Sweet Home Season 2 Episode 1

[Kenneth]

Afteran unexpected tragedy kills his entire family and leaves him as the only survivor, Cha Hyun-su leaves his family home and relocates into the run down apartment complex known as Green Home. One night, horrific monsters begin appearing and ravage the city. Hyun-su and his fellow residents band together within the confines of the complex and must fight for their survival against the new, otherworldly threat. Hyun-su starts having monster symptoms and has the ability to turn into a monster with wings whenever he desires. Others from the apartment turn into monster of things they desire.

The survivors of Green Home venture out into the ruined world beyond its walls. Meanwhile, governmental bodies and scientific institutions continue in their efforts to study the monsters, hoping to find a cure.

Director Lee Eung-bok "roughly" knew the ending of the Line Webtoon on which the series is based before the webtoon's finale in July 2020, though he decided to "differ a bit from the webtoon because [they're] showing on different platforms."[24] Ultimately, the live-action adaptation deviates dramatically from the original.

Although filming had already started, Netflix officially announced the series' lineup on December 18, 2019, with Song Kang, Lee Jin-wook and Lee Si-young in lead roles, andLee Do-hyun, Kim Nam-hee, Go Min-si, Park Gyu-young, Go Youn-jung, Kim Kap-soo and Kim Sang-ho as part of the ensemble cast.[26][27]

Lee Eung-bok revealed that, during Song Kang's audition, the actor reminded him of Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands: "an image of someone who has a pure and innocent soul but is holding a spear in his hand."[25] The actor was recommended to Lee Eung-bok by the director of Netflix's Love Alarm which propelled him to fame in August 2019.[28] Lee Si-young's character does not appear in the original webtoon but the director "wanted to add a female character who can pull off really cool action scenes"; the actress being a former amateur boxer. She trained for six months prior to filming the series.[25] Park Gyu-young admitted that she did not have high hopes about being picked for the series but "as soon as [she] left the audition set, the director called [her] and said to leave with a script."[25]

Designers from Legacy Effects, VFX Studio Westworld and Spectral Motion, who worked on films such as the Avengers and Avataras well as the television series Game of Thrones and Stranger Things, were recruited for Sweet Home.[31][32]

On November 18, 2020, Netflix released a trailer for the series announcing that Sweet Home would premiere on December 18.[33] In June 2022, the series was picked up for two additional seasons.[34]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the first season has an approval rating of 83% based on 6 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10.[35] The second season has an approval rating of 80% based on 5 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10.[36]

Joel Keller of Decider said that "despite its flaws and a premise we've seen before, Sweet Home distinguishes itself by its setting and its monsters. We will see if the drama between the survivors will keep us watching."[38]

Pierce Conran of South China Morning Post gave a rating of 3/5, saying that "despite a breathless opening episode and some grisly fun throughout, Sweet Home does not provide much of a story for viewers to get hooked on."[39]

In another mixed review, Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting said that "what sprints out of the gate and sets up an exciting creature-filled horror series quickly comes to a slow crawl zombie apocalypse that we've seen many times before. It just swaps out the zombies for monsters."[40]

Sweet Home was the first South Korean series to enter Netflix's Top 10 in the United States,[24] reaching as high as third.[1] Three days after its release, the series ranked first in 8 regions and was within the Top 10 in 42 regions.[41] The show was viewed by 22 million paid subscribers worldwide in the first 4 weeks of its release and appeared in the Netflix top 10 in more than 70 countries.[42]

It was praised by viewers for its "high-quality visual effects" and "the deep human connections among the characters." However, many criticized the soundtrack which they believe did not fit with the story, as well as the lack of monsters in the latter episodes of the season. On this, director Lee Eung-bok said that "[he] know[s] some of the viewers were anticipating more gore, but [he] hope[s] they will understand why monsters were absent from some parts of our drama."[43]

This worry had been growing, even during a season that I found---by and large---to be an improvement over Season 2, and the midseason premiere, for which I had set my hopes high, was a huge disappointment.

Sunday night's episode has once again rekindled my hopes for the show. It was one of the strongest episodes in the season so far. And while my doubts remain, at least tonight we've seen just how good this show can be.

