Korean Drama Sweet Home: Best K-drama Series Review 2024

Introduction

The Korean drama industry has been on the rise in recent years, offering a wide range of genres that cater to diverse audiences. “Sweet Home” (2020), produced by Studio Dragon and based on Kim Kan-bi and Hwang Young-chan’s webtoon of the same title, is an excellent addition to this industry, proving once again the ingenuity and creativity of Korean entertainment.

Premise and Plot

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“Sweet Home” follows the story of Cha Hyun Soo (played by Song Kang), a reclusive teenager who moves into the Green Home apartment complex shortly after the death of his family.

However, the day he moves in, the world is swept by chaos as people start turning into monsters and attacking the remaining survivors. Hyun Soo and his new neighbors must band together to fight for their survival and find out the cause of this mysterious and horrific pandemic.

At first glance, the show’s premise resembles that of many apocalyptic and zombie-like scenarios often seen in Western entertainment. However, “Sweet Home” transcends this subgenre by interweaving deep character development with a narrative that tackles complex themes such as grief, trauma, and self-discovery.

Each character has their own unique backstory, motivations, and struggles that add layers to the overall plot. What initially seems to be a straightforward fight for survival evolves into a multifaceted and intricately woven web of interconnected stories and character arcs.

Themes and Messages

One of the show’s most noteworthy qualities is its ability to explore thought-provoking questions about what it means to be human in trying times. Through the characters’ various reactions to the pandemic, “Sweet Home” raises issues of morality, identity, and humanity that resonate powerfully with contemporary audiences.

The monsters themselves, while initially appearing grotesque and one-dimensional, also become a metaphor for the dark and monstrous sides of human nature.

“Sweet Home” also incorporates social commentary, exposing the failures and deficiencies of society and how they contribute to the characters’ situations. It highlights issues of bullying, child abuse, and societal pressures that demoralize and alienate those who are different. Viewers may find themselves sympathizing with the characters and the pains that come with feeling like an outsider.

Characters and Acting

The series boasts a memorable and diverse cast of characters, each played with nuance and depth. Song Kang delivers a heart-wrenching performance as Cha Hyun Soo, effectively portraying the character’s emotional turmoil and growth throughout the series.

His relationships with his neighbors, such as Yoon Ji Su (played by Lee Jin-wook), Han Du Sik (played by Lee Si-young), and Lee Eun Hyuk (played by Lee Do-hyun), provides the series with a sense of camaraderie.

Additionally, Park Kyu-young’s portrayal of the complex and damaged character Seo Yi-kyeong adds an extra layer of emotional depth to the narrative.

Visuals and Soundtrack

“Sweet Home” is a visually stunning series, with the production team utilizing CGI to create the monstrous creatures that populate the setting.

While the CGI may appear slightly cartoonish at first, it eventually becomes an integral part of the narrative and adds to the emotional impact of the story. In contrast, the practical makeup used to create the infected characters highlights the show’s darker and more visceral tone.

The soundtrack is an often-overlooked aspect of TV shows, but “Sweet Home’s” score adds an extra layer of immersion. Each character’s journey feels more intense, with the haunting and evocative music emphasizing every emotion.

Sweet Home | Official Trailer | Netflix

Watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rI56NmD33Y

“I decided it was time to die… and the world agreed with me.”
Welcome to Hell.
When you open your eyes, all you see are monsters.
Try to survive the end of a doomed world!
Sweet Home. December 18th. Only on Netflix.

Sweet Home 3 | Official Trailer | Netflix

Watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFg5YGAORhU

The world teeters on the boundary between monsters and humans, leaving humanity with a difficult choice. As desires clash, a desperate fight ensues.
A Netflix Series
Sweet Home 3 is coming July 19, only on Netflix

Conclusion

Overall, “Sweet Home” is an excellent example of the Korean drama genre, showcasing that there’s more to Korean content than just romantic dramas and historical sagas. It’s a captivating and emotional ride that will leave an impression on its viewers.

Despite the show’s darker elements, its themes of community, acceptance, and empathy come through powerfully. The storytelling, acting, visual effects, and soundtrack all come together to create an immersive and memorable experience. “Sweet Home” is a must-watch for fans of Korean dramas and anyone who enjoys a thrilling and thought-provoking narrative.

