was to administer it, as well as the slow road to recovery.
Despite that, the show does a great job of portraying all its main and supporting characters in a consistent manner. There is a consistency to this series in how it portrays its humans, showing off the best and worst part of humanity. As Yi-Hyun himself utters halfway through the episode “You’re worse than the infected!”
The main point of this article is that greed, gluttony, and betrayal lead to misery and destruction. This is shown by the characters in the story, who are able to find happiness in the end.
