* This review contains spoilers for Season 2 Episode 2 of Sweet Home
In Season 2 of Sweet Home, the surviving tenants of Green Home Apartment venture out into the monstrous world, seeking a safe haven while confronting new challenges. They encounter other survivors and delve deeper into the mysteries surrounding the outbreak. Meanwhile, Hyun-Su grapples with his dual identity as a human and a monster, facing a difficult choice that will determine the fate of everyone.
READ | Sweet Home Season 2 Episode 1 Recap & Review
Episode 2
The episode starts with a flashback set in Green Home. Eun-Hyuk (Lee Do-Hyun) and Ji-Su (Park Gyu-Young) are talking about Hyun-Su’s precarious fate. Eun-Hyuk fears that if Hyun-su loses his memories, he will inevitably turn into a monster. He then tells Ji-Su that he may not be around for much longer, and asks her to protect Eun-Yu (Go Min-Si).
In the present, Eun-Yu forces the soldiers to drive them back to Green Home. Ji-Su holds a gun on the soldiers as Eun-Yu enters the destroyed building. She finds his broken glasses and a list he made showing the names of infectees. She sees that he wrote his own name among those who were turning into monsters, causing her to weep.
The monsters return
The sergeant convinces one of the residents to take the gun from Ji-Su. He then locates and beats Eun-Yu. Chan-Young (Jung Jin-Young) notices the bodies of several soldiers nearby, indicating a monster is in the area. The sergeant orders Chan-Young to tie up the residents and leave them behind. Chan-Young does so, but loosens the knot around Eun-Yu’s wrists.
At that point, the residents spot their former neighbour Ms. Im (Lee Bong-Ryun), who turned into a cocoon during Season 1. Now hatched, she walks towards the soldiers, but the crazed sergeant rams her with their truck. He is suddenly killed by the one-eared monster, which is still alive after all this time.
The residents and Chan-Young try to sneak past it, but are discovered when it hears a passing military drone. The residents make it onto a bus, while Chan is captured by the eye-stalk monster. He manages to free himself and leaps onto the moving bus, and they leave the monsters behind.
Internal conflicts
We then cut to a scene showing the military’s efforts to fight the monsters. It is a difficult and brutal task, leaving many soldiers dead or injured. We then see Sergeant Tak (Yu Oh-Seong) and Sergeant Kim (Kim Mu-Yeol) looking over the situation.
Sergeant Kim asks pull back, as most of their soldiers are injured or exhausted. However, Sergeant Tak wants to press on and find another platoon that has gone missing. The situation becomes tense, with Sergeant Tak pulling a gun on Kim. However, Sergeant Kim is unafraid, cryptically telling Sergeant Tak to shoot him, “like you did your own flesh and blood”.
Sergeant Tak relents and allows Sergeant Kim to take their team and the wounded soldiers back to base, while he continues with another group. Eventually they find the dead soldiers at Green Home and retrieve their dog tags.
The survivor
On the bus, Ji-Su tells Eun-Yu that she put them in a lot of danger, but Eun-Yu says that she will not give up searching for her brother. The bus suddenly stops when Chan-Young notices a figure in front of them. They then pick up Ho-Sang (Hyun Bong-Sik).
We then cut to Bamseon, where a naked Hyun-Su (Song Kang) is sent to the experiment zone. Another monster is thrown into the room with him. Over the loudspeaker, Dr. Lim (Oh Jung-Se) tells Hyun-Su to prove that he is ‘the savior’. Hyun-Su is then drenched in blood, provoking the monster to attack him.
The monster beats up Hyun-Su and bites his neck. At that moment, Hyun-Su is able to see memories of the monster’s life as a human, and the monster suddenly loses the will to fight. The soldiers then kills it, despite Hyun-Su’s tearful pleas.
Elsewhere, Ui-Myeong/Sang-Wook (Lee Jin-Wook) is brought into the lab. The doctors believe him to be dead, but he suddenly comes to life and kills them. However, he is unable to walk or heal his own wounds.
Meeting Dr. Lim
Later, Hyun-Su finally meets Dr. Lim. He asks about a vaccine, and Dr. Lim says they already developed one, but it had run out. Hyun-Su asks that they use him to make a new one. Dr. Lim warns that he could die in the process, but Hyun-Su insists on going through with it.
Dr. Lim then runs into Yi-Kyung (Lee Si-Young) and doesn’t seem surprised to see her. He brings her into the lab to meet her fiancé, telling her that he is now a monster. Yi-Kyung heads to the room, while Dr. Lim is suddenly knocked out and taken away by soldiers.
Elsewhere, Ui-Myeong crawls to the room holding the unconscious monster that we saw in Episode 1. He appears to recognize it, and asks if it was waiting for his return.
Attack from within
The bus with the Green Home residents makes a temporary stop, but the peace is broken when one of them suddenly turns into a monster. Newcomer Ho-Sang and Chan-Young shoot it, but it lets out a sonic scream that hurts their ears.
Ji-Su fights through the pain and manages to set it on fire. The incident leaves everyone traumatized, and Ji-Su’s ears are bleeding profusely.
What we thought of the episode
Episode 2 of Sweet Home Season 2 really showed how dire the situation has become. We had heartbreaking moments, with Eun-Yu trying to find her brother and Hyun-Su’s brief encounter with a monster. There were also several tense action scenes involving the characters fighting monsters.
The trauma Hyun-Su went through during his experiment is also our first hint that he may have made the wrong decision in choosing to surrender himself to the military. But, now that Yi-Kyung and Ui-Myeong are loose inside the lab, perhaps we can finally get some answers about the origins of this strange virus.
The conflict between Sergeant Tak and Sergeant Kim also gives us a better idea of their characters and how they may come into conflict in the future. It will be interesting to see their roles in the story.
The episode also ends on a cliffhanger, with one of the young residents left badly injured, and possible damage to Ji-Su’s hearing. Considering how hard she has worked to keep everyone alive, this is a major blow for the group.
We look forward to seeing what happens next!
READ | Sweet Home Season 2 Episode 3 Recap & Review
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