Happiness: Episode 4

by quirkycase

The residents and unfortunate visitors to the complex realize they’re trapped. Some deal with the news better than others, but it’s up to our police trio and a certain representative to foster a sense of calm. Our leads do their best to keep everyone safe, but it’s only a matter of time before things take a turn for the worse.

 
EPISODE 4 RECAP

We jump back to Yi-hyun’s arrest of Joo-hyung. Yi-hyun asks Sang-hee to come to the station to give a statement, but she says she’s too shaken up. She just wants to pack her things and leave. As soon as Yi-hyun walks out, she rushes to the bedroom like she’s looking for something.

Not knowing about the lockdown, Yi-hyun is confused when Sae-bom calls and says she’s locked in. The second he walks out of the elevator, Sae-bom grabs him in a hug, relieved not to be alone. Joo-hyung runs off in his handcuffs, although we know he can’t go anywhere.

Meanwhile, Jung-kook drops off an order of rice cakes at Seo-yoon’s apartment. She sees his gun holster and guesses he’s a cop. He says he’s a friend of Yi-hyun’s and came to catch a bad guy. Seo-yoon wants to see his gun, but Jung-kook argues it’s too dangerous; he’s never even used it.

Hak-je arrives home with Sung-shil’s “hamburger” which turns out to be a sandwich. He argues they both have bread. Pfft. He notices a bandage on her wrist but scoffs that she’s exaggerating when she says she sprained it from falling.

She dejectedly asks if he’s not even curious how she hurt herself, so he belatedly asks what happened. As she starts to explain, their grown son Dong-hyun opens the door to yell at Sung-shil for letting him oversleep. He heads down to the garage and joins the line of cars trying to leave the complex.

In apartment 202, GO SE-KYU (Kim Young-woong) and JI MOON-HEE (Lee Ji-ha) clean with the help of their part-time worker ANDREW (Lee Joo-seung). The couple runs a cleaning business and picked an unfortunate day for this job.

In 602, Hae-sung and So-yoon wonder what’s up with the blaring sirens. So-yoon thinks the apartment might be on fire and explains how she once didn’t even notice that her apartment building was on fire until a neighbor yelled to tell her.

They’re interrupted by Joo-hyung who calls Hae-sung for legal help, claiming he was arrested without a warrant. When Hae-sung asks what the charges are, Yi-hyun picks up the phone and says “murder” before ending the call.

Joo-hyung fruitlessly appeals to Sae-bom and threatens to report them for human rights violations. She calmly instructs Yi-hyun to hit him without making him bleed. While Yi-hyun takes Joo-hyung back inside, Sae-bom checks out their new perimeter.

In 401, NA SOO-MIN (Na Cheol ) whines at his sister Hyun-kyung for refusing to lend him money. He then tries to convince her to let him and his family live with her in this fancy apartment. They’re interrupted by a message over the PA system from Young-ok who announces a meeting that evening to discuss the quarantine situation.

Hyun-kyung turns on the news and sees live video from outside the complex. She rounds on Soo-min to ask if it was like that when he came in. He flippantly says it was, but he thought it was construction (… by the military?).

Sae-bom babysits Seo-yoon as she waits to hear from her mom who hasn’t been able to get inside, despite begging the soldiers. She calls and promises Seo-yoon she’ll found a way in and asks to talk to Sae-bom. She explains that Seo-yoon has a heart condition and shouldn’t exercise intensely or bleed. (Ack, that’s not a zombie apocalypse friendly condition.)

Seo-yoon wipes away her tears before Sae-bom returns to the room. As Seo-yoon talks to her mom, Sae-bom takes a call from her worried mom. She wants Sae-bom to stay inside and ride it out. Sae-bom sighs that that’d be nice, but not everyone can do that.

While Sae-bom calls Tae-seok and asks to meet, Yi-hyun gets Joo-hyung situated back in his apartment. He returns Joo-hyung’s phone and tells him to stay put. Sang-hee is still there and hopes Yi-hyun can help get her out of the complex, but he explains he’s stuck here too.

She doesn’t want to risk seeing other residents – rumors must already be spreading – but Yi-hun is reluctant to leave her with Joo-hyung. As a safety measure, he handcuffs Joo-hyung to the bedside table before heading down to the residents’ meeting.

He runs into So-yoon in the hallway on the way to the meeting. (Hae-sung was too scared to mingle with the possibly infected.) She asks about Joo-hyung, and Yi-hyun assures her he’s handcuffed in his apartment, so it’s safe to meet with him. He advises them against taking the case, though.

Meanwhile, Joo-hyung tries to bargain with Sang-hee, but she’s unsympathetic. That is, until he says he’ll pay her to free him. “How much will you give me?” she asks.

Before the meeting starts, Jung-kook shares with Yi-hyun that he’s been asking around and no one knows about the drugs. The live feed from the CDCH begins, and Ji-soo announces there will be a week-long quarantine for the complex.

They’ll compensate for damages and ensure their meals and other necessities are provided for. Ji-soo tells them to come to her if there’s anything else they need. She signs off before they can ask any questions.