Gallery

Review of People

Surprisingly hopeful and at times heartwarming tone for a show full of monsters and death.
The show is more action and the characters/relationships driven compared to my initial assumption of it focusing on the story itself. The plot is quite simple: people turn into monsters, humanity has to survive, but in the midst of it, Sweet Home asks one important question “What does it mean to be human?” and explores it throughout all the episodes.
It shows the best and the worst side of humanity – the will to survive that can unite or turn people against each other; the will to be humane as a way of fighting against the circumstances, but also using the horrifying situation as an excuse to abandon empathy.
Despite the show claiming to be in line with thriller, horror and psychological genres, it falls closer to action as a leading one. The plot might seem simple, but it did an amazing job connecting the dots slowly presented. Quite a few times in the 2nd half I recognized the continuation of the plots and hints dropped in the beginning episodes.
While the main question might not be answered and the ending could seem disappointing and unsatisfying for some, I found it to be the best possible approach. Any other take would fall short and seem forced. It definitely leaves a lot of room for possible season two, but lack of continuation of the story would not make me angry either.
We are introduced to a brilliant cast of characters, that all have different stories to tell, that will resonate with the audience. In a short period of 10 episodes, I’ve got to see well built character development not only for Cha Hyun Soo, but also for many side characters. While I strongly disagreed with many of the character’s decisions and behaviors, at the same time I could understand their reasoning behind it.
If I had to pick my favorite characters (beside the star of the show Hyun Soo) I would pick empathetic Yoon Ji Su, brave Jung Jae Heon, resourceful Han Du Sik and level-headed Lee Eun Hyuk. That said, the chemistry between the whole cast was out of this world and they played off of each other well.
The wise advice I could give to anyone before starting: don’t expect dark psychological horror. Even though the show explores quite a few psychological themes, as I mentioned before, it leans more towards action in addition to some dark humor, especially in the beginning episodes.
That said, the thing it has to be applauded for – the stakes were real. You know the shows, where you feel close to nothing when characters are in danger because you know they will survive anyway? Not here. Each problem presented to them, each encounter with monsters, each turn made me tense, scared, but also excited for what’s to come.
I’m not exactly one to pay attention to music in movies or shows, unless it truly catches my attention. Here, all the songs were extremely fitting and perfectly supported scenes they were played in. At first some choices might feel out of place, but as the drama progresses it starts to feel like a deliberate choice that somehow works.
If I had to complain about anything, I’d say I was not the biggest fan of the CGI monsters at first. Since I was expecting a dark psychological horror like Strangers From Hell, the cartoon-ish like models with questionable motion put me off. The moment I accepted this is not what I signed up for and started to enjoy the action, I started to appreciate the design of the creatures.
Some had comical features (we see an a*s once), but it balanced well the dreadful emotional moments happening among the characters.
What’s more, in the beginning episode the plot was not presented in a linear way, so it might be confusing. Later on the time jumps are barely happening and it’s easier to follow the story.
In conclusion: I cried a lot. I got attached to each and every character. I cared for what’s going to happen to them. I was curious about their past stories and how they affect their current decisions and actions. The show simply made me engage in whatever was happening on the screen, to the point of me binge watching it for 10 hours and forgetting to eat.
Warning: there is a lot of blood, some gore, story about child abuse and one for severe bullying. It talks about suicide and self harm. These themes might be too much for some viewers, so feel warned before giving it a shot.

