Sweet Tooth – Season 1 Episode 8 (Finale/Ending) Recap & Review

Big Man

Episode 8 of Sweet Tooth Season 1 begins this finale with two scientists arguing outside. One is a lot more lax than the other, but Tommy quickly arrives on the scene with Louisa, who’s in desperate need of medical attention.

With nowhere else to go, the doctors eventually allow her to stay – but Tommy has to wait. While he sits in the waiting room, news spreads of the infection on TV as fear mongering reports grimly report that this outbreak is going to get worse

Lousia gives birth to a beautiful baby boy but when Tommy sees that his son is a hybrid, he rushes out without looking back. Interestingly, Dr Singh happens to be in the elevator with him. He gives the Big Man some encouraging words of wisdom and leaves him with a big choice to make.

In the present, Tommy and Bear contemplate whether Gus is really an experiment. If that’s the case then Bear and her Animal Army have believed in a lie this whole time – not dissimilar to Gus’ predicament. Tommy eventually heads off to speak to him privately.

Gus meanwhile, uncovers a plane with the radio still crackling and working. It’s surrounded in greenery but it does seem to have a radio. Unfortunately Gus uses this to call for aid from the Preserve. Why is this a problem? Well, we’re about to find out…

Trouble lies ahead for all of our characters. Aimee looks set to face the brunt of General Abbot, as he and his men surround The Preserve. He monologues, allowing Aimee time to prep her fireworks and set everything off in a dazzling display of explosives.

With Aimee holding tight and the kids all rushing off to safety, General Abbot brushes aside this firework display and allows his men to storm inside The Preserve and try to find Aimee. Instead, they find Bobby, Wendy and the rest of the kids, quickly rounding them up.

At The Preserve, Adi and Rani are brought in to their “new home”. Rani is kept in a separate room as collateral to motivate him to work on this cure he promised. Abbot knows he was bluffing and tells him to make enough cure so he can choose who lives and who dies.

While all this is going on, Judy sits with Bear who asks about the virus and Gus. It seems like both have their fates entwined together but it’s unknown quite how. However, Judy reveals she’s been keeping all these documents safe simply because she looked at Birdie as a sister.

Elsewhere, Tommy catches up with Gus and the two discuss their past. Specifically, the moments inside the hospital explored earlier in the episode. Tommy decided to face his fears head on, realizing that love is what really matters. Unfortunately, when he returned to the ward he found his son gone – someone had taken him.

This explains his connection with Gus, likening him to his own son and trying not to lose him. In a way, Gus also needs this father figure after the loss of Pubba and the two finally reconnect. It’s a touching moment… but one that’s broken by Gus revealing that he’s phoned the Preserve and they’re en-route. The same Preserve that’s been taken over by the Last Men.

A gunshot ricochets through the air as General Abbot shows up. He bundles Gus in a cage while Tommy has been shot and collapses in a heap on the ground, seemingly left for dead.

Gus is taken to the Preserve, where all of our characters have now converged together. He’s brought before Adi Singh whom he whispers thanks to after he passes a snack through the bars.

It startles Adi, who’s taken aback by him speaking. When Johnny shows up, Adi demands to have more time with Gus; he’s far too special to kill and he likens it to a sign.

Meanwhile, Bear discusses her past and how she was left alone after the L ast Men killed her parents in cold blood. Her real name is Rebecca Walker too. Her parents ended up getting sick and Bear’s little sister was a hybrid at the time. She was taken away but Rebecca was too little to stop them.

Instead, she head off and tried to find her sister. She was unsuccessful, eventually resenting humans and finding solitude in a girl called Tiger. This, of course, brings our story back to the present as we know Tiger has turned her back on Becky and gone her own way.

Judy listens to her whole story and tells the girl not to give up on her sister. Suddenly though, the phone starts ringing as they contemplate what this means.

Meanwhile, a hooded figure shows up and hoists Tommy in the back of their truck with Dog. Tommy opens his eyes and shows that he’s still alive. Aimee has him, as it turns out, and she tells him they’re going to work together and get their kids back.

Elsewhere, Gus finds himself kept prisoner, meeting all the other hybrid children in the jail cell who show up and throw their arms around him in a touching sign of family.

At the same time, Singh is forced to experiment on different hybrids. Johnny shows up and asks if he’s ready to begin, eventually turning a saw on and preparing to the inevitable. Interestingly, Abbot watches them work from the wings.

Up in the arctic, we see the other side of this teased phone call. Connecting to Bear, this woman reveals herself to be Birdie! She’s still alive!

The Episode Review

Sweet Tooth bows out its first season with a beautifully written and gorgeously rendered post-apocalyptic romp. There’s obviously a lot more story to be told here and it seems Netflix has already green-lit this one for a follow-up next year (phew!) meaning we won’t be left with an agonizing cliffhanger for too long.

Instead, the final episode essentially serves to bring all of our characters together for the next leg of their journey after remaining parallel for large swathes of this 8 episode series.

There’s nothing wrong with that of course, and the ending with Tommy and Aimee together poses an interesting match-up as the two set out to bring their kids back.

Speaking of which, the touching reunion with Gus and the kids, with the group hug right at the death of everything, is a wonderful way to end out this season. It also shows that Gus – who began on his own – now has a family in both the hybrids and in Tommy Jepp.

In fact, Tommy has had an amazing character arc across this season and seeing the fragments of his past, piecing together everything that’s led to this point, feels very reminiscent of Joel from The Last Of Us.

Sweet Tooth absolutely nails its first season and all 8 episodes have led nicely to this conclusive finish. Quite what’s next for our characters remains to be seen but one thing’s for sure – this story is far, far from over.