Sweet Home

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Synopsis: An apartment block of residents try to survive the effects of a mysterious virus that has swept the country and transformed its citizens into monsters. One infected young man seems to have found a way to control the effects of the virus and attempts to use the abilities it grants him to survive and find answers as to its source.

A Boy and a Ballerina

Sweet Home is a Korean thriller drama that hits a little close to home given the prevailing situation in our world today. The series focuses on an aggressive, parasitic, and extremely aggressive virus with mysterious origins that transforms its hosts into hideous creatures with various abilities. It's a series that starts at the end before backtracking to where the chaos all started, and it begins with the listless trudge of the main character towards an apartment building. The young man named Cha Hyun-Su carries nothing more than a backpack with a keyboard and other equipment for his computer towards his new home unaware of the trials that the future will present.

As the story progresses, we discover that he was orphaned after a tragic car accident had claimed the lives of his family, leaving him alone with very little in the way of an inheritance and more in the way of resentment, anger and fear. With little to no prospects and an underwhelming financial situation, he would decide that the logical course of action would be to punch his own ticket and join his family in the afterlife. His plans would, however, be postponed as a beautiful ballet dancer on the roof top would pull his mind from taking the fateful final step.

Despite the poise and grace demanded of her craft, the young dancer's diction and demeanor would, unfortunately, show that the virtues of ballet had not so effectively been transferred to her social skills, or if they had, they were well hidden under the thick cloud of smoke from her cigarette and the harsh tone of her voice. Her routine would nonetheless postpone Hyun-Su's plans, and her introduction would act as only the first of many characters within the apartment building that would emerge and present their own eccentricities.

Screenshot From Mac

Screenshot From Mac

Screenshot From Mac

The series truly begins as an average day is turned on its head when some of the inhabitants discover that the shutters of the apartment building had been closed and locked, preventing their exit. While the initial thought was that the new state of affairs was to keep them in, they eventually go on to discover that the aim was to keep something out. Their confusion is eventually replaced by surprise and fear as the apartment building becomes overrun with monsters both from within and without, necessitating the need for survival and co-operation. The virus rapidly spreads and causes severe nosebleeds to whoever becomes infected, the first grisly symptom before a slow transformation into something deadly and unnatural.

The new landscape drives Cha Hyun-Su to abandon his usual apathetic demeanor and contribute to the safeguarding of the other inhabitants. Each apartment door acts as a gateway into a different story with characters that either overcome fear to survive the present ordeals or succumb to the harsh and unforgiving environment that once provided them with security. The story gains a further interesting dimension when Hyun-Su is also shown to be infected but proves to be an exception to the rule of the virus and finds that he possesses a degree of control over it as it becomes a dark passenger that slowly gnaws at him like a black conscience desperate to take over at the wheel. With an eventual sense of order and organization taking root by way of safeguarding spaces, distributing weapons and resources along with enacting quarantine measures for those with symptoms, the inhabitants await news and aid from the outside while doing what they can to survive the outbreak and simultaneously find answers as to its origins and possible cure.

Home Sweet Home

Sweet Home didn't initially grab me by name alone, but the promotional poster of bloodied-up individuals with weapons at the ready certainly did. The opening episode hooked me instantly with various characters that effortlessly demonstrated their potential and staying power for the duration of the journey, and while the series lost a step or two in my eyes by the second and third episodes, its flaws would slowly transform into some of its greatest strengths. I wasn't too pleased with the variety of the monsters that appeared in the series at first, but their mysterious origins and abilities soon started to remind me of the series Attack On Titan, boasting similar concepts albeit on a smaller scale, the apartment building acting as a fortress that had to withstand attacks whilst the existence of both actual and potential monsters from within foreshadow the possibilities to come.

I also admired the series for not using the concept of monsters as a crutch, as it was the character dynamics and individual performances that drove the series forward. The history of Hyun-Su was made more interesting and given further dimensions by the existence of the virus within him, not to mention an otherwise tragic back story prior to the demise of his family. The series presents viewers with problems on multiple fronts, the struggle for stability within the building and the mysteries of the outside, and the actors more closely involved with the virus.

The series truly impressed me with incredible cinematography that gave superb levels of detail, life, and vibrancy to the finite space in which most of the action took place, I can't, unfortunately, say the same about the production in parts, the special effects of the monsters was unconvincing in places, not to mention some of the costumes and make-up.

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This aside, Sweet Home is still a real stand-out series that once again demonstrates the quality of East Asian entertainment. It speaks to the stark truth of our lived condition, which is that it often takes life-threatening events for people to come together and find common ground. The diversity of the characters under one roof creates the most unlikely of bonds which are given greater significance when one takes into account how people within an apartment block will most likely remain strangers to one another for the rest of their days.

While I wasn't convinced of Hyun-Su as a leading man, he did grow on me over time and the nature of his affliction offers great potential for the series moving forward, and talking about moving forward, the writers did a phenomenal job of bookending the first series and presenting new mysteries for the second season to jump off from.

While our present virus situation is not as cataclysmic as the one in the series, which is not to say that the damage of Covid-19 should be played down, Sweet Home inspires by showing that no situation remains the same, and that an environment can give us opportunities to be more than what we once were. This great series with its compelling story, nail biting action, cliff hangers, and exciting action makes for some highly entertaining viewing and comes highly recommended.