Young-ok takes control of the room and manages to keep everyone calm. They worry about gathering in groups, but she reminds them the government announced the virus isn’t airborne. Besides, she can’t imagine there are more infected people in this sophisticated group (*snort*). Plus, they have cops.

Jung-kook pushes Yi-hyun over to brief the group on their behalf. Yi-hyun goes over the noticeable symptoms like thirst and white eyes. He encourages everyone to stay in groups and leave doors open when gathered.

Meanwhile, Sae-bom meets Tae-seok in the garage. She knows he tried to ensure the lockdown happened before kids came home from school and asks him to help get Seo-yoon out. Tae-seok reveals that Seo-yoon’s parents are likely both infected, so Seo-yoon would be better off with a caring guardian.

Back at the meeting, Yi-hyun talks Soo-min out of climbing over the wall, and Young-ok explains that the other buildings don’t want anything to do with them because the first case came from their building. Sae-bom wanders in as residents ask if any staff members are in their building.

Young-ok looks toward the door where a cleaning lady waves. “No,” she responds with a smile. Sae-bom gestures at the door in disbelief and announces that there is a staff member right there. Young-ok breezes past that and starts campaigning for herself as leader.

Sae-bom looks ready to challenge Young-ok to a duel, but Jung-kook and Yi-hyun talk her down. Young-ok next introduces her pastor husband SUN WOO-CHANG (Cha Soon-bae), and he starts sermonizing to a crowd that is not in the mood. Then, So-yoon hops up to advertise their law firm’s services. This feels like a comedy skit.

After everyone leaves, Young-ok approaches Sae-bom to express her disappointment that a police force member is undermining order. Sae-bom counters that’s not her field; she suppresses terrorists. Yi-hyun tells Young-ok to come to him on the cooperation front. She walks off without a word.

Sae-bom and Yi-hyun meet with the gym trainer who is drinking a concerning amount of water. He swears he didn’t take the drug and knows nothing about it, but he seems a little too anxious.

The cleaning couple aren’t sure what to do, seeing as they don’t live here. Sae-bom says she’ll find out if they can stay in the apartment they’re cleaning. When Yi-hyun asks about Andrew, Moon-hee says he’s a good kid but suffered a head injury as a child. He likes to cover his face and didn’t used to leave the house, but now that masks are the norm, he ventured out and got a job.

Yi-hyun collects IDs to make a list of everyone in the building. He discovers Andrew’s birth name is Ahn Guk-jin. He scratched out his face on his ID.

Sae-bom and Yi-hyun still don’t trust the trainer and instruct him to stay in the gym office for the night. Sae-bom takes the water keg to see how he does with thirst and slaps a sign on the window warning that he’s an infection risk.

Yi-hyun diligently compiles possible infected people, making Sae-bom marvel that he’s truly a cop. She hunts for supplies and gets Se-hoon to lend her blankets in exchange for getting him that t-shirt he wants.

Meanwhile, Yi-hyun checks on Joo-hyung who’s busy looking up inheritance laws. Yi-hyun unlocks the handcuffs with the reminder he lives right below him. He’s prepared a place for Sang-hee to sleep, but she says she’ll stay with Joo-hyung. She then recants her witness statement, saying she lied because she was angry. Joo-hyung looks punchably smug.

Yi-hyun has no choice but to leave for now. He’s surprised to get a call from Tae-seok who tells him that Dong-hyun from 602 is live streaming in the building. He threatens to shut off TV and internet services if Yi-hyun doesn’t stop the filming.

After learning at the meeting that Sung-shil met Zombie Min-ji, Hak-je takes the bandage off her wrist to make sure she’s not scratched. When he sees it’s just sprained, he again berates her for being weak. Ugh.

Sae-bom and Yi-hyun come looking for Dong-hyun, but he’s filming outside Joo-hyung’s apartment. They crash his video, which gets him more donations to Sae-bom’s irritation. Yi-hyun stops the recording.

That night, Yi-hyun is grumpy due to their surprise houseguests. He grumbles about the good vibes between him and Sae-bom today. Now, he’s stuck sleeping in the living room with Jung-kook while the Seo-yoon and Sae-bom take the bedroom.

Before falling asleep, Sae-bom gets a text from her mom. She hopes Sae-bom will be happy and not take after her. In the living room, Yi-hyun looks up Tae-seok’s assault case. He asks Jung-kook what happened to that Chairman.

Cut to Ji-soo and Tae-seok in an underground facility, paying a visit to CHAIRMAN CHOI (Lee Ki-young) who’s in a hospital bed. He’s disappointed that Tae-seok let the situation blow up publicly like this, saying he recommended Tae-seok because he thought he could handle things quietly.

Tae-seok counters that he could’ve had Chairman Choi not released Next into the market. He theorizes that Chairman Choi needed large scale infection to drive treatment development and save his own life.

Chairman Choi cruelly reminds him that his pregnant wife’s life is at stake too. “Do you know that your wife’s blood tasted the best?” Well, that’s just gross and uncalled for. Tae-seok doesn’t let Chairman Choi get under his skin and remarks that the thirst must be hard to resist.

