Like most drama fans and readers of Sweet Home, I was a little hesitant hearing about a sequel season to the original series. While the original series was interesting ( though a little flawed) in its own ways, deviation can often be a rocky road and has been proven especially in recent months with sequels to beloved shows .

However, Sweet Home 2 surprisingly took onboard someone of ite faults to create something which was very different from its original source. Is this a bad thing per say? No. In fact, director Lee Eung Bok really did seem to have fun with world-building outside of the apartment complex and introducing new and potentially compelling characters. Did it make the second season feel a bit like a filler before the finale season? Yes, it did a little. (For those who haven’t seen season one, I will try my best to keep this spoiler free but be warned in saying I will be comparing some characters and referencing general knowledge from both seasons. )

Season two picks up pretty much where season one left off. Now facing seperate threats, Hyun Su ( Song Kang) and the surviving Green Home Apartment residents
find that there are worst things than monsters outside of the apartment complex...

Season two is arguably a lot more action-orientated than the original season and source material which definitely has its advantages and disadvantages. On one hand, the series had a feeling of an adrenaline rush, while also being able to be engaging enough for audiences to see new characters introduced. However, while I do praise the series for showing us more versatility in fights and powers of some of the monsters and characters , it was noticeable that the sequel was lacking a little in something which made the series feel more rushed than in season one; suspense and tension.

Evidently with a new setting and place, it was apparent to see Lee Eung Bok trying to take a leaf out of dystopian works such as The Last of Us and Resident Evil in some of the more apparent world-building, disturbing creatures , combat and characters onscreen. However one thing which made both pretty successful in execution as horror-dystopian works came through a good balance between dreading suspense and action.

Sweet Home 2 often seems to struggle a little with attaining this balance. A creature would often come out, mass hysteria and fighting ensues then that’s pretty much it. ( Though praise in a few scenes in the show which allowed some more moral questions to come through .)

While it’s fun to have some action scenes, it’s fair to say most viewers probably were expecting a lot of what was going to happen before it did. When the series did try and surprise us, it rarely had a great impact as a result.

Ironically while season one often struggled with the opposite issue ( not enough adrenaline at times), it did attain one element right by creating tension. Alongside Hyun-Su, you were never entirely sure what was going to await your eyes when he turned a corner or opened a door and you found yourself on edge in a way season two could not quite replicate. Hopefully season three will be able to find a middle ground between both past seasons.

Going into one of the major topics of Sweet Home Season 2 comes through acting and character writing. On the acting front, Sweet Home 2 is fairly good. There are certainly a few wooden deliverances here and there, but there are some particularly outstanding performances by Jung Jin-Young as soldier Park Chan-young, Kim Si-a as the mysterious child, Go Min Si as Lee Eun Yoo and of course, Lee Jin Wook as Pyeon Sang wook.

Character writing was a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand there’s a lot of really interesting characters introduced in the series. However at the same time, it felt as though Sweet Home 2 overcommitted a little to introducing too many characters at once and not enough time to develop both original characters and newcomers alike.

Lee Hyun Su is a classic example in the series. As the actual protagonist and considering how much he went through in the first season, Hyun Su has very little screen time. On one hand, this does seem to be purposeful as the second season did seem more focused drawing upon external forces and how this will influence the later course of the plot. However at the same time when the writing tries to really make us feel or emphasise with his struggles, it didn’t really land as well because we had not really seen or explored how his character had grown onscreen and in the sudden time skip also.

Lee Eun Yoo and Sang Wook, familar faces from season one, go through quite a significant character change in season two which was an engaging part of the story. However similar to Hyun Su, they aren’t really given enough time to be developed onscreen. A lot of the original residents are often put on the back burner a little when it comes to some of the new characters.

Newcomer Park Chan-Young is a really engaging character who arguably had one of the most interesting motives in the series. While he did suffer from lack of screen time, hopefully season three will allow him more character development. Similarly, the mysterious child and Chief Ji (Kim Shin-rok), two of the show’s biggest potential plot points,were underdeveloped but could be explored more next season.


While there are definitely some interesting new characters, there are some very debatable ones introduced such as Hani (Chae Won-bin), Ho-sang (Hyun Bong-sik) and Ye-seul (Yang Hye-ji). Ye-Seul isn’t particularly a bad character per say and is used mainly in the show for some laughs. However, she is never really given anything beyond being the comic character despite being quite heavily featured in some scenes and shown to have a significant character relationship. On the other hand Hani and Ho-Sang are a little more convoluted. They are meant to be more antihero figures in the series, but rather than having more morally ambiguous roles or counteracting what characters think of them, they often play into being downright problems for the plot. In addition to this, anything to do with their relationship or even backstory is pretty much brushed over completely.


The execution of the series is definitely very fast in parts, and slower in others for introducing characters or some exposition, but does struggle with feeling very rushed. This is odd conserving how much time the series could have spent building on its two main plot lines. Although it’s apparent the series was trying to get through as much plot as possible, this was none so more apparent than in the time skip in the final few episodes. Is it bad to have a jump forward? No. Did it mean the series thought it was a solution for not seeing some plot holes and relationship growth? Yes, very much so.

The cinematography has definitely improved since season one with more varied palettes and sets. The CGI does still seem a little awkward in parts, but has improved also since the original season.

Overall Sweet Home 2 finds itself is definitely a slightly odd position . It has improved a lot of the graphics and world building as well as setup an engaging plot and characters, but still struggled with some writing and pacing issues which could have been easily fixed. Overall a fairly engaging watch as well as enticing for setting up the final season.