Summary
All of Us Are Deadis the perfect show to succeedSweet Homeas Netflix’s flagship horror K-drama, and the zombie series has a brighter future than the Song Kang show ever did.Sweet Homeended with season 3following a divisive second season in which the series sidelined some of its most important characters and focused on new ones. WhileSweet Homearguably ended on a high note, especially because of thereturn of Cha Hyun-suin a larger role, the show never outdid its first season.
Sweet Homewas renewed for two seasonsafter the success of season 1, a risky but understandable decision given its popularity on Netflix. TheSong Kang K-dramamade history on the streaming platform as the first Korean show to enter its global Top 10 back in 2020, paving the way for other smash hits such asSquid Game. Another global Netflix K-drama hit wasAll of Us Are Dead, which premiered in January 2022 and was renewed for season 2 on June 6 of that same year.
2 Of Netflix’s Biggest K-Dramas Of All Time Are Back, So Where Is All Of Us Are Dead?
Some of Netflix’s biggest K-dramas have returned or are about to after hiatuses, raising the question of what is going on with All of Us Are Dead.
The first seasons ofAll of Us Are DeadandSweet Homeended relatively similarly, butthe zombie K-drama set up a better sequel than the monster series.BothAll of Us Are DeadandSweet HomeareK-dramas based on webtoons, meaning it was easy to predict where their stories were going to go. However, considering that both shows covered the entirety of their respective source materials in the first seasons, they would have a difficult job ahead of them to justify second seasons. Still, their success on Netflix made new seasons inevitable.
Sweet Homeseason 1 ends with Cha Hyun-su being kidnapped by Ui-myeong. While this was a major cliffhanger, everything else in the season finale felt like it could have been from the show’s final episode. With the Green Home destroyed and plenty of important characters gone,there was not much else left forSweet Hometo do apart from resolving the Hyun-su cliffhanger.All of Us Are Dead, on the other hand, ends with Cheong-sang’s ambiguous sacrifice and Nam-ra’s return alongside a group of halfbies.All of Us Are Deadleft more interesting questions unanswered thanSweet Homedid.
Sweet Home 2’s Story Was Very Disappointing After Season 1’s Ending
Sweet Home Was Suddenly A Very Different Show In Season 2
Sweet Homewrote itself into a cornerby covering most of the webtoon but still returning for a second season. UnlikeAll of Us Are Dead, which has four protagonists and features an ensemble cast,Sweet Homeis primarily the story of Cha Hyun-su. By making Song Kang’s character just a small part of a much larger puzzle that only got more complicated in season 2,Sweet Homelost track of what had made it so good. Without the dynamic between Hyun-su and his Green Home neighbors,Sweet Homebecame a different show.
Sweet Homeseason 2 struggled arguably because the show did not need a sequel, whereasAll of Us Are Deadstill has some promising storylines left to tackle.
Sweet Home 2brought in the military as part of the story and introduced multiple factions, including Ui-myeong’s group and what was left of the government. New characters like Dr. Lim and Yi-kyung’s daughter became more important than most names from season 1, not to mention the one-year time skip during which a lot of important events happened offscreen.Sweet Homeseason 2 struggled arguably because the show did not need a sequel, whereasAll of Us Are Deadstill has some promising storylines left to tackle.
Perhapsthe biggest advantageAll of Us Are Deadhas overSweet Homeis the fact that the former is not dependent on just one character. WhileSweet Home’s castincluded a lot of great actors and characters, Song Kang’s Cha Hyun-su was the heart of the show. This created some limitations regarding how muchSweet Homecould expand its story without sidelining its protagonist.All of Us Are Deadwill not have that problem, as each of the four main characters is equally important to the story. Therefore, if some of them take the backseat, others can still shine.
Jeon Bae-soo
Nam So-ju
Assuming Cheong-san will return,All of Us Are Dead 2has plenty of story opportunities between him, On-jo, Nam-ra, and Su-hyeok. InSweet Home, following Ji-su’s death and Yi-kyung’s disappearance, Eun-yu was the only one of the main Green Home characters after Hyun-su left. Even ifAll of Us Are Deadseason 2 introduces new characters, I don’t see the show moving away from all of its four protagonists.All of Us Are Deaddoes have a big challenge in continuing the story past the source material, but it has the right tools to do so.
Sweet Home
Cast
Sweet Home follows the story of Hyun-soo, a reclusive high school student who moves into the Green Home apartment complex after losing his family. When a mysterious epidemic turns people into monstrous creatures, Hyun-soo and the residents of Green Home must band together to survive, confronting their inner demons and the horrifying threats outside.
All Of Us Are Dead
All of Us Are Dead is a South Korean series that centers on a high school overrun by a zombie virus outbreak. The students, facing an unprecedented crisis, must navigate survival while combating the threat of becoming part of the undead horde.
