There are several mysteries buried throughout the narrative ofSweet Tooth, but they never feel like the main focus of the series. Sure, it’s important to find out what caused the plague that killed almost everyone, but the main characters are never interested in it, so it’s rarely the focus of the show. Instead,Sweet Toothdoles out the backstory for the characters and the world to keep everyone entertained.
The second episode of the second season was written by Carly Woodworth. She’s worked in various capacities on otherNetflix shows likeDaybreakandLucifer, but this is her first proper credit onSweet Tooth. The episode was directed by Toa Fraser, best known for his 2014 action filmThe Dead Lands. Much of the show’s cast and crew come from New Zealand, and Fraser is one of the nation’s most interesting talents.
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With Gus and all of his hybrid friends in a kennel, it’s up to Tommy “Big Man” Jepperd and Aimee Eden to save the day. “Into the Deep Woods” opens with a nightmare sequence that sees Jepperd relive the first few daysof “The Great Crumble.“He loses his family and succumbs to the Last Men to seek them out. The show depicts a Last Men rally with such pointed accuracy to current events that it cuts through all the fantasy elements to land the show squarely in bitter reality. Shortly thereafter, Big Man and Aimee are on their way to free the hybrid kids. They choose to sneak in, disguising themselves as Last Men and barely managing to elude the prying eyes of the hunters. Sure enough, they’re exposed and forced to retreat, but not before leaving Gus a little reassurance that they’re coming back for him.
Meanwhile,Gus enters a newstage of therapy with Dr. Singh. Though the doctor’s wife Rani suffers from the Sick, Aditya seems to be doing just as much damage to himself searching for the cure. His work is driving him mad and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, so he brings out a slightly controversial tactic. Fans may remember Gus’s dream sequence brought on by purple flowers. Dr. Singh chooses to expose him to their hallucinogenic effects to forcefully mine his memories for information. This leads to an extended reckoning with some of the big truths of the story. Dr. Singh discovers some bracing new details of Gus’s birth. Gus starts to come to terms with the true nature of his parents. It’s a deeply emotional exchange, brought to lifewith some beautiful imageryand gripping dialogue.
While Gus is busy in prison and Big Man is busy trying to save him, Bear finds herself on a unique solo adventure. After narrowly evading the Last Men at Birdie’s cabin, Becky is stuck wandering the roads to find a new path. Thanks to the communications rig and the help of Birdie’s former co-worker Judy, Becky is the only member of the group with any suitable leadtoward finding Gus’s mom. This would be helpful, but she’s miles away from everyone else. With the party split as far as it is, the central storyline is largely put on hold. This isn’t necessarily a problem, so long as everyone’s new plotline is suitably engaging. However, it has dragged the series away from its initial pitch in a way that might not appeal to everyone.
1/4th of the way through the secondseason ofSweet Tooth, it hasn’t played around much in the genre it used to inhabit. Rather than depicting a charming little kid and his grumpy dad, it’s about a mess of rambunctious youths and their dutiful guardians struggling to get back together. Though both plotlines are fun, they’re losing some of the stark juxtaposition that was present in the first season of the show. Many of the best episodes of last season depicted Sweet Tooth and Big Man wandering the wasteland and meeting new people. A lot of the fun was in the discovery of new survivors and the unique ways in which they live. Thisseason has replaced thatenjoyment with a more concise prison escape storyline, and while it’s not a massive downgrade, it is easy to want the gang to get back together again.
Sweet Toothoccupies a very strange place in Netflix’s catalog of original shows. It’s not aspopular asStranger Things, it’s not as well-established asThe Umbrella Academy, and it’s not based on a massively popular IP likeWednesday. Instead, it had to earn a second season off the back of its tremendous critical reception.Sweet Toothabsolutely deserves the praise it earned. It delivers the feeling of something charmingly quaint while occasionally smacking the audience back to reality. Though fans of the first season may feel that a lot has changed, there’s still so much to like about the new adventures of this strange little deer boy.
