Sweet Home Season 2 Storyline is a Mess Cause It Doesn't Follow Webtoon

Summary

• On December 1, a new season of the popular sci-fi horror K-drama Sweet Home was released on Netflix.
• The storyline, which continued the story, turned out to be the original brainchild of the writers.
• With the lack of webtoon plot, the new season proved to be inconsistent and shallow, which infuriated fans.

Sweet Home is one of the most popular webtoons and for many an introduction to the world of South Korean comics. The story of a suicidal high school student trapped with other residents in an apartment complex called Green Home, filled with 'monsterized' victims whose new forms have become the embodiment of their inner demons, has won the hearts of readers around the world, with subscribers to the English version alone numbering in the millions.

All of this makes the work of Kim Carnby and Hwang Young-chan one of the most influential of the Korean wave, and the attention surrounding its live-action adaptation is particularly high.

Netflix's adaptation of the main webtoon's story has done quite well: despite some creative liberties and original characters, the first season's plot is faithful to the source material and joins the list of successful live-action adaptations alongside Alice in Borderland and One Piece. However, in the case of other franchises, including The Witcher, the streaming service continues to anger fans. The problem is how loosely and not always respectfully the writers treat the original, introducing questionable changes and interpretations that deviate from the spirit of the source. The plot of Sweet Home's second season is entirely the writers' idea, and enraged fans only confirm that Netflix has once again failed by turning the plot into a total mess.

Season 2 Is a Loose Interpretation of the Webtoon

The first season largely followed the events of the webtoon, effectively using its key moments, including the story of protagonist Hyun-soo, as well as Eun-yoo and Eun-hyuk. The finale, however, turned out to be somewhat different, which made fans curious. In the webtoon, Eun-hyuk sacrificed himself and saved the surviving residents by completely giving in to his transformation into a monster, while in the series, as far as we've seen, he died as a human. Everything else was the same, including Hyun-soo's rebirth from the cocoon and his return to the Green Home survivors.

However, the second season had nothing to do with the webtoon storyline. Netflix likes to turn popular IPs into big franchises, but instead of gaining more popularity, the platform is more often facing criticism.

Fans Unhappy with Creative Liberties and Inconsistent Narrative

Fans were disappointed with the way the writers handled the story, and most of the plot twists turned out to be not only inconsistent and full of plot holes, but as if they were created just for shock value.

For example, the writers seem to have forgotten that the victims always showed clear symptoms, including nosebleeds, before the transformation. This was not the case with Jae-hwan, who was suddenly sacrificed just to advance the plot. Nor was it the case with Yi-kyung, who was turned by her own daughter, but such an important twist could have been handled better than a tragic touch. Even Ji-soo's death was just for shock value. Yes, it was tragic, yes, there was the prospect of her return, but this sudden sacrifice had no meaning at all.

Of course, we can't overlook the fact that all the plot holes, anticlimactic sequences and story choices that infuriated fans will be addressed and explained in Season 3, which was filmed in conjunction with the previous one. Still, the writers will have to do their best to fit in so many storylines, provide satisfying answers, keep the spirit of the original webtoon, and not turn the plot into an incomprehensible mess again. The third and final season is scheduled for release in 2024.