Best Watched Without Minding the Original Material
This is not a ‘genuine’ adaptation of Sweet Home. More like a ‘loose’ one but yes this wasn’t anything like the webtoon with how they selectively only take the idea of monsters appearing out of nowhere, with people surviving amidst of it and a boy who’s happened to be able to resist the monster inside his head, and turns it into a 10-episode show. They lose the essence of original material when they decided end this show with that ending.
It’s pretty obvious that they’re planning to further utilize the core story of the original material to create a seasonal work, judging how different the route it takes throughout the story. You’ll be disappointed if you read the webtoon because many characters are not the same, some are added for no reason, and suddenly this turns into a usual apocalyptic story with a supposedly hero to ‘save’ humanity.
What the webtoon tries to rely is beyond that. Both works are straight up different in terms of characters’ growth & plot progression.
Not to mention the way the show placed its background music is just plain disastrous. The webtoon gives off suspenseful & eerie vibes whenever the monster’s around, while at the same being unsettling in peeling out the layer of the main question of the whole thing: what does it mean to be a human, or a monster?
It talks about greed, desire, and everything beyond that. The music (and the plot, I might need to say) fails to deliver that, and instead turn on the ever-repetitive song to made the whole scene more ‘exciting’ when it’s supposed to elicit fear and anxiousness from ones who watch it.
Not only it disturb the mood the whole scene was particularly going for, it also ruined the suspenseful vibes it tries so hard to build by suddenly making this more looking like an entertaining action-focused story. Which is wrong (and ridiculous) because the monster’s supposed to be a real & full-blown horror to all the survivors. It’s supposed to make you feel afraid and nervous, which it ultimately failed to be at the end.
This is best watched as a separate work, rather as an adaptation. Because it’s clearly not being faithful to what the original material aims for, and it will further prevent you from experiencing it to its best quality.
Once I let go my expectation that I’ve long had due to my deep attachment to the webtoon, Sweet Home as an entire piece is still a good watch for what it’s worth. Song Kang was impeccable as Hyun-soo despite the minimal effort the show put to build his personal growth. Go Min-si & Park Kyu-young was great, the entire casting line-up has been nothing but incredible, really. And Lee Do-hyun!
Brilliant as ever.
Speaking of directing, considering it was done by Lee Eun-bok who also brought Mr. Sunshine & Goblin, I think there’s not much to worry about. Everything’s exquisitely done and the action scenes are well-executed to say the least. Although I feel like the nosebleed scenes are too much sometimes lmfao.
A lot of gory scenes are shown here, but nothing explicit. I wasn’t a fan of gore, but still handles this just fine. Really loved the bits where they shown the ‘monstrous’ version of Hyun-soo near the finale, by the way. Short but impactful for sure.
Sweet Home is, all in all, a decent show. It’s fast-paced, thrilling, and heartwarming at times it need to be. Admittedly there’s a serious lack of character development shown toward several major characters, but this is an action drama at its best.
You’ll enjoy it better if you treat it as something it tries to be, that’s all. Anyways, if you haven’t read the webtoon, please read it, before or after you watch the show. It was that good. Enjoy the show nonetheless!

Don’t compare, just enjoy.
I honestly enjoyed this.
The monsters were interesting (and sometimes even funny). The plot was well executed but you do need to keep in mind that though this is an adaptation of the manhwa/webtoon that doesn’t mean it’ll be the same scene by scene. This had in a way more depth than it’s comic version. You feel a lot closer to each character. But you can watch this without knowing anything about the original webtoon.
Also, need to say I’m a fan of gore so if you get queasy at the sight of blood then you should probably stay away from this…
The CGI was obvious most of the time but in a way that you didn’t really care. The story and acting sucked you in and the rest just looked cool or something along those lines ^.^
(also actors/actresses were really pretty so it was easy on the eyes …Unless you count the monsters… and the blood…
Actually, this was pretty rough on the eyes… The PEOPLE in this were pretty?)
Loved the stunts! Everything looked so real! I can just imagine the fun they had filming this.
It was so easy to watch that I accidentally on purpose binge watched this (the whole season) <3
But that can also just be because I was already familiar with the story and waited for this.
There were some funny easter eggs included for the fans. The music was rather random but I suppose it matched the mood.
I’m not entirely sure because my memory is sh*t but I feel like they created new characters for this but please don’t trust me on that… The story was definitely different (slightly?).
To those that hate to watch stuff online for free (totally illegally) then your in luck.
You can find the whole season on Netflix.
Anyway definitely recommend this! Have fun~

