If you'd like to watch my reactions to Korean Drama Happiness, here are links to all the episodes:

Happiness Episode 1

Happiness Episode 2

Happiness Episode 3

Happiness Episode 4

Happiness Episode 5

Happiness Episode 6

Happiness Episode 7

Happiness Episode 8

Happiness Episode 9

Happiness Episode 10

Happiness Episode 11

Happiness Episode 12 Finale

Bonus: Happiness Commentary with English Subs

May you all have Happiness in your lives!

 Okay. I'm falling for this show and for Park Hyungshik. Check out my reaction below!

 I've heard amazing things about this one so I'm starting it! Thought it would be nice to react on my channel so I can pace myself and actually savor the show. Here's to hoping nobody dies!

Hey, everyone! I'm sorry for the lack of posts and reviews. I've been sick the last two weeks and doing anything just felt like a chore. Not only was I not able to go to work (just so sick, thank goodness it wasn't COVID), I also didn't feel like watching dramas. Reviewing episodes and recording videos were too burdensome. I didn't have the motivation to do them. While typing this, I still haven't seen the latest episode of Hometown Cha Cha. Sigh.

I did watch up to Episode 12 though. Usually, I write down notes while watching so I could remember what I wanted to talk about for the review later on. However, I couldn't do that for Episodes 11 and 12 because I was so sick to even get out of bed. I watched the episodes in bed, not thinking much, and wow, I enjoyed them so much! That's why I'm thinking I'm probably too stressed out about having to record video reviews. Either that or I'm just so lacking motivation. Weather's been really gloomy here as the season changed to fall. That probably contributed to all of this.

Anyway, I still want to finish HomCha so I'll just be typing my thoughts here.

In my last review, I said I jumped ships and I prefer Seong-hyun over Doo-shik. I guess that really clouded my judgement while watching Episode 9. lol It was frustrating because I wished it was Seong-hyun pretending to be Hye-jin's boyfriend instead. I mean, Seong-hyun was so nice, polite, and pleasant. Doo-shik's banmal philosophy really ticked me off during this episode because I didn't think it was right to talk to someone way older who he's meeting for the first time that way. Thank goodness Dad called him out in the end! I understand his philosophy but it was borderline rude how he kept using banmal to Hye-jin's parents. It was okay when he does it to villagers since he's known them his whole life or to people closer to him in age. Also, he was talking to his doctor formally so he's capable of doing that to other people. Why was he still talking to Hye-jin's parents like that? Loophole? Hmmm.

The whole fake dating was hilarious to watch though! It was awkward but funny at the same time. The whole village was in on the secret and I love how they just go for it. It's nice to see Hye-jin and Mi-seon really be a part of the community like this. Also, Hye-jin is now running while wearing less revealing clothes. People probably won't say anything now even if she wears her usual outfit but she adjusts her wardrobe anyway. It's a small detail but I'm grateful they added it.

The family go around the neighborhood like Hye-jin is introducing her new life to them. The more they spend time together, the more Dad starts to like Doo-shik as well. Maybe Doo-shik was feeling the same because he confessed to him later that he's not really Hye-jin's boyfriend. Even Dad said "But it could be you." and there's really no other better confirmation from the universe than that. The only problem is that Dad wishes that Hye-jin could have a big family because she didn't have one growing up. Doo-shik is alone and that's an issue to him. To be honest, the whole Gongjin is like family to Hye-jin so Dad's wish is technically a reality now.

I also love how Stepmom is a very nice person. It must have been hard getting married into this family where everyone's broken when she got there. Hye-jin even ran away from home when she started dating her dad. Their relationship is still a little bit awkward but it's nice to see both of them working to get closer to each other. Stepmom is also not afraid to speak her mind in front of Hye-jin. She's not condescending, just honest. I love her! Stepmoms in kdramas are usually awful so having a loving one here is a welcome surprise.

