Since my first kdrama ever (Love Alarm) introduced me to actor Song Kang, once my daughter told me about Sweet Home sometime in early 2023, I knew I’d be tuning in. I love dystopian/sci-fi/thriller-type stuff, and knowing Song Kang was the lead was enough to sell me on it. In a nutshell, the show revolves around a troubled teenager named Hyun-su who moves into a dilapidated apartment complex only to have it suddenly besieged by strange monsters. The teen and his neighbors fight to survive while trying not to turn on each other. Produced by Studio Dragon (a studio that will get its own post in the future), Season 1 premiered in 2020 on Netflix to much acclaim. It was an out of the box story told across 10 episodes and mostly received praise for its vision.
“Sweet Home” is based off a popular Korean web comic of the same name created by Kim Carnby and Hwang Young-chan. Lee Eung-bok, Jang Young-woo and Park So-hyun all directed portions of the three seasons. Additionally, there were a few screenwriters for the series: Hong So-ri, Kim Hyung-min, and Park So-jung.
The first episode spends most of its time introducing various characters that live at Green Home Apartments, so it felt like the show might be a bit slow. In that first hour we meet such characters as Cha Hyun-Su (Song Kang), the aforementioned loner high school student that is new to the building; Sang-wook (Lee Jin-wook) who seems like a low-rent gangster; Seo Yi-kyung (Lee Si-Young), a tough firefighter; Lee Eun-hyun (Lee Do-Hyun) a student becomes a defacto leader due to his calm demeanor; Lee Eun-yoo (Go Min-Si), Eun-hyun’s pesky younger sister, and many, many others. It was a lot to take in during that one hour.
However, the final scene of the first episode was so unexpected that I immediately turned on the second episode. From then on the first season never disappointed. Sure, some of the special effects were cheaply done – to the point of being distracting in some cases. But this character-driven drama about emotional trauma and deep-seated desires was powerful even amidst the gore and violence contained in each episode. There was no virus to fight. There was no alien. There was only the fact that suddenly humans were turning into monster versions of their deepest desires.
And because it’s not one set type of monster, the ability of the apartment tenants to fight these monsters has to constantly change. And then at some point, the tenants have to wonder – who is a monster and who is just acting monstrously? This is where the careful character-building of the first episode creates a fantastic environment for the first season of the show. Because the show eventually focuses more on the residents than the monsters, you become heavily invested in their fight to survive. In particular, as you learn about Hyun-su’s horrific backstory you realize that his moments of saving people are truly extraordinary.
Season 1 started off slowly but towards the end became a race to the final episode, causing me to feel almost breathless as each episode passed by. By the time it got to Episode 9 – a particularly gut-wrenching episode that showcased that sometimes the monsters are the ones who aren’t in monster form – I was beside myself. And then there was a moment in Episode 10 that truly did take my breath away. The special effects in the scene were stunning, it brought Hyun-su’s character completely into focus at the end of the season, and my goodness it was amazing to watch. Upon watching it my first thought was, “Well that’s why the special effects were so cheap in the early episodes – they saved their entire budget for this very moment.” And then my second thought was, “My goodness but Song Kang is an amazing actor.”
What surprised me the most about Season 1 is that it ended on a cliffhanger. Normally kdramas are one season, so Netflix was really banking on this series becoming popular enough to warrant a second season. Fortunately, it did become successful, and Netflix began working on not only a Season 2 but a Season 3, which came out earlier this year.
In a nutshell, Season 2 expanded the universe beyond the Green Home Apartments, but suffered from introducing too many characters even in comparison to Season 1. And it also had very little Song Kang in it, especially given how vital his character was to the first season. For those reasons Season 2 seems convoluted and viewers felt like it lost the powerful storytelling from Season 1 because we had to meet and get to know so many new characters while also following all the characters from Season 1.
Fortunately, Season 3 came along, cleared the rosters a bit, focused on a few primary characters, brought back Hyun-su and tried to fix the messiness that was Season 2. While it was definitely better than Season 2, it felt disjointed and for me while I was satisfied with the ending, it still didn’t quite stick the landing. Did I still enjoy Season 3? Yes, but not as much as Season 1, which blew me away.
So my verdict? I think anyone watching for the first time should definitely watch all three seasons, but understand going in that Season 1 is the best and if they want to stop with the cliffhanger, no one can get mad at them for that. And i they continue on with Season 2, the goal will be to get through it so that you can just get to Season 3, which is an improvement.
My rating: 3.6 out of 5.0 stars – first season is 4.5 stars, but the other two seasons bring the overall score down.
Comment below and let me know what you thought of “Sweet Home”…
