Flash Review: My Happy Home [Drama Special]

If you’re on the market for something a little different on your drama plate, and you have a taste for cyborg stories (and if you happen to like Lee Sang Yeob too!), this little drama special might be worth a look.

At just 1 hour and 15 minutes, Show manages to pack quite a bit of story on its bones, and I found myself solidly engaged, all the way through.

Some lens adjustments are helpful, which I’ll talk about shortly.

Psst: Link to watch is at the end of the review!

WHAT IT’S ABOUT

Genius scientist Se Jung (Son Yeo Eun) lives a happy life with her cyborg husband Sung Min (Lee Sang Yeob). However, all is not as happy nor as straightforward as it seems.

MANAGING EXPECTATIONS / THE VIEWING LENS

Here are a few things that I think would be helpful to keep in mind, to maximize your enjoyment of your watch:

1. This is not a rom-com.

I guess it really says something about Dramaland’s general sentiment towards cyborgs, if my first thought upon reading the synopsis, was that this one sounded cute and fluffy. 😂

This is basically the opposite of a rom-com.

2. Instead, think mild sci-fi mystery with a side of makjang

I know that this lens might be a bit of a spoiler in itself, but I do think that it’s worthwhile suggesting this lens, so that perhaps more folks might check out this show.

Because, I do think that with a mystery lens on, and an expectation of some makjang developments, you’d be much better primed to enjoy this one.

3. Suspension of disbelief is a must

Not only because of our cyborg husband premise, but also because of the heightened melodrama that our plot leans into, suspension of disbelief is a must.

Logic gets stretched, particularly in our final act, and it’s just very helpful, if you’re prepared to roll with Show’s punches.

STUFF I LIKED

1. Lee Sang Yeob is cute

I have a definite soft spot for Lee Sang Yeob, and he’s looking very cute and handsome as our story’s cyborg husband.

Show is even generous enough to serve up several scenes with a shirtless Lee Sang Yeob, and y’know, I just can’t complain about that. 😁

2. The story feels fresh and interesting

Importantly, this drama special feels very different from most other drama fare that’s available out there.

The storytelling approach, which keeps us guessing, while slowly unveiling the truth, worked really well for me.

I couldn’t predict most of our plot points, and I was happy to let Show take me along for the ride that it had in mind.

3. Taecyeon has a cameo in this

Ever since I became smitten with Junho, I’ve developed an automatic soft spot for his 2PM mates (I don’t know how that works, but it does 😅).

And so, when I saw Taecyeon pop up in a cameo here, I couldn’t help but count it a plus, even though it’s a tiny little appearance that really doesn’t require Taecyeon to do very much at all, besides look like his handsome self.

THOUGHTS ON THE ENDING [SPOILERS]

From about the point where Ji Ah (Park Ha Na) appears in our story, things start to get a bit confusing.

For one thing, Show isn’t very clear on whether Sung Min actually broke up with Ji Ah, to come back to Korea, to seek out Se Jung.

It’s basically Ji Ah’s word against Sung Min’s, and.. I don’t know which of them to trust on this, honestly.

Ji Ah’s got crazy eyes through this whole thing, so I wouldn’t be shocked if it turned out that she made up the part about Sung Min going back to Korea to use Se Jung for his dissertation.

On the other hand, I do wonder how reliable Sung Min’s memories are, at this point, since he’d lost them all, and they’ve now come back to him. How are we supposed to know how accurate his recovered memories are, right?

Which is why I personally found the watch experience more uneven than average, going into the final stretch.

However, the makjang lens helped a lot, and it was just interesting, to see where Show wanted to go, with this narrative that was becoming more bizarre by the minute.

The other thing that didn’t feel right, was the part where Se Jung tells Sung Min that he can stop pretending, and then he starts to strangle her – before changing tack, and telling her that he would have saved her all over again, if he could.

That’s honestly quite whiplashy.

If he’d known that he loved her regardless, then why start strangling her in the first place, right?

It doesn’t make sense – but with a makjang lens on, it’s reasonably fine. It just.. becomes part of the nonsensical territory. 🤪

And, despite some things just not adding up very well, there’s some kind of poetic fairness, in the way Se Jung tries to kill herself out of guilt for what she’s done to Sung Min, and ends up becoming a cyborg too, because that’s the only way her father (Kim Myung Soo) could save her.

It gives us a happy ending, but with a dark, bizarre sort of undertone, where our central couple’s happiness, is basically programmed into them, somewhat against their wills.

Everything’s a bit dark and ironic, and this love story is arguably something of a horror story, and therefore rather unsettling.

However, Se Jung and Sung Min do live happily, bionically, ever after, and I’d be admittedly curious to see a sequel, if only to get a glimpse of their cyborg couple life, so that’s not bad overall, yes? 😁