Sweet Tooth season 1 review: Sweet Tooth and the Big Man

“I know you’ve given up on a lot of things. That doesn’t mean I have to give up too. None of us should.” Spoilers for Sweet Tooth season 1 follow.

Well, it’s that time again. Time for another Netflix original series that adapts a beloved IP. This time though, they bring us an adaptation of the creator-owned (and phenomenal) post-apocalyptic comic book series, Sweet Tooth by Jeff Lemire.

For those who don’t know, Sweet Tooth is about a boy named Gus who is in search of his mother in the post-apocalypse landscape. Sounds simple enough right? Well, here’s the thing, Gus is a half-human, half-deer hybrid, just like the rest of the children who were born after “The Crumble.” As he searches for his mother though, Gus has his guardian, Jepperd, by his side, even if Jepperd doesn’t want to be.

Sweet Tooth and the Big Man

Let’s get this out of the way, Sweet Tooth, the show, is a completely different entity from Sweet Tooth, the comic. They share the scenario, main characters, and basic overall world, but it makes drastic changes to certain aspects of the plot and character arcs. The one thing, the absolute one thing, that the show needed to get right though, no matter how many other changes it made, was the relationship between Gus and Jepperd, aka Sweet Tooth and Big Man, as they affectionately call one another. And well, the show absolutely knocked it out of the park with these two. The show shines because of them and their relationship.

It’s hard to talk about these two characters without first talking about the actors who portray them, both of whom were perfectly cast. It’s hard to find good child actors, but the casting directors for Sweet Tooth struck gold with Christian Convery. He brings the naïve, good-hearted, wonderfully bright in a world of darkness character of Gus to life in a wonderful way. He captures the essence of the character so incredibly well that it’s impossible not to just latch onto him immediately.

Nonso Anozie is also wonderful casting as Jepperd as well. He brings what could very much be a cliché, two-dimensional brute of a character to life so well and it’s incredibly easy to see what a softy he is very early on. As the season goes on though, it becomes increasingly hard to see anyone other than Anozie in the role. He shares a wonderful rapport with Convery that is conveyed incredibly well throughout the season, but especially highlighted in the final scene that the two share in the season. These two truly embody their characters in the best way possible.

Adding onto their little gang as the season goes on though is a young woman named Bear, who is also an excellent addition to this rag tag group of wanderers. Her introduction is very interesting, but as the season goes on, it becomes hard to imagine the show without her in it. And, as we find out, she’s an adaptation of a character from the comics named Becky – and, probably for the better, she has been changed drastically. This means that we probably won’t ever get a haunting “Hi, I’m Becky,” scene, but that’s not what the tone of the show is and the changes to the character fit the tone and style of the show better than her comic counterpart.

The hybrids and the Doctor

Gus, Jepperd, and Bear aren’t the only characters that we follow in the show though, we have two other groups: Dr. Adi Singh and his wife Rani, and Aimee and her hybrid daughter Wendy. Neither of these parts are quite as interesting as Gus’s adventures, as they both feel mostly like extended set-up that, frankly, doesn’t exist in the comics – and arguably didn’t need to exist here. However, these parts do exist and are executed well despite not being as interesting as the main portion of the show.

Probably the most important aspect here is when we are following Adi and his journey to find a cure for “The Sick” in order to save his wife from finally succumbing to it after 10 years. This, to be completely honest, makes Dr. Singh a lot more likable than he is in the comics and makes his journey to willingly cut open hybrid children all the more understandable. It’s still horrific and the show goes out of its way to make sure that the audience understands this, but Dr. Singh isn’t the monstrous doctor-turned-insane prophet that he is in the comics. He’s a man, desperate to save his wife all while forced to abandon his morality to do so. He’s such a complicated character here and, while some of his scenes run too long, that complexity is a nice addition to the show.

As for Aimee and Wendy, this is probably the season’s biggest instance of wasted potential. There are some really sweet scenes between Wendy and her mom, as well as the introduction to the oh-so-cute groundhog hybrid Bobby, but other than that, there’s not much there. The season could have ended exactly the same way it did, mirroring the comic pretty closely in execution if that was the route that they would have gone with, and probably nothing would have been changed. We simply don’t know enough about these characters to care deeply about them yet, so when the bad things happen to them, it’s hard to feel anything beyond a soft “oh no” feeling.

A new Fairy Tale

As for what is probably the biggest departure from the comics though, the tone of the series is radically different and definitely more consumable for the general public at large. The comic is a deeply nihilistic, vulgar, violent, and often twisted affair that, while loved by many (including this writer), is not something that is easy to build a multi-season television series around. Instead, the show does something entirely unexpected, but definitely not unwelcome: It has transformed the source material into a modern fairy tale.

Yes, its post-apocalyptic nature isn’t necessarily something one would ascribe the “fairy tale” status to, but that’s exactly what Sweet Tooth is. This is a story about good, evil, and everything in between and what it means for those who are surrounded by impossible situations. It’s a story about love, love lost, and perseverance. It’s everything that a proper fairy tale should be and, even when its not the most interesting or a plot point is executed strangely, it’s an intriguing viewing experience because of the fairy tale nature of the show.

All that said though, the show does take the fairy tale aspects of its nature a bit too far. The violence and vulgarity of the comic is toned down – which is fine because this is purposeful to allow the show to reach a larger audience. However, because that violence is toned down there are several missed opportunities to world build more. Probably the most notable example is when Gus and Jepperd head into a market and the latter mentions that hybrids are kept in cages there, so that Gus can prepare for the horror of seeing that. However, that is never shown. It’s just lip service. There are several examples of this throughout the show too. Really, every time the show doesn’t pull a punch and leans into its darker aspects, it pulls a punch at the next opportunity – which is disappointing.

What did you think of Netflix’s Sweet Tooth? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!