I watched the first season of "Sweet Tooth" back in 2021. Back then the proximity to the pandemic made the series feel enormously prescient. I didn't love it unreservedly though; I wasn't really sure who it was aimed at or where we might be heading with it. I'm still not entirely convinced about the first point, but this second season gives a much clearer objective to all involved.
General Abbot (Neil Sandilands) and the last men take control of Aimee's (Dania Ramirez) zoo, capturing both Gus (Christian Convery) and Aimee's family of hybrids. Aimee rescues Toomy (Nonso Anozie) and as he recovers, then come up with a plan to rescue their children from what is now a defended prison. Doctor Singh (Adeel Aktar) continues to work on a cure for the virus, with the hope of saving his wife Rani (Aliza Vellani) but with both he and Rani now able to see hybrid children up close, he continues to struggle with how far to take his research.
I think I complained that the first season could have done with being a little slower and allowing more time for Gus and Big Man to bond naturally on their travels. I felt entirely the opposite for the first few episodes of this run, with it being far to inert. But it recovered and by the time the series came to an end I was digging it. (I am happy that the third season will provide an end though).
The visual effects remain a mixed bag, with some of the CGI not quite passing muster and some of the puppets looking very . . . Puppetty ??? The human performances are really good though. Abbot is in this run a lot more and we see much of his actual plans for the future, once the cure is in place. Even if he's drifted more into a stereotypical post-apocalyptic character now, it's still a welcome boost to the show whenever Sandilands appears. The MVP though is again Adeel Aktar - with this, and "Sherwood" in the last few years as well as that brilliant turn in the original "Utopia" in his past he's truly wonderful here, lost to loss, fear, greed and guilt. I wonder if there's a redemption arc possible for season three.
I still wouldn't put this near the top echelons of TV, even just the TV provided by Netflix, but it's good enough to keep me coming back.