It got confirmed in this episode through a flashback that my boy Seong-hyun tried to confess to Hye-jin back then. Unfortunately, she was already dating scumbag ex even before my boy could say anything. It really broke me when he said "I can't be late again" because dang, the moment he said it, I knew and he probably knew he's already late. I was yelling at my screen as he drives to Seoul, talking to Hye-jin on the phone about wanting to meet later. Like dude! Do it now! He even did a U-turn!!! A FREAKING U-TURN! But he was already late. Doo-shik already got the lightbulb changed in front of her house. Damn it!

Episode 10

Hye-jin's house got infiltrated by resident pervert but Doo-shik came to her rescue. At this point, they both should know that they really like each other. Doo-shik got stabbed while trying to protect her! This sent them both to the hospital and my boy Seong-hyun saw firsthand how late he actually is. He did get there but you can't really go against something the universe has put together.

Because Hye-jin's house is literally a crime scene, they decided that she'll sleepover at Doo-shik's. Still shocked from what happened, Hye-jin couldn't sleep so they had a heart-to-heart talk instead. Doo-shik opened up about his grandfather and how he thinks that he died because of him. He was out watching the World Cup when his grandpa collapsed due to a heart attack. If he didn't go out and just stayed at home, would his grandpa survive? Hye-jin said that what ifs are meaningless and that it's not Hong Banjang's fault. That probably meant a lot to him considering how all he heard growing up was that he brings death to people around him. Seriously though, we can blame ourselves for things we feel guilty about but sometimes, things just happen and it's not really on us. Hye-jin's line reminded me of Six Flying Dragons where Yeon-hee tells Ddang-sae that it's not his fault. It's just how the world works. He says it later on to another character to comfort her like how it comforted him all these years. Okay, I'm crying now. Watch Six Flying Dragons, y'all.

Doo-shik mentioned that today is his grandpa's death anniversary and that Hye-jin is the second person he's opened up to about this. I'm thinking the first one is his best friend (this is headcanon) who died. Last episode, we were shown through the epilogue that Doo-shik attended a funeral of someone who seems very close to him. It was a man and Doo-shik was devastated. It seems to be the root of his nightmares and why he's seeing a psychologist for. I think the guy was his best friend and he died due to something Doo-shik has done or has not done. He's still thinking it's his fault, just like how his grandpa's death was because of him.

Anyway, I'm really glad Doo-shik has the whole village as his family. They were so sweet to bring him food to put on his grandpa's memorial table. They all came with something and pretended like those were just leftovers or things they picked up from the street. So sweet! They didn't want to burden him but they still wanted to help. Hye-jin stayed to help out and ended up greeting Doo-shik's grandpa as well. She ate with him after and even peeled crabs for him. She slips and says "It takes a lot of love for someone to do this for someone else." No truer words had been said! Crabs are tasty but they are really bothersome to peel. Even my parents won't peel it for me. I've never peeled them for anyone else before. May a Doo-shik come into my life and maybe I'll want to peel crabs to feed him.

Seong-hyun, not wanting to lose his chance again, stayed in Gongjin to confess his feelings for Hye-jin. This was heartbreaking. We as viewers know where this is going so it was hard to see him be nervous and try to get the words out. He even had to psyche himself that this is just a show. He asked Hye-jin to give him his cue and when he was done, he's the one who yelled "Cut!" Ah my poor boy Seong-hyun. It's just not meant for you. Hye-jin couldn't say anything to him at that moment. She obviously likes him enough to feel bad having to reject him but not to the extent she'll say yes.

With both Hye-jin and Mi-seon feeling down, they decided to go to Seoul for a girls weekend. However, Hye-jin obviously wasn't herself. Instead of shopping for herself, she keeps on looking at men's clothes. I totally feel for her here. She's just totally into Doo-shik. It's insane. Mi-seon wins best friend of the year as she let Hye-jin go back to Gongjin despite not having a ride for herself. We all need a Mi-seon in lour lives. I just love how Hye-jin got the realization that she IS in love with Doo-shik. It was such a beautiful moment of her getting drenched from the rain, understanding exactly what she's feeling.

The episode ended with Hye-jin confessing her feelings for Doo-shik and him reciprocating it. They kiss!