In 'Home' Rick is still "wandering around crazyland" as Glenn puts it, trekking in zombie-infested woods tracking the ghost of his dead wife. He tells Hershel that he knows she's not real, but that he believes the visions mean something. We're seeing, finally, Rick's vulnerable side emerge. He may be in a grief-stricken crazyland, but his anger seems to have dwindled somehow.

Meanwhile,Glenn, still in a rage over the assault on Maggie (and, to a lesser degree, on himself) has decided that with Rick and Daryl both gone that puts him in charge. He's come to this from a place of need rather than logic---he's far less interested in leading than he is in that green-eyed monster, revenge.

Hershel, as the Wise Old Adviser, remains largely impotent, his advice consistently falling on deaf ears and thick skulls. Neither Rick nor Glenn will listen to his advice, though to his credit he remains Zen in the face of constant dismissal.

Maggie and Glenn remain at odds, though I'm not sure why. Maybe this is just poor writing, but I'm having a really hard time believing the tension between the two. I could believe a certain level of awkwardness, and I can certainly see how both characters might fall into a funk after the assault on Maggie, the beating of Glenn, and the near-execution of them both.

But I don't believe that Glenn is somehow blaming Maggie for what happened, or that it would be in his character to do so. Nor can I fathm Maggie's anger toward Glenn. It makes no sense, either in the context of the situation or the characters involved. If anything, the two characters ought to have been drawn closer together, not because that's what I'd like to see (though it is) but because of their past, their natures, and their initial attraction to one another. This squabble is contrived, a forced tension that is neither necessary or believable.

Balancing out the awkwardness and heavy-handedness of the Maggie/Glenn subplot we have the very first scenes of Daryl and Merle alone together. We've seen the brothers Dixon interact before, but only in the context of a larger group or in the hallucinations of Daryl.

Thankfully, it's a magnificent vignette. Tense banter quickly gives way to a daring rescue of some very-not-white people on a bridge. When Merle decides to rob them after the rescue, Daryl and his crossbow intervene. Betrayed, Merle ramps up his verbal provocations.

It's the moment when Merle grabs Daryl's shirt and we see the skin beneath---the scars beneath---that we also glimpse the first moment of genuine emotion and, dare I say, compassion from Merle. There, welling up in his eyes like tears, we catch a glimmer of regret and a vulnerability that he's never let shine through before. I've wondered for some time if Merle could be redeemed. I'm still not sure, but I think the chance for redemption is there.

As Axel and Carol flirt in the prison yard, suddenly a bullet takes Axel in the head. And so we lose the last of the prisoners, who lived a perfectly fine and comfortable life of isolation before our merry band arrived, and who are now all, to a man, dead as doornails.

Before I talk about how great the end of the episode was, I'd like to register my disapproval over the death of Axel. Axel's prion-mate Oscar was killed off just a couple episodes back. The other inmates died off earlier in the season. Rather than buck this trend, the show has now offed Axel as well.

It's a cheap shot, even if older mainstay characters are also killed. It makes me care less about the addition of new characters because it cheapens their screentime if they're all just bound to die in an episode or two. It reminds me of "Lost" and that show's penchant for introducing inexplicable, never-before-seen extras with the sole purpose of killing them off as quickly as possible.

The drama of the shoot-out, the marvelous use of the prison itself and the terrain of the prison yard, the van of zombies, the sudden appearance of Merle coming to save Rick at the last possible moment---it's all great. I wanted that entire scene to last about twice as long. I wanted a slow motion scene of Michonne dancing through the field, painting it red with her sword as she harvested her way through the walkers.

And here is where, one hopes, things get interesting. The show down between Rick and the Governor may be the only way to rid our sheriff of his demons---to pit him against a man wholly consumed by, well, the Dark Side.

The group needs purpose. More than that, the show needs purpose. It's languished too long. Too much of the best material this season is seated awkwardly between filler. Too many of the characters have felt out of character. And yes, too much time---far too much time---has been spent on Andrea.

Even still, she is buying the Governor's every word---hook, line and sinker. Granted, it at least appeared like she was worried, like she didn't believe he'd just gone out scavenging. But by the last episode she should have been packing her bags, grabbing her guns, and making her way to the prison to get the other side of the story at the very least.

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