As A Webtoon Reader
My review for the most part is going to be coming from someone who read the webtoon and LOVED it.
STORY: I know they finished this before the webtoon ended, I know they couldn’t add everything because it would make the budget too high. That being said, some of the changes felt pointless. They missed the timing for some characters’ deaths and then gave them pointless deaths that did not live up to their deaths in the webtoon.
They added the female character and basically stripped Wook of everything that made him a good character. For Eun, they made her mean and it really ruined the sibling dynamic between her and Hyuk. For Hyuk, they rid of his “funniness.”
My main problem with the story is the damages they caused to the character’s relationships with each other. Hyuk and Hyun’s friendship was nonexistent, instead, Hyuk just used Hyun as a dog.
Hyun and Jisu’s relationship was switched out for Hyun and Eun. Eun and Wook did not have their friendship. Wook and Yuri’s relationship was barely there. I am just disappointed with how they handled the webtoon relationships.
The monsters were watered down. In the webtoon, they were hard to kill are were always a threat. In the drama, they were easier to kill and kinda just disappeared in the last two episodes…
I kinda wished the “Do I Look Good?” monster was here, they teased us with lines relating to him, but he never came :( The CGI was pretty good, the best has to be the “I Can’t See” monster, he looked VERY real. Protein, the running monster, and the spider monster were goofy-looking sometimes XD
If I were to not have read the webtoon, it would not have been bad. BUT, I would have been confused on some parts because you need webtoon knowledge to understand somethings.
ACTING/CAST: they all did their parts perfectly. They all acted so well. Kudos to everyone because wow.
MUSIC: I am not gonna lie, some times the music just did not fit. I wish they would’ve had more intense songs instead of always using Imagine Dragon’s “Warriors.”
REWATCH VALUE: I could rewatch it, but I probably won’t. I do not rewatch things often
OVERALL: As a webtoon reader, I am disappointed and would give it a 7.5/10. As a drama watcher, I am satisfied and would give it a 9/10. UPDATE: after rethinking it, I changed by overall to an 8/10

From A Webtoon Reader’s Perspective
Please take note that I have read and I am a huge fan of the webtoon, but for the sake of your watching experience, I suggest you don’t compare this to the webtoon at all.
THE STORY: The director only took some elements of the story and plopped it into a whole different scenario. Right off the bat, you’ll see a bunch of difference and from episode 5 and up, there’s almost little to nothing that’s similar to the story. However, if you’ve read the webtoon this should not scare you away from watching.
Just keep in mind that you should try your best not to think of the webtoon, because I did that and over time it just ate me up. The show in itself is not bad at all.
It is a good drama, but I think it failed to adapt the webtoon successfully. The main issue that I had with the show is that they made the characters more “distant” to each other and none of them had the relationship like in the webtoon. The chemistry each character had is what made it so special, and the fact that they cut this element out is so disappointing. Eunhyuk and Hyunsu’s friendship was my favorite.
Their interactions was one of the best parts of the story and I’m mad they took out Eunhyuk’s nerdy side. I also didn’t like how you couldn’t see the thought process whenever they transformed into monsters. By that, I mean Dusik and the husband.
Seeing how Dusik wanted his legs just so he can see his wife and son made it so much more meaningful and made his death a lot more sadder. The same goes for the husband. He is self centered and that ate him up in the end, so even if he annoyed you, you still kind of sympathized with him in the end.
Now, like I said you shouldn’t compare the show to much to the webtoon (like what I just did now) because there are so much more things I can point out about the show that the webtoon did better. But I don’t want to be unfair because the show is good.
The story is a bit more on the action side and had some focus on the outside world instead of just the residents of Green Home. The ending is also open, so it gives room for a second season. In my opinion, the CGI isn’t bad as people make it out to be, and is actually a lot better than you’d see in most shows.
I really loved how the Protein Monster looked like and I don’t think they butchered any designs of the monsters at all. Overall, the story itself is good and you shouldn’t shy away from this if you’ve read the webtoon.
ACTING: The entire cast did a phenomenal job with this. Song Kang never disappoints and I don’t think anybody could’ve pulled Hyunsu as well as he did. The rest of the cast also did amazing so I have no complaints on this end.
SOUNDTRACK: The soundtrack is a bit weird ??Every time they played Warriors by Imagine Dragons I would try to tune it out of my ears because it felt so out of place.
REWATCH VALUE: I’m not the type to rewatch types of shows like these, but it is pretty short and you could rewatch it again.
OVERALL: Compared to the webtoon, this show isn’t that much. But it is a good watch as it is pretty short and the story itself isn’t bad.