Sweet Tooth Season 2 Review – A highly enjoyable but flawed follow-up

Episode Guide

Episode 1 -| Review Score – 4/5
Episode 2 -| Review Score – 3/5
Episode 3 -| Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 4 -| Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 5 -| Review Score – 4/5
Episode 6 -| Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 7 -| Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 8 -| Review Score – 4/5

When Sweet Tooth dropped back in 2021, it brought with it a wonderful 8 episode season full of fantasy, drama and mystery. The characters were well-rounded, they had great arcs and the antagonist, General Abbot, boasted a brilliantly sadistic mix of menace and danger. Neil Sandilands deserves a lot of credit for that, as he absolutely chews the scenery up every time he graces the screen.

The story in this follow-up wastes little time picking up where we left off last time around. Gus is imprisoned in Essex Zoo, overseen by the monstrous General Abbot, while surrounded by other hybrid children.

Abbot is still adamant on using Adi Singh to develop a cure, while simultaneously trying to unite the three tribes (imaginatively named “The Three”).

Along the way though, Jepp teams up with Aimee and together, they attempt to bust the kids out, but in doing so it could cost them everything. Oh, and Becky’s here too and she goes undercover as one of the Last Men.

Across the 8 episodes, Sweet Tooth does a really good job of juggling these different arcs with a nice bout of editing early on as the different stories overlap. In episode 1 for example, Gus uses a radio to communicate with the outside world. In episode 2, we circle back to this late on when Jepp happens to be with Aimee and their radio pings with a voice – that being Gus – and we see things from his perspective.

These instances do pitter out late on though, which is a bit of a pity, instead replaced with flashbacks which either work to flesh out more of the past and what happened to Birdie, or to explore Rani and Adi’s relationship over time. It works well to break things up, although the real meat and potatoes of this story remains with Gus and Jepp’s journey. This time though the pair are separated for much of the run-time, with a decidedly smaller area to play with rather than an expansive post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Most of the season takes place inside the Zoo, and while that does work to allow characters to grow and evolve over time (especially Abbot’s brother, Johnny), it also makes for a much slower paced and methodical season. It’s a shame too because the final few episodes are a tonal whiplash, stepping on the gas pedal and delivering some pacey and exciting action.

The writing this time around doesn’t feel as strong though. There are instances of deus ex machina, convenient plot tropes (why has Bobby the mole never thought to break out and get the keys before Gus arrives?) and other instances, like the way a certain antagonist is killed off, that could have been fleshed out in more detail. When you pace your story like season 1 did, you get some leeway as you drive your audience from one set piece to the next. Here though, with the pace that much slower and so much time to kill, these issues unfortunately creep into the screenplay and are hard to ignore.

Having said that though, season 2 is still a wholesome experience and the likable characters and diverse ensemble of players makes it easy to overlook some of the shortcomings. The hybrid children are an interesting bunch while some of the production design is great. The strength of this show lies in the mystery and drama though, and this season certainly offers some much-needed answers to what’s happening.

While Sweet Tooth season 2 is a decided step down from the first, it’s still highly enjoyable and packed with memorable moments. The action is great and learning more about Gus and Jepp’s past is a definite highlight. It’s not perfect, but there’s enough here that fans will be crying out for season 3 when this one ends.

Feel Free To Check Out More Of Our TV Show Reviews Here!