A disease or a curse? Humans are put to a test as a strange occurrence turns people into monsters.
Sweet Home takes its viewers to a thrilling experience as they watch a group of people fight their way for survival. In this dystopian setting, humankind faces a tough challenge as someone they know either dies at the hands of the monsters or becomes one.
- Title: Sweet Home
- Network: Netflix
- Length: 10 episodes
- Broadcast date: 18 December 2020
- Cast: Song Kang | Lee Jin Wook | Lee Si Young | Lee Do Hyun | Kim Nam Hee | Go Min Si | Park Gu Young | Ko Yoon Jung | Kim Kap Soo | Kim Sang Ho
- Highlights: Superb Cinematography and Visual Effects | Great Depiction of Humanity | Absorbing Narrative
- Overall rating:
- Re-watch value:
- Related Dramas: Kingdom | Kingdom 2
The ensemble cast featuring Song Kang, Lee Jin Wook, Lee Si Young, Kim Nam Hee and Lee Do Hyun among others, gave faces to ordinary people confronted with a seemingly insurmountable task. They breathed life to characters whose main goal is to survive in a world where deadly creatures abound.
Sweet Home Highlights
Eye-catching cinematography and visual effects
The drama not only boasts of excellent acting from its cast, it also reels in viewers with its cinematography. The details in every scene highlighted the emotions and conflicts, making the entire watch fully immersive.
A fair warning to those who get queasy about blood and other gory sights, because the nosebleeds (which is basically in every episode) may be too much to handle. The cinematography and visual effects are so top notched that everything in it seems so real.
Just Portrayal of Human Attributes
The residents of Green Home are representations of ordinary people facing the toughest challenge of their lives. Each character has a story and motivation of their own that you can’t help but hate, sympathize with, or root for them.
Humans in any given situation have different reactions even if they go through the same problem. The Green Home tenants only have one goal in mind and that is to survive. With so little information about what is going on, the fear and panic creep in. With it comes hatred, prejudice and selflessness.
However, given the time to ponder, we saw the residents come to terms that their safety and survival depend on each other. This realization, despite losing people along the way, indeed help them survive their toughest ordeal.
Gripping Narrative
As the origin of the occurrence remains vague, the series focused on the characters and their struggles. It is fascinating to see how these people cope with the situation they are all in. The way the drama presented each character and their story make you understand where they are coming from. The gut-wrenching and tear-jerking scenes are explicitly written in a way that would ensure you feel the emotions in those moments.
Watching the story unfolds and seeing the characters band together to survive a seemingly impossible situation resonate so much. It just hit you with the fact that no matter what happens, we will find a way to survive.
Sweet Home Series Afterthoughts
The series did not shy away in depicting aspects of humanity we are not to be proud of. The situation is dire and Green Home residents are desperate. They grapple to understand their current situation. Meanwhile, the information they eagerly want to know is not readily available to them. With the lack of knowledge, people started getting scared. When humans are frightened, we tend to do awful things.
It is not justifiable to be mean and heartless or be selfish while in distress, however, it is understandable. When our backs are pushed against the wall, our initial reaction is to put ourselves first. The characters in the drama did the same and you can’t fault them for that. As humans, we get to experience highs and lows in our lives. We make mistakes but what matters is we learn from and we try to do better.
Balancing out the worst deeds are the best moments humanity has to offer. There are people who look scary on the outside, but it does not mean they are bad people. Most often than not, they are the ones who step up when the need arises.
It is true that there are selfish people out there, however, there are also selfless human beings. Not because they don’t have anything to live for, but rather they see their sacrifice as the meaning of their existence. It does take courage to lay your life on the line for people you barely knew.
I love how the drama played on the idea that the kind of monster you turn into is based on your desire. The drama also reinforces the fact that humans are a lot more frightening than monsters because we have the free will to choose. Most of our actions and reactions come from the choices we made. We get to choose how to live and treat people the way we want to.
While the series’ overall theme is dark and desolate, it still raises hope that things for the human race always get better. We may find ourselves in the darkest of hours or at the lowest point in our lives, but at the end of the day, it is our choices that lead the way on how we move forward.
Read some of the remarkable moments in the series at purplepandamusings (spoiler alert!).
Images from Netflix
[wpedon id=”3227″ align=”center”]
