The Ballad of the Last Men
Episode 8 of Sweet Tooth season 2 starts with Adi angry and realizing he’s been left on his own. With Rani gone, Adi instead heads into the purple flower room, removes his glasses and decides to inhale deeply, letting the hallucinations consume him, passing out into a stupor. The visions are pretty extreme, and include a familiar icy lake. When he awakens, Adi finds the glass has been shattered, and the antler still in his pocket.
Meanwhile, Becky comforts Tiger, who’s still torn up over what’s happened. Johnny too is similarly shocked, as he’s summoned by General Abbot. He looks around the devastation in the zoo before heading up into Rani’s room. Leaving his gun behind, he takes his stuff and looks set to leave… until Abbot arrives and stops him. “We never leave family behind.” Abbot growls, before handing over his gun and letting him lead the way. There’s no escaping from Abbot now.
What happens in Yellowstone?
In Yellowstone, Aimee speaks to the kids and reminds them that Abbot is not going to stop. He’s going to come for them and Tiger’s warning has given them the slight upper-hand. Jepp urges Gus to stay safe but similarly that they’ll stay together, while Becky offers some encouraging words of wisdom to Aimee, thanking her for keeping the kids safe.
With Becky’s army gone, her maternal instincts kick in as she’s tasked with watching over the kids and keeping them safe. All the kids say goodbye to Aimee in a rather emotional moment before parting ways, as the rest left behind prepare for Abbot’s arrival.
Above Yellowstone, as the helicopter hovers closer toward the final conflict, Abbot has his brother sing to him. During this beautiful song, we cut across to those left behind at the cabin as they prepare booby traps and thick black smoke to draw Abbot into their location.
Does Johnny get his redemption?
Becky leads the kids out to a gondola, which they ride to safety. It can only take a few kids at a time though, and with Abbot fast approaching, time is very much of the essence. The General sees the smoke and rallies the troops, who are already waiting. They knock down the fence and prepare to strike… until Johnny turns on Abbot and holds him at gunpoint.
Johnny points out there’s not a Cure, given Adi failed, and their fighting is futile. He’s given up and decides the General should let the kids – and him – go. “It’s over. Everyone can see that except you.” Johnny says. As for Abbot, he’s stubborn and only cares about winning. Abbot eventually decides to let his brother go…but as he salutes and turns his back, Abbot shoots Johnny dead.
As they head into the compound, Jepp wastes little time beginning to take the guards out, while Gus and Aimee similarly work to blindside the Last Men. In fact, the group take out 8 men in quick succession and with the first wave done, Abbot picks up a handgun as he heads through the devastation… and then finds himself before Jepp.
The latter knocks down General Abbot and leaves him a bit of mess. However, Wendy leaves the gondola just as it’s about to leave the station and hurries back into the woods.
While Jepp is manhandling Abbot, he points out that Jepp’s wife and child died while waiting for him to return home. Whether Abbot is telling the truth or not doesn’t matter, as Abbot uses the opportunity to knock Jepp down and leave.
What happens with General Abbot? Does he die?
Over at the cabin, it’s time for plan B and that comes from Gus being kept safe and hidden while Aimee grabs her shotgun and confronts the General. However, she didn’t account for Wendy still being out there.
Thankfully, Becky shows up and saves her life, killing the guard and revealing the truth that she’s been looking for her sister all this time. Her sister, of course, being Wendy. Wendy is shocked and walks away but as she does, Aimee is blindsided by Abbot who shows up at the cabin. He takes his attention off Aimee when he learns she’s sick, and it’s enough for Aimee to stab him in the neck and straddle him down. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to kill him, and he grabs a shotgun and chases Gus, who frees himself from his hiding place and takes back the serum that Aimee had.
Thankfully, some deus ex machina saves the day as Gus screams into the air for Abbot to stop, bringing forth a massive stampede that go full-on Mufasa death on the guy, trampling him to death.
Does Aimee pass away?
With the threat of the Last Men over, Aimee rests easy with Wendy as the former discusses how she’ll be joining the stars soon. She tells Wendy that if she feels lost in the future, she should look up and remember her. However there’s a twist in the tale here. In his defeated state, Abbot rises up enough to use his crossbow on Gus and shoot him in the back.
With Gus fading out and struggling, we cut to all the kids together paying their respects to the fallen. It’s Aimee’s funeral, and all the kids struggle to hold back tears as they say goodbye to their mum. So what of Gus? Well, he’s still alive – of course he is! He’s not in a great way though and he has a fever and is holding on. When he suddenly regains consciousness again, it occurs right off the back of a dream about Birdie. She asks for help, freezing in an Alaskan cave, and it seems like she’s in trouble.
How does Sweet Tooth season 2 end?
The group gather around Gus and decide that they can go off and find her in Alaska and help save the world. With the Last Men story over, the tale of Gus is still very much prevalent and ready for a third season.
As the episode closes out, Adi closes in on Gus, as he learns he’s heading up to Alaska. As for Zhang, she learns that Abbot is dead from her scout, who has similarly found Adi’s recorder. She sends him off to get it translated, while she prepares to set her sights on becoming the next antagonist in this series.
The Episode Review
So Sweet Tooth rounds out with a really good finale, one that closes everything out on a high and sets things up for a third (and potentially final?) season for this fantasy drama.
The end of General Abbot was perhaps orchestrated ever since he killed his brother, but at the same time, it’ll be hard to fill General Abbot’s boots. This Zhang character, part of “The Three” is a nice expansion of the lore though, and there’s enough drama across the entirety of the show to make for a solid watch.
The writing in this second season has been just as good as the first, although I must say the deus ex machina used in this finale, with the sudden stampede of wild bison saving the day, a bit annoying. I do appreciate this was foreshadowed a little, with the chatter about wild animals through the season not being hunted, but it still felt a bit lazy.
Beyond that though, the rest of the season has ticked by nicely and even Becky, who hasn’t had an awful lot to do until late on, gets a really nice arc to her journey, realizing that strength can also come from maternal instincts, which is a lovely message. All in all, a very enjoyable show.
Previous Episode |
|
Expect A Full Season Write-Up Later This Month! |
-
Episode Rating
Thank you for the review. I agree with you about the stampede being a bit lazy. I also thought the revealing of Becky being Wendy’s sister was very anticlimactic. I don’t even recall Aimee finding out that Becky was Wendy’s sister. I think the pass-off to Becky from Aimee to take care of the hybrids would have been stronger if, let’s say…
Aimee – She asks Becky why she wanted to protect the hybrids
Becky – She shares her back story with Aimee about her younger sister being a hybrid and how her sister was taken away. Of course, she would also explain her sister having pig characteristics and even shares the name of her sister.
Aimee – After hearing Becky’s back story, realizes Wendy is said sister. Then, in some satisfying way, Aimee brings both sisters together.
Of course, all of what I wrote above wasn’t thought through a ton, but I just felt like the reunion between Becky and Wendy should have been much stronger.