I'm so happy for these two! They finally succumbed to the feelings! It's nice to see them meeting each other's families and opening up more before they got together. I'm just worried because we still have so many episodes left and things can get so wrong still. We still don't know what exactly happened to Doo-shik and the implications of his trauma.

Seong-hyun really broke me during these episodes though. I mean, we've all been there. Going for someone but always a step late. I'm really happy for Hye-jin and Doo-shik but I can't help to sympathize for my boy here. I'm hoping for happy days ahead!

Wow. It's been a while and it felt so good watching You Raise Me Up again! Viki had some copyright issues so the first two episodes got taken down for editing and only got put back up last Friday with episodes 3 and 4. The pilot really got me so hyped and excited for what's to come next so just imagine the blue balls it gave me when they didn't come out. ;A;

Anyway, we continued what we left off last time with Yong-shik about to jump off the roof and Roo-da trying to stop him. She, of course, was offering to help him because of her darn bet with Ji-hyuk. I really hate it because I know it will be a problem later on and will just hurt both of them. Her words seem to be effective though because Yong-shik decided to keep living.

He went downstairs and was greeted by my girl Jennifer aka the best character in this show (Just realized her name actually sounds like "The Prettiest" in Korean 제니퍼 - 젤 이뻐 - Jel-ee-ppeo). I didn't get to talk about her in my last review but she's so awesome! She's a fortuneteller who's been friends with Yong-shik for a long time. She used to be Kim Myung-ja but with her transition, she is now Jennifer. She's basically the only person who stuck with Yong-shik all this time. She said she came because she can't have her friend hanging between life and death. She comforted Yong-shik and even left him with one of the best lines I've heard in a kdrama: "If you look at your fortune, you'll know you'll live until your old age. In that long life you're going to live, don't you think at least one of those days will be good?" I'm not crying, you are! That's so comforting. She said it to Yong-shik but I felt comforted by her words too.

Yong-shik really made me cry when he revealed the reason why he didn't jump. He said that all this time, he's been desperately wanting to hear someone tell him that he can do it. He himself is hopeless but hearing Roo-da tell him he can do it, he just couldn't bring himself to jump off. This really hit hard. I feel like sometimes, all we need is one person to truly believe in us. A few words is enough to keep us going. It reminded me of one poem that really left an impression on me called "The Most Powerful Words in the World" by Kim Ae-ran. I'll put it on the end of this post.

Roo-da went home to her sister and told her what happened. I'm so glad her sister Roo-ri has her senses intact. She told Roo-da that she shouldn't use Yong-shik just so she can keep her pride against Ji-Hyuk. Roo-da still thinks she's doing the right thing since she'll treat his erectile dysfunction anyway.

It's easier said than done though as we saw the next day. Even the stimulator chair can't make Yong-shik's junior stand up. She told him not to feel awkward since they're in a hospital and she's a doctor there, not his friend. Funny because she kept using informal speech with him. Maybe if she wanted to keep it professional, she should start by using formal speech. Roo-da went for a visit to Yong-shik's pink place and changed his whole lifestyle. Junk food, pink shirts, and skinny jeans all get put in the trash. She took him to the swimming pool for some exercise. According to her, it's the best exercise to treat his illness. It's crazy how subbing this drama made me research testicular metabolism. Like I thought that's for stomachs?! Anyway, they meet jerk classmate Tae-jin there and he started trash talking Yong-shik. Roo-da came to serve Tae-jin some truth pie and it was awesome! How I wish Yong-shik was the one who did it. He obviously wasn't ready because he still thought of himself as pathetic after that encounter.

Roo-da then realized that maybe the way to cure Yong-shik is for him to face his trauma and overcome it that way. She got Yong-shik out to buy him a new outfit only to go to a massage parlor. She said it's part of the treatment. I was as confused as Yong-shik but soon understood what she meant. Yong-shik's ex-girlfriend Hee-jin is the massage therapist she booked.

