Sweet Tooth Season 2 Breaks A Brutal Show Rule We Never Expected

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Sweet Tooth season 2.

Sweet Tooth season 2 breaks a surprising show rule, setting a far darker tone for the Netflix series and establishing that truly nobody is safe from harm’s way. Sweet Tooth season 1 was well received but saw some confused reactions from a number of comic readers, as the original source material was a far grittier affair than the more hopeful show. That said, this wasn’t a move without logic behind it, as many of Sweet Tooth’s grimmest comic moments could’ve risked alienating casual viewers.

However, by the Sweet Tooth season 2 ending, the show has begun to draw the series closer to its roots, both in story and in tone. Reviews have largely reflected this move, with reactions split between excitement about the show being closer to the original, and some trepidation about what that means for the future of the story with Sweet Tooth season 3. This is especially true regarding one particularly dark moment that broke a rule the show appeared to have, and which likely surprised audiences entirely upon first viewing.

Sweet Tooth Season 2 Breaks Its Child Death Rule

Sweet Tooth season 2 opens with brutality by showing a dead Roy in episode 1 – fully confirming the aftermath of his ordeal in the season 1 finale. Sweet Tooth hasn’t ever fully shied away from the idea that the experimentation on hybrids involved their deaths, but this was never explicitly shown throughout season 1, and seemed likely to stay that way. In season 2, however, the show lingers on a shot of the unfortunate deceased boy, whose death was brought about solely because he was a hybrid child. Worse yet, the show makes it clear Roy died in horrific circumstances, due to the nature of the cure experiments themselves.

Why Sweet Tooth Season 2 Had To Be Darker Than Season 1

Sweet Tooth season 2 being darker than the first season may have come as a surprise to some viewers, but it was something the series needed to do. While making the show lighter than its source material makes sense, there are certain integral plot lines like Gus’ time imprisoned that can’t really be made lighter, and which trying to make too light would actively hamper. Removing the reality of the cruel experiments being carried out on the hybrid children would’ve effectively sabotaged the fear audiences feel for Gus, removed some of the stakes from his attempts at escape, and also made the likes of Abbot seem less imposing as well.

Similarly, Gus’ own character arc is in no small part driven by the awful things he has to deal with on his journey – which includes things like Roy’s death and the deaths of the also young Animal Army. For Gus to have an authentic development, it needs to be clear that he has seen brutality, and that it has changed the way he sees the world. In an odd way, the darker Sweet Tooth season 2 made itself, the more hopeful Gus’ story is, as despite seeing what mankind has done others because they’re like him, he still keeps a sense of hope for the future.