Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Sweet Tooth’ Season 2 On Netflix, Where Gus, Big Man And Dr. Singh Try To Save The Hybrids And Humanity

It’s been almost two years since Sweet Tooth, based on an apocalyptic DC Comics series, debuted on Netflix. Back then, we appreciated how it effectively toed the “twee” line and kept the action moving. Would Season 2 do the same?

SWEET TOOTH SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A woman treks through a frozen Alaskan landscape, looking for a mountain range in a picture she holds.

The Gist: The woman is Birdie (Amy Seimetz), the geneticist who created Gus (Christian Convery), the first human-animal hybrid. She’s looking for a particular artifact, and spelunks down a canyon to find an abandoned ship. In the mess of long-dead bodies below decks, she finds the purple flower she’s been looking for.

Gus, after having dreamed of the demise of Big Man (Nonzo Anozie), he wakes up in captivity, in The Preserve, which General Abbot (Neil Sandilands) and The Last Men took over for the purpose of imprisoning and studying hybrid children. He’s greeted by Wendy (Naledi Murray), who used to live there with her mother Aimee (Dania Ramirez) and sister Becky/Bear (Stefania LaVie Owen).

Wendy is more or less the ringleader of the captured hybrids, telling them not to eat the kibble they’re fed and using sign language to communicate with the hybrids that can’t talk. She’s happy that Gus can talk, she introduces him to everyone. All except Roy, the chameleon boy who was removed when Gus entered.

Meanwhile, Dr. Aditya Singh (Adeel Akhtar) once again saves his wife Rani (Aliza Vellani) from dying from “the sick,” the virus that has killed 98% of all humans on earth. Under strict orders from Abbot, he’s been studying the hybrids, who aren’t affected by the virus, and he’s able to extract enough DNA from them to save his wife, if only for a short time. While he’s been going on no sleep, Abbot orders him to develop more serum, as a new strain threatens to wipe out whoever is left.

With the help of the hybrids, Gus and Wendy try to get to the radio to send a message to Aimee, but are captured and sent back. But before they do, they see what Roy’s fate was. Wendy thinks it’s right to tell the rest of the hybrids the truth, but Gus tells them that Roy escaped.

Gus is the next hybrid to be studied, and Dr. Singh tells him that if he can communicate and show him what’s in his head he won’t have to cut him open. Gus talks about his “pubba” Richard (Will Forte), but insists that he doesn’t have parents. But he does claim he saw Richard while he was among some purple flowers.

In the meantime, Becky, who’s been hiding at Birdie’s house, hears from her over a satellite phone. She finds a cassette Birdie made for Gus and barely escapes the house with her life.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Sweet Tooth Season 1, of course. It’s definitely a post-apocalyptic series, but with more of a hopeful tone, akin to The Last Of Us and Station Eleven.

Our Take: Jim Mickle, who adapted Jeff Lemire’s DC comic series and also directs the first episode of the season, continues to balance on the line between twee cuteness and true drama with Sweet Tooth. When Gus is being introduced to the other hybrids by Wendy, seeing the shy turtle kid Teddy (Christopher Sean Cooper Jr.) singing “Thank You For Being A Friend,” or Max the skunk kid (Harvey Gui) fart is so adorable our blood sugar spiked. But it’s soon balanced by what is going on with the humans, which is the usual demagoguery in the face of desperation.

That’s really why the show holds our attention so well. It’s not all grim and it’s not all cute. Also, we know that both Gus and Wendy have it in them to find their respective guardians, Big Man and Aimee, and go back on their quest to help the humans find a cure.

Convery and Murray make a good team, and it’s fun to see them playing off each other, given that they they were separate for pretty much the entire season. Of course, we’d like to see the two of them back with their benefactors, and we’d like to see Gus and Birdie reunite at some point.

Can Sweet Tooth go the way of Stranger Things, being so expansive that the characters don’t come together the way they did during the first season? Perhaps. But for now, having Gus and Wendy together with the hybrids, helping Dr. Singh find a cure while Big Man and Aimee try to find them works.

Sex and Skin: None. Except for some language, Sweet Tooth is pretty family-friendly.

Parting Shot: Gus’ stuffed dog comes down the feed chute. That means Big Man is still alive. Wendy’s porcine smelling skills sniff Aimee’s scent on the dog, as well. “They’re together!” Wendy says. “Toldja! We’re getting out of here!” exclaims Gus.

Sleeper Star: It feels like Stefania LaVie Owen’s Becky will factor into the story quite a bit as she ventures to find Gus and her sister. Oh, and James Brolin is still the narrator, though we don’t hear from him all that much in the first episode.

Most Pilot-y Line: If Big Man were still with Gus, “he’d tell me to grow a pair,” he tells Wendy. “A pair of what?” she asks. “I don’t know. He never said,” he replies.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Sweet Tooth continues to be an engaging and fun story, which is pretty impressive for a show about the human race being quickly wiped out.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.