Sweet Tooth – Season 1 Episode 5 Recap & Review

What’s in the Freezer?

Episode 5 of Sweet Tooth Season 1 begins with the General arriving at Gladys Bell’s house. He and his soldiers question Bell’s health and demand to see her research. According to Abbot she’s been faking her illness and question why she’s not researching anymore. He even brings up her two children as collateral damage.

The key to all off this though, lies with the book she’s left Dr Singh. This holds all of her secrets and research, giving Abbot a crucial clue to its whereabouts. No longer needing Dr Bell, he orders her to be killed.

Meanwhile, Gus and Tommy continue on their way, with the Big Man finally caving and agreeing to journey on to Colorado after all. Despite missing the train, they decide to make it to the nearest road but there’s a problem. Bear’s waiting for them.

She shows Gus what she and the Animal Army have managed to uncover. It’s part of an address, as it turns out, and something she’s cooked up with her Animal Army team before things went sour.

She’s about to hitch a train but not in the conventional sense. She’s going to hop on while it’s moving. Gus wants to tag along as well, but Bear warns him that it’s going to be dangerous. After all, they have to pass through the Valley of Sorrows to get there. This happens to be a very beautiful but very toxic field of flowers; the same ones we’ve seen in the community Singh’s in at the moment in fact.

A rickety drawbridge that absolutely-will-not-break inevitably does just that, prompting Gus to fall all the way into the toxic flowers.

Aimee and Wendy meanwhile, continue to use their time to build up their Preserve, dressing up Bobby in the process. Anyway, Aimee starts to communicate with the outside world, although any attempts to deviate from their original plan receives radio silence.

There’s still a lot of paranoia out there and the last thing Aimee needs is to disrupt the Preserve and what they’re building. Unfortunately things take a turn for the worst given Bobby finds a pink ribbon on the fence.

Meanwhile, Gus awakens and starts hallucinating, leading to a touching reunion with Pubba. He encourages Gus to continue on, telling him other kids are counting on him and he needs to be brave. Eventually he wakes up with renewed clarity over the journey ahead.

Meanwhile, Dr Singh finds himself jumpy after Nancie’s death. The garden is covered in these toxic flowers, and Bob arrives telling Adi that they’re all counting on him.

After this uneasy meeting, Adi and Rani make it to the lab together. Only, the package they have is out of hybrids which throws serious doubts over whether they can continue on with their research. Even worse, the place has been completely trashed.

As they start to comprehend what’s happened, they turn to find all the townsfolk arriving and surrounding them. They question where Nancie is, leading Adi to think on his feet. His initial suggestion that she was sick and they had to kill her works quite well. The others start to believe him… until Rani starts coughing.

The plan goes completely awry as they look set to suffer the same fate as both. Of them are sat down while gasoline is poured over the lab. A match is drawn and lit, as the place is set alight.

In the end of this, Rani and Adi prepare for the worst as flames light around them. Soldiers suddenly burst into the building though, fronted by the General who puts out the fire and saves the pair from certain doom.

The Episode Review

Sweet Tooth has been a really solid watch so far and even when our characters are just journeying from one place to another, there’s an undeniable desire to want to see more of this post-apocalyptic world. Props to the art team for that because this is one good looking show. Of course, some of that is also thanks to the majestic beauty of New Zealand too, which the filmmakers have managed to capture in all its glory here.

This episode essentially focuses on our new antagonist for the season, which happens to be this General Abbot. Or, let’s face it, Dr Robotnik but with a new haircut. The very-obviously-evil vibes actually fit in nicely with the aesthetic of this show, especially with names like the Valley of Sorrow and the Last Men.

The storyline with Adi and Rani is essentially sidelined here though in favour of Gus and his journey, which allows for a touching reunion with his Pubba. While short, it’s a nice reminder as to how far he’s come in the world already.

The ending certainly lends itself nicely to the next episode, with a cliffhanger that’ll have you desperate to watch the next episode.