Suddenly, Chairman Choi grabs the guard next to his bed and takes a chunk out of his neck. Ji-soo pulls out her gun, but Tae-seok watches impassively, even as Chairman Choi pulls against his chains to lunge at his face.

Outside, Tae-seok orders Ji-soo to track everyone close to Chairman Choi so they can shut down the distribution channels. Ji-soo argues Chairman Choi should be quarantined like the other infected, but Tae-seok says he’s too high up for that. What matters most now is the treatment.

The next day, the news announces more lock downs, bringing the total forced quarantine locations to eight. Various countries have begun closing their borders in response to the zombie plague.

Sae-bom wakes all bright-eyed, excited to for their free meals from the government. They head downstairs and find the doors to the grounds locked. The other building owners decided to lock them in for the week so they wouldn’t have to mingle with the residents of the infected building.

As expected, Sae-bom isn’t having this and swipes Jung-kook’s gun. She levels it at the glass doors and asks if they want to unlock the doors or have her shoot. They unlock the doors.

Ji-soo brings in the food and checks if Sae-bom needs anything else. She starts to ask for an SOU t-shirt for Se-hoon, but upon seeing Ji-soo’s blank expression, she guesses it’s a no go.

Yi-hyun talks to the supermarket worker Bo-ram who is surprisingly calm. She shares that she’s getting triple pay for this. Meanwhile, Sae-bom delivers the lunches. She also scored an army shirt from Ji-soo and gifts it to Se-hoon who lights up like a kid at Christmas.

He tells her to check out the rooftop, so she takes Yi-hyun and the gang up there for a picnic. They enjoy the beautiful day and take a break from all the quarantine worries. Sae-bom then remembers the trainer locked in the gym, but he’s missing when she and Yi-hyun go down there.

Yi-hyun calls Young-ok to have her make an announcement over the PA system, but it seems they’ve been cut off by management. Sae-bom spots someone running, so she and Yi-hyun give chase. They find blood by the basement elevator.

They hear strange zombie noises coming from the elevator and make a break for it before the doors open. As they pass the trainer in his car, Sae-bom yells at him to follow if he wants to live. The three of them make it inside their building with the cleaning lady’s help.

Moments later, a man covered in blood bangs on the glass and begs for help. Before they can react, a zombie tackles the man and pushes him out of sight. Sae-bom and Yi-hyun grasp each other’s hands tightly.

From above, Andrew watches the chaos unfolding on the grounds as turned residents attack people. At home, Sung-shil checks a wound on her back – it looks like she got scratched after all. Seo-yoon turns on the TV, but there’s no connection. Her mom sends an I-love-you text that reads like a goodbye.

Yi-hyun and Sae-bom lock and barricade the lobby doors before any zombies can get into their building. Tae-seok watches the madness on CCTV and calls Sae-bom to check if she’s safe. As a zombified security guard comes up to the glass, Tae-seok notes it’s over for the other buildings.

 
COMMENTS

How ironic that their building, the supposedly infected one, is the only one that might survive the week. Young-ok and her owner gang might be thankful for the cop renters after all. Of course, now we know that Sung-shil is also infected, so their building isn’t safe either. If everyone mostly stays to themselves, they might have a chance. But in times of panic, people don’t always do the most rational thing.

Young-ok would be extremely irritating to deal with in real life, but she cracks me up here. I’m thoroughly enjoying Bae Hae-sun’s performance. She lives in her own little perfect world, worrying about sophistication while hell breaks loose. I wonder if she’ll crack or stay that composed even with zombies running amuck. Maybe she’ll become a sophisticated zombie and rule her own little zombie kingdom with decorum.

All this chaos because of one selfish douche. Chairman Choi is a literal menace to society. I have a feeling Tae-seok is going to take him out after the crisis is over. The man unleashed a plague to speed up treatment production for his own benefit. And that’s for a drug his own company acquired and originally put on the market! My question is how he’s related to the military. He’s the one who recommended Tae-seok for this project – likely because he knows he’s motivated by his wife’s illness – and seems to be running the show. How much power does he have in all this and why? Is it just because he’s rich? Probably.

Poor little Seo-yoon. Keeping her safe with her health condition is going to be a challenge, and now it seems like her parents are infected. It looks like Sae-bom and Yi-hyun have gained a kid. Not that I’m rooting for her parents to die or anything, but if they don’t make it, I can totally see Sae-bom and Yi-hyun adopting her. They would make an adorable little family.

Yi-hyun is definitely trying to use their marriage arrangement as a catalyst to a real relationship. I’m not getting any romantic feeling vibes from Sae-bom, but if anything could make that happen, it’s a zombie apocalypse. Honestly, I don’t care if they end up staying a badass friend pair or a romantic couple – I just enjoy them together. I would feel a little bad for Yi-hyun if he’s eternally friend-zoned, though, since he’s liked her for so long. But this being a drama and all, I have a feeling Sae-bom is going to start seeing him in a new light.

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