Buckle up because this is going to be a long review.
To preface, I rated the first season 10/10. As someone who can't stand the zombie genre, Sweet Home was an endearing take to an outbreak scenario. Everything worked for me. This season, not so much.
Let's start with the positives.
Those first three episodes were mind-blowing. The emotions the cast and crew wrought from me, I was on the edge of my seat unsure of what was going to happen. What I loved was the continuation of the survival story, where we're with our characters, despondent, on the edge of giving up, and hopeless. They're being attacked by monsters and soldiers, and there is no mercy. The glimpse of the bride and her husband broke my heart, it was short, sweet, but such a powerful scene, and it hones into the idea of monstrosity not being simply a physical as we watch the husband shot and the wife becomes a monster in her grief. These 3 episodes had twists and surprises, and such amazing interaction between the characters, and we saw the writers really take on audience feedback from the first season and input it. We watched bad guys vs good guys, good guys vs good guys and bad guys vs bad guys. The deaths of Ji-Su and Soo Young were raw, and so beautifully real. They weren't heroic deaths, they were bleak and cruel and raw. It reminded me of when Game of Thrones had deaths that just shook you to the core, because they were so unexpected (before it became a redundant theme and then not a theme at all). Even the off screen death of Hye In, which people might have felt robbed but I liked it because in war, we forget the facelessness of those who die, and so we who've watched her since episode one, to see her disappear without explanation, was poignant. Like, this is what happens. She becomes a body in a pile and if there's no one to grieve her, she'll be forgotten.
I also really enjoyed thinking about how you saw survivors become soldiers, which is an interesting aspect to bring into an apocalyptic korean show, because it showcases that most of them can take on the role because they've taken part in military service, so I enjoyed that aspect. Also as the audience, you do wonder in that situation whether you'd be better off with soldiers or alone.
Seeing some of the OG monsters, love me the half head dude, so creepy.
Eun-yoo being a badass, was great, wish I'd seen more. Hyun-soo being the gentle monster, you just want to give him a hug.
The ending of the show also with Hyun-su and the potential for a dual personality, I loved. That was such an interesting concept to bring and I'm sad we only got a glimpse because I like the idea of, we're no longer fighting against ourselves but rather against the enemy. And seeing Eun Hyuk again, that was *chefs kiss* and I applaud them for keeping it under wraps for so long, I had no idea he'd come back. I was honestly expecting to see him presented as a full blown monster, so to see the humanness intrigues me, because is he still the same on the inside?
Okay, now to the negatives, which lost this show 2 stars (but gained half back with that ending). Ready for a rant because I am.
Episodes 4-8 felt like they were recreating the first season on a grander scale, but without anyone I cared about. Seriously, I can't tell you the name of any of the new characters because I didn't care. They had way too many which left me sitting their bored, waiting for someone familiar to come on. We had uninspired military guy 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. Wait, I didn't mind Mr. Kim, but they didn't quite get the morally grey right with him. We had the survivors who I didn't care if they'd all been blown up. Count it, we had 3 women in this show who were obsessive over the guy of their choice. A priest, who, I dunno, what was his purpose? He was edgy? Instead of introducing all these people, they should've kept to a smaller group and figured out something different, even if it was fighting another small group. Because this just felt like 4 episodes of Sweet Home Big Brother.
Ah-Yi. Why do they always have to ruin a show or movie by having these bratty teenagers who are half sociopath half pixie dream girl? I'm so special, I hate everything, let's make monsters. You know what I would've preferred? Seeing Yi-kyung as a mother, adapting, struggling as she's watching her baby grow too fast, worrying about someone hurting her. I craved a mother daughter relationship. Instead Ah-Yi turned her mother into a monster and then left. Let me guess, next she's going to team up with Sang Wook because monsters are awesome?
I found the dynamic between Hyun-su, Eun-yoo and Chan Young super interesting and thought there was something we could've had more time on. This is what the second half of this season felt like. Could've ended up in the same way but boy they should've gone a different route on some of this stuff.
At this point, I don't even know who we're going to have left to resist monsters because the group gets smaller and smaller, and I don't care if most of them become monsters of die. Like what's the end goal at this point? Because first season it was clear. Survive. This one? No idea, felt like it flopped all over the place.
The girl and man with the caravan. What was their purpose? No idea. Did they have potential? Sure, but so sick of having female characters being half insane. Like take them out of the story, and you could've literally kept going with barely anything changing.
This season asked more questions than it answered. Did we ever actually find out what was in the suitcase? I can't remember at this point, I started skipping scenes towards the end, because while the mad scientist was interesting, it felt like the whole season was him gearing up to do something. This whole season was a set up for season 3, so I am hoping they end this show at season 3 and make it truly epic because it fell flat this season.
Will I watch season 3? You bet, they've set up some interesting things, I just felt disappointed they didn't choose a more enticing way to set it up. Because the first season was an interesting dive into the human psyche, the second season had me like, there are too many humans, I don't care about any of their backstory.
Come on season 3, fighting!