Recap Korean Drama "Happiness" Episode 11

Aug 7, 2022

Episode 11 of Happiness begins with our killer unveiling who he really is. With a gun pointed at Sae-Bom, Andrew takes Sae-Yoon away. Just before they leave the apartment, Sae-Bom promises to find her and bring the girl back.

In the apartment, Sae-Bom and Yi-Hyun work together to try and fix up Jung-Kook. He’s in a rough way though, as Sae-Bom makes another promise. This time that they’ll all leave this place alive.

In order to do that, Yi-Hyun strikes up a deal with Tae-Seok, learning that Sae-Bom has antibodies in her blood that could be used to try and fight off this infection. That gives them leverage to level against the official.

Now, things take a further turn in the apartment complex when the others gather in the gym downstairs. It turns out the Building Rep and Joo-Hyeong were both aware of this killer’s intentions. In fact, Joo-Hyeong has known for a few days, since the cleaning lady was butchered.

Their meeting is broken up by Andrew returning and bringing Yi-Hyun and Sae-Bom into the gym. Their radio is slid across thee floor, as our two protagonists confirm they’ve been liaising with Tae-Seok on the outside. They’ve been feeding back everything they’ve been up to, including the fight for food and mutiny. While some are indifferent, Se-Kyu and Moon-Hee look genuinely shocked and ashamed at their actions.

Andrew smiles evilly, telling them that the only way he’ll agree to let Seo-Yoon go is if they switch the electricity back on in the building. Dong-Hyun goes with them, down to the parking lot. He intends to try and drive away, even if it means smashing into the barricades to do so.

The pair turn the electricity on but the loud hum from the generators immediately brings the infected swarming to their location. While Yi-Hyun and Sae-Bom manage to get out, Dong-Hyun is not so lucky. Inside his car, he’s completely surrounded.

Meanwhile, Yi-Hyun’s bite is finally revealed to Se-Bom. As the infected try and pull him out of the elevator, his shirt opens up and it’s shown. “I’m sorry I didn’t keep my promise,” He says, as she throws her arms around him and begins weeping.

Upstairs, the despicable Joo-Hyeong finally meets his match. After almost suffocating Jung-Kook with a pillow, it’s Sang-Hee who gets the last laugh. She grabs a golf club and smacks him upside the head while he’s on his laptop.

Another character who almost gets their comeuppance here is our slimy lawyer, Hae-Sung. His wife, So-Yoon, locks him outside the apartment in a bid to try and knock some sense into him. Sae-Bom soon shows though and is reunited with Sae-Yoon, who happens to be inside. All of them band together and head for the rooftop.

With Tae-Seok imminently due to arrive at their location, Andrew heads up to the roof to stop their escape. Yi-Hyun sacrifices himself to make sure the others are safe, handcuffing the door and making sure Andrew can’t get to them. Yi-Hyun throws the key off the edge and turns, biting Andrew and infecting him too.

Down in the parking lot, Sae-Bom drives out the apartment complex with Sae-Yoon, where soldiers are ready to pick them up. Only, Tae-Seok injects her and takes the young woman to their facility. This isn’t what Sae-Bom wanted though, desperate to find Yi-Hyun and bring him back too. It’s clear she’s grown true affection for him and as she sits in her room, she plays videos of Yi-Hyun and struggles to hold back her sobs.

The Episode Review

The penultimate episode of Happiness sees lots of progression across numerous different subplots. Joo-Hyeong finally gets his comeuppance while the building rep gets a taster of her own medicine too. Yi-Hyun’s sacrifice is perhaps obvious and orchestrated, but still a different pill to swallow all the same. However, there’s still time for one final twist, especially if they end up saved

More pressing than that though is the current situation surrounding Sae-Bom. It’s obvious that she’s the key to all of this now and I’d imagine the final episode will see her antibodies used to hastily secure a cure to this infection and save the day. There’s no season 2 to this one though folks, so it all comes down to the final episode to wrap everything up.

Happiness has been more about the human condition and the good and bad in all of humanity rather than the larger plotline of surviving a zombie apocalypse. It’s been a surprisingly compact and well written story too, although extra episodes would have been nice to flesh out more of the world at large, showing Korea ravaged to a larger degree. Either way though, Happiness looks set to bow out on a high!