This honestly made me so mad. She didn't even say anything to Yong-shik so he was surprised when they met again. Roo-da just had to make everything uncomfortable by pretending she's Yong-shik's girlfriend. She brags about his vitality and even talks about how the girl is the one to blame when the man can't go on all night. I just wanted to drag her out of there! I was so sure Yong-shik will get mad once they're alone since he stayed silent during the session. He deserved that. She obviously crossed the line. However, Yong-shik took it so maturely. He talked to Hee-jin and told her how grateful he was that she stuck with him for a long time despite him being such a loser. Instead of making it all awkward, he took this as an opportunity to give himself and Hee-jin closure. It was a painful memory but he loved her and their relationship was beautiful before it ended.

Ahhhh... Roo-da realized how immature her plan was. Yong-shik told her she did too much this time. She shouldn't have done this. For Roo-da who always puts her pride above everything, this was a punch to the gut. This man right here, who everyone sees as a defective human being, was being more humane than her uppity self. She did sit on it though and was even thinking about it as she went back to the hospital. There, she met Ji-Hyuk in the elevator. Surprisingly, she voiced out her thoughts and asked if they really loved each other when they were still dating. All they did during that year and a half was to try and win against the other. Was that really love?

It also got Ji-Hyuk thinking and we see how they first met and started dating years after. It was a cute sequence. I actually wanted the two of them to patch it up and have a healthier relationship this time around. They first met as university students and they seemed to have kept in touch since then. They ended up dating while Ji-Hyuk was comforting Roo-da from her break up.

Roo-da did have a conscience because she went to Yong-shik the next day to apologize. Yong-shik accepted it and even said he was also quite sensitive then. He thanked her for believing in him and promised to put in all his effort so as not to waste her hard work. This will so going to bite her back later when he finds out why she decided to help him.

They got back to treatment and Roo-da succumbed to her sunbae's "advice": A new woman to make it stand up. She took it upon herself to invite Yong-shik and seduce him in her house. Yong-shik arrived there thinking he's only going to fix a light bulb for her. Her plan got spoiled because Yong-shik fixed her lights faster than she could remove her robe though. They still ended up stuck to each other somehow but it was more wholesome than what she imagined. They reminisced about their goodbye before she left to study abroad. Roo-da said he didn't change. He's still the same cool Yong-shik she knew.

The power of words took full effect because Yong-shik went home giddy from what Roo-da said. We got a funny scene of him looking at the mirror, ready to cut his hair with pink scissors, only to stop and decide to go to the hair salon instead. Lol. He got a haircut and transformed to this omg handsome guy. It's not just the hair though because now he's also wearing a smile and he straightened his back. Ji-Hyuk was also out and about buying a bouquet of flower for Roo-da. He seemed to be preparing to get back with her.

At the front of the hospital, a motorcycle was about to hit Roo-da but Ji-Hyuk pushed her out of the way. This lead to him fracturing an arm. He told her about his thoughts at the ER and suggested that they start over again. We didn't get to see her answer but judging by their conversation later, she probably agreed. Ji-Hyuk asked her to transfer Yong-shik's case to Director Jang since they're not betting anymore. He asked if she's being hesitant because Yong-shik's her first love. She strongly disagreed. She's not going to start anything with a man like that. Dang, girl.

Of course, Yong-shik heard this and now his heart is all broken. Nothing hurts more than someone lifting you up only to drag you back down to the ground again. He ran back home and cried on a corner. This hurts so much. I cannot. Why does Yoon Shi-yoon have to be such a good actor?! It's breaking my heart! He went out running and headed to the urology clinic. He burst in with a new determination. Since Roo-da claimed she'll fix his dysfunction, she should keep her promise. "Fix me!", he demanded.

---

Ahhhhh it feels so good to watch this again! I didn't expect it to hold this much space in my heart but I was checking viki everyday to see if it's back up. Based on how many hours I spent doing subtitles for this show, I can officially say that I love it!

