By Carnby Kim and Youngchan Hwang
Status: Finished
Summary:
The Netflix Original Sweet Home is a small screen adaptation of the webtoon with the same name. Sweet Home is an apocalyptic horror thriller focusing on the survival of the tenants of an apartment complex.
Review:
I started reading this manhwa/webtoon back when it first launched in 2018 but I wasn’t able to keep up with it because of school. Fast forward a few years later an announcement was made that a Netflix series was to be made. And then a few more weeks later photos of the actors were revealed. I seriously felt nervous.
I had two major reasons why I felt this: a) the actors too looked too clean for my taste; b) At this time Netflix had a reputation for hit-or-miss show productions according to the more avid viewers of Netflix originals. So, I was safe to say that I was kind of tentative about watching the whole thing.
For reason a I could definitely say that this was a fault on my side. The photos released were not still cuts. They were simply promotional images of the actors being their actor selves and not in costume. OF COURSE! They wont be gritty and dirty as the show would most likely curate them to be. But you know… first impression matters. Also, I wasn’t too familiar with the actors at the time. Comments on the posting and the fans of the artists were very much excited that they were cast and have said that none of their projects disappointed and then that they were perfectly cast. So, I was really banking on those ideas. But hesitation still hung in the air.
Reason b, Netflix had a lot of originals project lined up and even though they are collaborations with big production houses within international communities and big known names, some projects still did disappoint. This disappointment did not come from personal opinions, rather from people who work in the industry and whose voices and opinions actually matter. Production VALUE (video quality, sound quality, locations) did not disappoint, but some, especially if they are adaptations, fail to impress and did disappoint the fans of an already established franchise. This I had bigger fear than the actors. What if the actors did their best but the beauty of the webtoon wasn’t translated properly to the screen at all?
To address all my fears and for those dying to have a quick closure: the show did not disappoint. AT. ALL.
The Actors
SONG KANG as Cha Hyun-soo
Song Kang is a pretty new up and coming actor mainly known for his romantic projects and clean leading man looks. But that was completely gone when he embodied Hyun-Soo. He shed off all that puppy-like features and transformed into the dark, brooding and disturbed protagonist. Gone were his pearlescent white skin and confident leading man looks and here enters a sickly hunched over loser with pasty skin.
Cha Hyunsoo is a suicidal high school student whose family got killed in a car crash. With the other tenants of his new apartment building, he finds himself caught in an apocalypse surrounded by monsters.
What made him good? Song Kang is a built 6ft tall athletic type and he was able to turn into this sickly loser that has attempted to end his life way too many times before. He doesn’t look like the reliable leading man that can lead people to safety, he didn’t even look like the type of person that can inspire people to stand up and fight. And for the duration of the series, he barely said a word; considering he is the main character of the show he barely had any lines. All the acting he did was through his eyes and by nodding and shrugging. I think the only time he spoke a full conversation with someone that is not his demon (spoiler!!!) was in the second half of the series. And I think that this is a good indicator that an actor is good. I mean, it is very difficult to show that you are internally collapsing and want to give up yet you slowly find something worth fighting for and living for that is outside and beyond yourself without uttering anything.
LEE DO-HYUN as Lee Eun-Hyuk
The very clean cut and conservative looking actor, Lee Do-Hyun, transformed into a pre-med student drop out, Eun-Hyuk. He becomes the groups reluctant yet very headstrong leader of the building’s survivors. He was the tactician that kept everyone alive.
He is the character completely opposite of Hyun-Soo. When Hyun-Soo retreated into himself when the apocalypse happened, Eun-Hyuk stepped up. To the demise of others, especially the older folk, Eun-Hyuk stepped in and stepped up to lead the group. He knew what to do and when he doesn’t – he figures it out. I think those are signs of a good leader. The people needed him whether they liked it or not and he made himself indispensable.
LEE SI-YOUNG as Seo Yi-Kyong
Lee Si-Young’s character, Seo Yi-Kyong, was an addition to this rag-tag crew. She is a fire fighter who knows more of the situation that she lets on. Her character is shrewd in mystery. What all the audience knows is that she is a former firefighter with a lot of trust issues.
Her character is a bit tricky to review if she was true to how she was written: she was never in the webtoon. Yi-kyong was written for the show, her character was a presence I immediately tried to understand: why did the tv show have to include another character when the characters written are already good enough to keep the show running. I mean there was nothing virtually wrong with webtoon and the speed of the plot unfolding. So why? Well, the answer to that will be included in the story (obviously!). But! I would like to mention that her character was well written in. Her addition did not disturb the already established chemistry the characters had with each other. Not. Disappointed. At. All.
Lee Jin-Wook as Pyeon Sang-wook
He plays the brooding gangster, Pyeon SangWook, the silent mercenary that nobody knows if he will save them from the monsters or if he will be the one to sell everyone else to the monsters. In the show and the webtoon, Sangwook was illustrated as a mysterious man with a scar on his face and a mistaken gangster.
I saw the comments on the Instagram comment section and there have been a lot of mentions that fans were excited for his comeback. I for one was introduced to Jin-Wook as this brooding character; a character whose moral compass isn’t exactly set on straight. Without a doubt, they were the best intentions just the worse executions. Just like Hyunsoo, he really did not talk much but he was able to delivered all his emotion through the dimly lit halls of the destructed apartment building.
Look, the casting has gone against all the prejudice that I had regarding the actors. I thought that Netflix will turn the casting and the show into some cheesy show without the gore and horror of the webtoon. Was I wrong?
Very.
The webtoon was dark and gritty, Netflix made the series darker and grittier. The blood, the gore, and the horror that was written in the pages of the webtoon was brought to life and the monsters were made real without making the show tasteless and unnecessary. The production crew and the writers of the show valued the imagination of the webtoon creators and it showed in the crafting of the perfect characters and creatures. They knew the importance of the written work that creators have done and have done justice to bringing it to the small screen.
The soundtrack of the show also elevated the tense atmosphere that the show wanted to deliver. With BeWhy, one of South Korea’s leading rappers, taking the lead with soundtrack and the background music for the duration of the show embodied the tension and angst that hung in the air.
I just love it so much!