In the gory dystopian Japanese classic Battle Royale (2000), the style of ‘ fighting until the last survivor’ has created a lasting legacy upon numerous western franchises ( consider movies like the Hunger Games and Saw) and video games as well, whilst series like the American graphic - novel based and Zombie show the Walking Dead (2010-) have established an interest in contemporary dystopian dramas and franchises. Yet, as dramas go, Sweet Home doesn’t entirely stand out at first amongst the multitude of ‘ race- for- survival’ - style movies and dramas out there.

Most webtoon readers will probably argue, however, that the one thing which the drama does do well in regards to divulging away from past dystopian tropes in a similar manner to the eponymous webtoon , is being able to maintain the archetype that the monsters aren’t created by some pandemic or freaky lab accident, but the human psyche’s repressed fears and desires. This is one of the main focuses of the show and one of the main obstacles for the main protagonist Hyun ( Song Kang) in order to confront ( both literally and metaphorically) his own demons over the course of the drama.

On the other hand, whilst it is important to respect both a webtoon and “ based-upon” drama as standalone productions in their own rights, it is undeniable with the great legacy of the original webtoon to notice where the drama fell short of expectations at times. ( With all due respect the drama did maintain some of the impactful themes of the original webtoon such as mental health, murder, smoking and violence).

The greatest of the show’s flaws came from character development and interaction throughout the series.

For those who don’t know, one of the critically-acclaimed features of the original webtoon ( sans the fighting scenes) was the ability to show how the numerous characters of the webtoon with different personalities, backgrounds and beliefs were able to develop bonds, alliances and friendships throughout the events of Sweet Home. That’s not to say that the drama didn’t achieve this at all. To some extent, we got to see this interaction en par with the webtoon through the first meeting of Hyun and Lee Eun Yoo ( Go Min- Si) in episode 1 and their interactions over the course of the drama, as well as the humanity of the most unlikely character, the gangster Pyeon Sang-wook ( Lee Jin Wook) through his heart-rendering backstory in later episodes. Apart from this, there seemed to be little dedication in scenes to actually focus upon other and more intimate character interactions.

Yet whilst the show arguably does not have the time to cram in 142 chapters of character interactions into 10 episodes alone, there were still endless opportunities to explore and humanise other important characters in the drama in order to make their backstories and their events such as Yoon Ji- Soo ( Park Kyu-Young) and Jung Jae Hyeon ( Kim Nah Hee) more impactful by allowing them to grown upon viewers.

This ironically moves us onto the second problem of the drama; the CGI effects of the monsters.

As it happens there was something more sinister in some regards to the effects of Hyun’s eyes turning demonically- black in scenes than the bloodshot appearance in the webtoon, and the nightmarish forms of the “ Half- Headed” and “ Protein” Monsters will certainly leave goosebumps for viewers afterwards. What is hard to understand, however, is how lazy the CGI could be at times within this show, with several scenes such as the “ Seoul Apocalypse” appearing more like a 2000s cheap horror movie than a drama released this year. It seemed only adding to this effect was the single shot style frame typically employed for romance dramas which felt oddly out of a place in a horror drama where inventive styles ( even slow-motion) or the feeling of distortion ( which have been employed to portray Hyun’s nightmares) would have been better suited for theme of Sweet Home.Additionally one of the biggest of the drama had to be the OST. Whilst hearing Imagine Dragon’s Warriors during a fight scene or the ironic energetic K-Hip Hop artist BeWhy did add a level of pacing to the ending, it soon became repetitive and lost impact to hear these songs again and again without a change of pace. For a drama which has a main character as a musician, there was so much wasted potential to not have a wider range of genres, styles and (respectfully )more Korean and international mainstream and indie artists throughout the show.

Perhaps Sweet Home’s one saving grace had to be its varied and brilliant cast. By far several of the best casting choices of the show had to be between choosing Lee Jin Wook as a gruff gangster, Go Min- Si as a foul-mouthed teenager with a surprising streak of kindness and of course casting Kim Sang Ho as Han Du- Sik , the much needed comical relief of the drama.

Yet the casting choices of our main leads were by far the most surprising. Knowing that Song Kang( who played one of the cheerful leads in the romance hit-drama Love Alarm ) would be cast to play the suicidal and angst-ridden teen Hyun, seems a strange fact to grasp with for most viewers, yet, Kang’s portrayal added a surprisingly level of humanity to the irony of playing a character fighting for that very sake. In a similar manner, Lee Do Hyun was fairly unrecognisable in a guise of glasses and a more mature role as Lee- Eun Hyuk than a certain “ Ahjussi teenager “ in the romance- comedy 18 Again , yet like his costar, Do- Hyun was fairly good in the drama.

Overall, Sweet Home has certainly been one of the better dramas of 2020 with a fairly good and original concept ( although it does fall down on several factors), difficult themes (such as murder and suicide) being tackled in an appropriate manner and a stellar and diverse cast. My only other complaint is with the ending already trying to build its way to another season ( or leave on a “ dramatic” cliffhanger) and therefore consequently trying to stray away from the original storyline. Apart from this ( as we are still yet to see if there is another season or not) , Sweet Home ( although not flawless) is definitely worth a watch.