‘Happiness’: Episode 4 Recap – Residential Building Becomes Infected Zone
The Korean drama Happiness is picking up the pace with its thriller storyline centered around a heinous infection. As the main characters get caught up trying to solve where the infection came from, they find themselves in a dire situation. Happiness Episode 4 sets the K-drama in a tension-filled residential building now sealed off from the public.
While episode 1 of the K-drama only hinted at what fans can expect, Happiness’s storyline is getting deeper and deeper into chaos. Fans will soon realize it is not only about bloodthirsty monsters but separation depending on social status.
[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers about Happiness.]
Building tenants find themselves barricaded inside in ‘Happiness’ Episode 4
Tae-seok (Jo Woo-jin) barricaded the residential buildings in episode 3. Viewers are introduced to more characters trapped inside. Ko Se-kyu (Kim Young-woong) and Ji Moon-hee (Lee Ji-ha) were cleaning apartment #201 with their ominous and mysterious employee named Andrew (Lee Joo-seung).
In another apartment, Kook Hae-sung (Park Hyoung-soo) is a lawyer and receives a call from Joo-hyeong (Baek Hyun-jin). Joo-hyeong asks for help in proving his innocence after being accused of killing his wife before she turned. But, Yi-hyun (Park Hyung-sik) finds him and arrests him again. Fans then meet building tenant Na Hyun-kyung (Park Hee-von) in apartment #401, a webtoon designer and her agent.
Sae-bom learns Park Seo-yoon’s (Song Ji-woo) mother is trapped outside. Seo-yoon has a serious medical condition where blood pools into her heart if not properly taken care of. Sae-bom (Han Hyo-joo) promises to watch over her and try to get her outside for her appointment. The building tenants then gather for a meeting.
Sae-bom and Yi-hyun look for answers in ‘Happiness’
The tenants learn the symptoms of someone infected and must quarantine for a week. Sae-bom secretly meets with Tae-seok to get Seo-yoon to her mother. But Tae-seok tells her Seo-yoon’s parents likely took the drug as well. He says Seo-yoon is safer with Sae-bom. At the meeting, Oh Yeon-ok (Bae Hae-sun) becomes the group’s spokesperson but disregards the concerns of the renting tenants and the only building management staff member.
Sae-bom and Yi-hyun start to investigate and ask for the IDs of Se-kyu, Moon-hee, and Andrew. Yi-hyun suspects something is different about Andrew as he scratched off his picture on his ID and refuses to take off his mask and glasses. They then question the gym’s personal trainer Kim Seung-beom (Joo Jong-hyuk) about his co-worker who sold the drug to the residents. Sae-bom notices he is constantly drinking water and then barricades him in his office.
Later on, Tae-seok contacts Sae-bom and Yi-hyun to stop the son of the tenants in #302 from live-streaming. As the characters go to sleep, Tae-seok visits someone who is the answer to the infection. In a special room, fans are introduced to Choi Seok-ju (Lee Ki-young). He is the Chairman of the pharmaceutical company Tae-seok worked for.
The viral infection has a darker backstory in ‘Happiness’ Episode 4
Seok-ju is in a hospital bed looking over company reports. Tae-seok explains the infection has become global. Happiness episode 4 ramps up the tension when Tae-seok reveals Seok-ju released the drug called “Next.” In a flashback, the drug dealer introduced in episode 2 told him the truth.
The drug dealer did not buy the drug. Someone told him about the warehouse and could take as much of the drug as he wanted. Tae-seok explains Seok-ju released the drug to accelerate the cure. Seok-ju warns Tae-seok his wife’s life is on the line. A flashback shows Seok-ju feeding on Tae-seok’s wife.
The following day, the residents of another building try to lock the main characters in until Sae-bom convinces them to let them go. Sae-bom, Yi-hyun, Seo-yoon, and Kim Jung-kook (Lee Joon-hyuk) enjoy a peaceful moment eating lunch on the rooftop. Later on, when Sae-bom and Yi-hyun find out Seung-beom is somewhere loose in the building.
They notice blood outside an elevator and realize there is an infected tenant in the garage. When they get to safety and catch up to Seung-beom, the scene cuts to Andrew watching the chaos unfold from the roof. Outside the building, more people have turned. Viewers learn the first infected tenant scratched Ji Sung-sil (Lee Joo-sil) from #302.
Happiness is available to stream on Viki.
