Sweet Home New Season

[Alacoque Whitchurch]

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]

As the Korean drama Sweet Home, adapted from its original Webtoon, concludes its run, it marks a significant milestone as the first drama to reach Netflix's top ten in the U.S. The story originally follows Green Home apartment complex residents after an outbreak of the monster apocalypse. Amid the ongoing disaster, ordinary humans are turning into various creatures, each transformation shaped by their deepest desires. Though not inherently evil, these monsters often threaten one another and the remaining humans struggling to survive in this new dystopian world.

When the Netflix-hit show originally premiered in 2020, it struck a chord with viewers across the world, given that we were all dealing with our own infectious outbreak called COVID-19. We were all forced to stay home, watch TV, and relate to the characters more and more as we were all forced to survive somehow. However, when Season 2 debuted in December 2023, many fans were disappointed by the show's expansion from the Webtoon's original story and pulled the attention of the main beloved characters.

In Sweet Home, Song Kang, known from My Demon, plays Cha Hyun-su, a former Green Home resident who becomes a monster hunter. Lee Jin-uk, from Voice, portrays Ui-myeong/Pyeon Sang-wook/Nam Song-won as a neohuman. Lee Si-young, from Zombieverse, takes on the role of Seo Yi-Kyung, a former Special Forces fighter from Green Home.

Lee Do-hyun, seen in The Glory, is Lee Eun-hyeok, a Green Home resident believed dead until the end of Season 2. Go Min-si, from The Frog, plays Lee Eun-yu, a survivor from Green Home and Eun-hyeok's sister. Jinyoung, known for Yumi's Cells, appears as Park Chan-yeong, a soldier in the Crow Platoon. Yu Oh-seong, from Friend: The Great Legacy, is Sergeant Tak, the leader of the Crow Platoon. Oh Jung-se, from Switch, plays Dr. Lim, a scientist. Kim Moo-yeol, seen in Juvenile Justice, is Sergeant Kim, a senior member of the Crow Platoon. Kim Shin-rock, from Hellbound, portrays Chief Ji, the leader of the underground camp at the Stadium. Lastly, Kim Si-a, known from The Silent Sea, plays The Girl, also known as Kid or Seo Yi-su, Yi-kyung's daughter.

As season one of Sweet Home concluded, the surviving residents, including Lee Eun-yoo, Kang Seung-wan, Yoon Ji-soo, and Son Hye-in, escape their apartment building only to be captured by armed patrols. Among them are firefighter Seo Yi-Kyung, who is pregnant and searching for her missing fianc, and Cha Hyun-su, a unique human-monster hybrid. The group is taken to a nightmarish refugee camp, where soldiers indiscriminately shoot anyone showing signs of monsterization.

In this half-wrecked city, monsters lurk in the ruins, and a salamander-like creature attacks the refugee column, resulting in chaos and bloodshed. The monster is merely protecting its young, highlighting the complexity of these transformations. The cause of human monsterization remains a mystery, driven by emotions and desires rather than disease.

By the end of Season 1, Hyun-su embraces his identity as a "Special Infectee," a term for those who can control their monsterization. He can produce a massive, bladed wing when needed and later reveals the ability to revert monsters to human form. In Season 2, Hyun-su saves Seo Yi-Kyung, a fellow Green Home firefighter, by turning her back into a human after her daughter transforms her to save her life.

Season 2 introduces other Special Infectees as main antagonists, including Jung Ui-myeong, a psychopathic body-jumper who takes over Sang-wook's body. We learn Jung Ui-myeong is the monsterized version of Sang-won, Yi-kyung's scientist fianc, who went mad after volunteering as a test subject. Sang-won gains the ability to control others' bodies and later uses his blood to create more Special Infectees, who become his minions when he breaks into the Bamseom research facility in Season 3.

Sang-won, obsessed with finding a powerful body, transforms his daughter Yi-su (Kim Si-a) into a part-human, part monster while she is still a fetus inside her mother, Yi-Kyung. This sets up much of the interpersonal drama in Season 2 as Yi-Kyung struggles to accept her unique daughter. Initially, Yi-Kyung leaves Yi-su with Hyun-su, creating a special bond between them.

Yi-su ages rapidly, and by the end of Season 2, she can turn humans into monsters with a touch, which she does to her mother. When Yi-Kyung is mortally wounded, Yi-su turns her into a monster, but Hyun-su restores her human form. Yi-Kyung eventually dies at the hands of her former fianc, Sang-won, while protecting Yi-su. Despite their complicated relationship, Yi-su is devastated by her mother's death, finally understanding the meaning of loss.

In the third season of Sweet Home, a new type of creature called "neohumans" is introduced. Neohumans are the final evolution of monsters, reborn from a cocoon-like "heart" after their monster form is killed. They retain all their human memories but lack emotions, though they have the potential to relearn feelings.

We learn about neohumans through Lee Eun-hyuk, a major character from Season 1 who lived in Green Home with his sister, Eun-yu. Despite seemingly dying at the end of Season 1, Eun-yu hopes he is still alive as a monster. When they reunite in Season 3, Eun-hyuk, now a neohuman, struggles to reconnect emotionally, causing distress for Eun-yu and triggering her monsterization process. Her hallucinations take her back to memories of Green Home, revealing her deep desire to feel safe and loved by her brother.

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