Searching for Happiness.
Three siblings, exhausted by the monotony of day-to-day adulthood, seek to find fulfillment and freedom from their unremarkable lives.
DirectorKim Sok-yun
WriterPark Hae-young
Episode 1
Apr 9, 2022
After an eventful evening in the city, Yeom Gi-jeong, Yeom Mi-jeong and Yeom Chang-hee leave the day behind and take a long taxi ride back home.
Episode 2
Apr 10, 2022
Trying to keep bad news to herself, Mi-jeong forwards a letter to Mr. Gu's address. Mr. Gu, who’d been drinking his life away, finds something to do.
Episode 3
Apr 16, 2022
Mi-jeong takes a break from her usual routine to avoid Mr. Gu. Gi-jeong confronts the male colleague who has hit on everyone else but her.
Episode 4
Apr 17, 2022
A talkative co-worker drives Chang-hee to his wits' end. Mi-jeong's new club attracts attention. Gi-jeong encounters someone who keeps her up at night.
Episode 5
Apr 23, 2022
Mr. Gu's hidden talent gains Chang-hee's respect and attention. To prove the club's legitimacy, Mi-jeong keeps a record of her thoughts of liberation.
Episode 6
Apr 24, 2022
Chang-hee is offered an opportunity he cannot afford. Mi-jeong and Mr. Gu's unusual friendship blossoms, while making Gi-jeong uneasy.
Episode 7
Apr 30, 2022
Mi-jeong hides the whole truth from the family as they come close to finding out about her debt. A couple of guests tune in to the club meeting.
Episode 8
May 1, 2022
Mr. Gu learns that he's been spotted by people he's been avoiding. Cho Tae-hun reaches out to Gi-jeong with a request.
Episode 9
May 7, 2022
Gi-jeong reflects back on her time with Tae-hun. Interestingly, shame is not the first thing she feels. The past comes to find Mr. Gu.
Episode 10
May 8, 2022
Mr. Gu brushes Mi-jeong aside, but she sees straight through him — his guilt, his fears, and his habit of deserting happiness when it's within reach.
Episode 11
May 14, 2022
On a particularly awful day for Mi-jeong, Mr. Gu provides her with the remedy she needs the most. Gi-jeong's friendly meal with Tae-hun takes a turn.
Episode 12
May 15, 2022
Mr. Gu gets a visitor from his past life. A sobering experience jolts Chang-hee back to reality from a short-lived dream car fantasy.
Episode 13
May 21, 2022
Mr. Gu is back in his element: keeping busy, making bank and at the top of his game. But every so often, he feels homesick for the life he once led.
Episode 14
May 22, 2022
The family tries to cope with a tragedy. Chang-hee stays with his father. Mi-jeong deals with conflict at work. Gi-jeong makes a momentous decision.
Episode 15
May 28, 2022
When Mr. Gu's alcohol dependence becomes a growing problem, he seeks therapy of his own. Tensions rise between Tae-hun and his family.
Episode 16
May 29, 2022
Mi-jeong meets her old club members to share stories of progress. Mr. Gu finds spurts of joy sprinkled throughout the day that make life worth living.
ParkMin
@ParkMin
The cinematography and visuals were great although they went overboard with tilted shots and angles, surpassing their creative limits. The drama had a decent melodic score that blended with the shots just okay but no particular track stood out. Enough technicality, no matter how I look at it, the drama boiled down to be a cheap mix between Thirty-Nine (2022) & My Mister (2018), lacking soul and a unique identity. The self narration bits were a hit or miss, some lines were brilliant and fit the mood, while others were just nonsensical pretentious scribbles. There was a good opportunity to give these narrations to other characters as well but these were mostly done by Yeom Mi Jung. The end of episode 2 made it seem like a tacky show in a fancy wrapping, signaling that it wouldn't stay grounded and would resort to impractical moves to progress the plot forward and grab attention. This is one thing the drama constantly kept contradicting itself with. I didn't like their approach for the ending; they should've just wrapped it up instead of sneakily dancing around it for way too long. Don't excuse its shortcomings by calling it a slow show. Both the writer and director have succeeded in creating slow shows before, but this one missed the mark and sacrificed other important elements along the way. Even with a very relaxed 16 episodes, most of the characters didn't get the development they deserved, but I guess some slice of life scenes were more important. That one major transition around episode 13-14 was embarrassingly poorly done and was a real cowardly move by the writer to escape the writer's block. It left an unerasable stain for what could've been a decent show. Although there were aspects to like and appreciate, the drama didn't quite reach its potential.
