[ad_1]
Based on the 2017 eponymous webtoon by Kim Kan-bi and Hwang Young-chan, ‘Sweet Home’ is a South Korean live-action television series that tells the story of a world where humans suddenly begin to become into monsters. In its inaugural season, the show focuses on the tenants of the Green Home apartment building and their desperate attempts at survival as their world quickly turns wild around them. What’s remarkable about ‘Sweet Home’ is that it doesn’t use the traditional human-monster conflict as its central theme. Instead, he concentrates on how his characters, both human and monster, react to his circumstances. Beyond all the action, gorefest, evocative imagery, and Imagine Dragons clues, ‘Sweet Home’ is a show about individual desire. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Sweet Home Summary
Not long after troubled teenager Cha Hyun-soo (Song Kang) moves into the Green Home apartment building, people start transforming into monsters and attacking others. Although Hyun-soo and others initially think that it is a disease, it later turns out to be a curse. It is not contagious and not everyone gets it. The monstrosity in this show is the manifestation of people’s deepest desire. The eye monster is how the voyeuristic tendencies of the original human have manifested, while the protein monster represents his obsession with physical fitness in his previous life.
With no idea who will be next, the survivors form a tentative alliance under the leadership of Lee Eun-hyuk (Lee Do-hyun), who creates an effective system to ensure their safety and perseverance. Food and water are rationed. Venturing anywhere alone is prohibited. And most importantly, those that begin to show signs of metamorphosis are quarantined. Hyun-soo begins his transformation early in the series, but never fully goes through it, becoming something very different from both humans and normal monsters. Always pragmatic, Eun-hyuk keeps Hyun-soo alive during the Golden Hours, the time period when monsters are vulnerable, and often sends him on dangerous errands, knowing that the latter has the best chance of completing them due to his apparent immortality.
In the season finale, the conflict between humans and monsters returns to center stage after the army drops flyers that promise shelter to those who report a “special infected” like Hyun-soo. While Seo Yi-kyeong (Lee Si-young) doesn’t contact the military with the beacon they gave him earlier, one of the other survivors does. With the group still reeling from the outlaw attack in the previous episode, Eun-hyuk’s system has fallen apart. When the other infected special begins indiscriminately killing the other survivors, Hyun-soo is forced to choose between them and one of his own kind. For all the time he’s been used as her errand boy, they are now the closest thing to a family she has. In the ensuing battle, he undergoes another transformation, turning into a single-winged entity and kills the other Special Infected. When the military arrive and surround the building, Yi-kyeong finds an underground path that can lead them outside by digging in the same spot where Ahn Gil-seop (Kim Kap-soo) was before his death.
Sweet home ending
Religion, especially Abrahamic mythology, plays an important role in the development of the ‘Sweet Home’ plot. Until his death in episode 8, the devout Christian Jeong Jae-heon (Kim Nam-hee) served as a physical representation of the show’s theological themes. His constant battle with alcoholism and the typical humility of a faithful keep his desires at bay, preventing him from turning around. Other characters, like Lee Eun-yoo (Go Min-si), for example, have found their own way around the problem. It does not mean that they have no regrets or unfulfilled aspirations. Eun-yoo is believed responsible for the death of her and Eun-hyuk’s parents and knew even before the monster apocalypse that she would not become a dancer due to her injured foot. And yet he refuses to give in to those incessant questions that often begin with a “what if” and manages to maintain his humanity for now.
The metamorphosis of Cha Hyun-soo
Hyun-soo’s life has been plagued with tragedies. He used to be a bright and happy kid until a wealthy partner started bullying him. The constant physical and mental torture led to severe depression and seclusion. The only instant he tried to confront his tormentor resulted in his father losing his job. It also inadvertently caused the death of the mother of a classmate. The more withdrawn he became, the more ashamed his family felt for him. He found some friendship and camaraderie online, and that was enough to keep him going in that moment. But then his entire family is killed in a car accident. Due to what he had perceived as her indifference towards him, he had been waiting for his death in the deepest and darkest corners of his mind. But when that actually happens, he realizes the ultimate truth about his immediate reality: he is now completely alone in the world. Every day, he wakes up with suicidal thoughts and even sets a day to finally pull it off. But before that day comes, the monsters start to come out.
It is that ingrained desire for a family and a place to belong that begins his metamorphosis. Despite being well aware of the fact that Eun-hyuk and others have basically taken advantage of his modesty, he decides to fight for them against the other infected. A one-winged demonic being is a popular anime trope denoting someone who is treading the fine line between their humanity and true evil. In a series like ‘Sweet Home’, in which some monsters display human qualities and people often commit acts of deep brutality without any inhibition, Hyun-soo serves as a meeting point for two extremes.
In the climactic moment of season 1, he becomes a representation of the best of both types as he leaves the building to meet the soldiers who await him, alone, but for the first time in his life, without fear. Loses consciousness in subsequent shots. When he wakes up, he finds himself in a military vehicle with Pyeon Sang-wook (Lee Jin-wook). The last time Hyun-soo saw him, he was taking Park Yu-ri to a pharmacy to get him an inhaler and the other special infected shot him. He notices that the other man does not have the severe burns on his face. Unbeknownst to him, Sang-wook has undergone a metamorphosis of his own, with his desire to ensure Yu-ri’s safety as a catalyst. What is more surprising is that he wears military clothing.
From the beginning, the rest of the characters assume that Sang-wook is a criminal. The final moments of the show make it highly unlikely. He’s probably a former special forces officer like Yi-kyeong, a fact that he painstakingly concealed by pretending that he can’t shoot, even during the illegal invasion. If the incapacitated (or dead) soldier next to him is any indication, he probably attacked them while they were transporting Hyun-soo and has managed to overpower them. This would mean that both are now on the run from the army.
Lee Eun-hyuk Self-Quarantines
Eun-hyuk’s main objective throughout the season has been the safety of the group as a whole. To achieve that goal, he is willing to risk any individual, including himself, if a particular situation requires it. Due to his seemingly distant and even indifferent gestures, others like Yi-kyeong mistakenly conclude that he does not feel empathy. Rather, he is capable of incredible understanding and sacrifice. After the death of her parents, she dropped out of school to make sure Eun-yoo doesn’t have to stop training as a dancer. After the monsters begin to rise up, he quickly becomes the de facto leader of the group of survivors due to his inherent leadership skills.
When he realizes that he is turning back too, probably out of his pure desire to keep everyone safe, he quarantines himself, staying true to the rules that he himself has set. He makes this last sacrifice for his sister and the others. He knows that now he is possibly their biggest threat, so he separates from them.
Start a hunt
With the help of a pet dog of one of the survivors, Yi-kyeong finds a way out of the underground tunnel, only to find that the military is waiting for them at the exit. It is time for Yi-kyeong to face his own realities as well. Since he did not use the beacon, the commanding officer tells him that his deal has been canceled. But they still have something she wants: the information about what happened to her fiancé. As the rest of the group get into a truck, she puts on her military gear. Evidently, she has signed a new deal with the commanding officer, and it is probably to track down and find Hyun-soo.
Read more: The best horror shows on Netflix