We saw quite a lot of flashbacks in these two episodes. I didn't mention these above but Roo-da thought about Yong-shik of the past quite a lot. He's a really nice and righteous guy. One time, he even pretended to know another student just to comfort said kid's grandma. Her grandson was ashamed she brought kimchi to share with his class instead of the usual ice cream and hamburgers. Yong-shik ate the kimchi and claimed the grandson brags about grandma's food all the time. I mean, who won't fall for a guy like that? I've already implanted him in my memory as my first love.

Through Roo-da's memories, we also found out that an accident happened and it somehow broke them apart. She had to go abroad to study because her dad got so rattled by that accident. It appeared like something fell on them while they were going home after a movie. Yong-shik also have multiple huge scars on his back. I think Yong-shik protected her and she got hurt. It might be like how he covered her when the light fixture fell down. That seems so trivial though considering how the accident had a real impact on both of them. We'll probably find out more in the next episodes so I won't be hasty with my assumptions.

Seeing Yong-shik go through the roller coaster of emotions was so hard on me. He started the week almost jumping off the roof then his first love saved him. He gained confidence again but said first love actually decided to help him because of her stupid pride. I thought we will end the episode with him being back to feeling down in the dumps but that last scene was actually empowering. He cried and grieved but he pulled himself up. Now that everything's out in the open, we can just focus on the main problem: his erectile dysfunction.

I didn't like how Roo-da started all this. Even her sister Roo-ri thought she was being dumb for doing so. However, I don't think she was faking her concern. As the days passed, she started seeing the real Yong-shik, past the erectile dysfunction and the loser status. Yong-shik is still the guy she fell in love with in high school. He's still a good guy. He just needs a little bit of a push. It's too bad that people had to get hurt but now they can just be truthful to each other and work towards a common goal.

Speaking of that, I actually hope Ji-Hyuk would genuinely join the team. He doesn't seem so bad in these two episodes. I guess you start to become like this when the people around you are always so judgmental and are pushing their standards on you. He let his feelings out and even admitted to feeling inferior towards Roo-da. That's big coming from him. I do feel bad for Yong-shik because he seems to be having feelings for Roo-da again but I do wish these two can get back together. Maybe Yong-shik can get back with Hee-jin. She's a nice woman. I think she really was having a hard time too back then and just couldn't handle it anymore. She didn't even erase his number after all these years (unless they exchanged numbers after the massage fiasco).

In conclusion, these two episodes made me feel the power of words. It can change your perspective in life. Tell your co-worker she looked beautiful today. Say hi to a person at the bus stop. Hug a family member. These are small things but might even save a life. Likewise, we should be careful with our words. A professor once told us words are like toothpaste. You can't put it back in the tube once you've squeezed it out. Always be mindful of what you say.

What did you think of these episodes? How did you survive waiting? Let me know your thoughts and let's talk about this awesome drama! I'll see you when the next episodes come out! Stay safe everyone~

세상에서 가장 힘센 말|
김애란

세상에서 가장 힘센 말을 아시나요?

사막 한가운데를 걸어가다가
더 이상 한 발짝도 내딛기 힘들 때

올라타면 지친 나를 태우고 터벅터벅
낙타처럼 끈기 있게 걸어가는 말

외롭고 추운 눈밭에서도
나를 떨어뜨리지 않고 터벅터벅

소처럼 묵묵히 걸어가는 말

아무리 추울때도 체온이 내려가지 않아
그 말 등에 타기만 하면
핫팩을 백 개는 가진 것 같은

내겐 그런 말이 있는데요
나는 가끔씩 그 말에 올라타요

학교를 그만둔 날
엄마가 내게 해 준
괜찮다는 말

Translations by me:

The Most Powerful Words in the World
by Kim Ae-ran

Do you know what the most powerful words are in the world?

While walking in the middle of a desert
and I can't take another step forward,
they're the words that are like the camel
that carries my exhausted body on its back

On the lonely and cold field of snow,
they're the words that are like the cow
that quietly walks without dropping me

No matter how cold it gets, the temperature never drops
If I ride on the back of those words,
it feels like I have a hundred hot packs

I have words like that
Sometimes, I ride on those words

The day I quit school,
The words my mom said to me
"It's okay"