‘Sweet Tooth’ Season 2 Review: Another Second Season That Might Have Arrived Too Late

Two years ago, Sweet Tooth season 1 was released on Netflix, and the critics and the audience received it very well. The show was an example of Netflix going for high-value productions and just another proof that Warner Bros. can really deliver on television. Sweet Tooth aligned with future shows like Ted Lasso and The Sandman. However, a second season of the show is arriving now, and it feels a little too late. Sweet Tooth Season 2 is an example of a problem plaguing big-budget television series as of late.

Sweet Tooth is a TV series developed by Warner Bros. Television for Netflix. The series is an adaptation of the comic of the same name, authored by Jeff Lamire. It stars Christian Convery, Nonso Anozie, Adeel Akthar, Stefania LaVie Owen, Dania Ramirez, and Neil Sandilands. This second season follows the events of the previous season. There we learn that a killer virus killed most of humanity and created a series of hybrid creatures, half human, half animal. The series follows the conflict between the factions.

The show’s first season was received as a breath of fresh air thanks to its tone, excellent production design, and a bit of a quirky aesthetic that made the show feel special. It wasn’t perfect, of course. The first season had severe problems with pacing, but it was quite enjoyable. This time, the show tries to follow that same blueprint, but as the story begins to focus solely on the conflict between the diverse factions involved in it, the story, and thus the show, starts losing the charm that made them enjoyable in the first place.

Sweet Tooth Season 2 consists of only eight episodes, but it feels like the season’s runtime is double that. Each episode feels so heavy, and the tone is so solemn that the pacing problems from the first season become even more apparent in this second one. At times, it is hard to focus on what is going on because the characters start to rant about quite small issues that take the form of big storms inside a glass of water. That is basically the main issue with the story in this second season. It feels small and uninteresting.

When season two left us with Gus trapped with other kids, it was obvious that at least part of the next season would be dealing with escaping and finding a way to defeat the villainous general Abbot. Sadly, the entire second season deals with that, and it feels like the story stopped any sort of progression just to tell this story. There could be several reasons why. Maybe the writers really believed that creating an entire season focused on this conflict was a nice idea.

Maybe it was the fact that spending more and more time in just one location would make the show cheaper. It doesn’t really matter why this conflict takes up so much screen time. When the season reaches its halfway point, you start feeling like we should have left this behind a while ago. The actors are all doing a fine job, but the fact that the story simply stops and takes so long to solve something that should have been solved in just a couple of episodes makes the entire season feel like a waste of time.

I was getting flashbacks to the dreadful Walking Dead season 2, which also suffered from the same issue, by stopping the story’s progression in favor of endless meanders. This type of storytelling doesn’t really work very well on TV. TV and film, for that matter, should be examples of lean and mean storytelling. Every line of dialogue, every set, and every action should mean something and should progress the story more and more. Sweet Tooth Season 2 rejects that idea and believes that endless talking is good entertainment.

The character of General Abbot is the worst offender of them all. The character loves the sound of his voice, and every time he appears on-screen, you know that you are in for a 10-minute monologue about nothing. It gets tedious and boring quickly, but sadly, the character never stops doing this until the end. We get tons and tons of exposition lines about characters’ backgrounds and feelings, all of which make the story feel small and claustrophobic.

So, is there anything good about this season? Some of the performances are quite good. But it is hard to say they are better than the previous season. Some of the visual effects are quite solid, while others leave much to be desired, especially regarding showing the hybrids and different animal life. Something about the sets and scenarios feels too fake and dressed up. Nothing feels natural. This is quite bad when taking into account that the story demands so many natural environments in the story.

As the season ends, there is a very clear setup for season three, but at this point, I couldn’t really care about anything that could appear in the future of this story. The characters are too solemn, the revelations are too uninspired, and the production values, while not bad, don’t seem to align with what the show needs to stand out. The horrible pacing issues continue, and I dread watching another TV season that makes me anxious because things are not moving. A TV show should respect the audience’s time.

As it is, Sweet Tooth Season 2 feels like a step back in many regards. The story might still be entertaining enough for some members of the audience, but after two years in the void, I guess that most people have moved on with their lives and stayed with shows that have a more consistent release schedule or that at least have more impactful stories and characters. We are all waiting for House of the Dragon Season 2, but I can’t say the same for Sweet Tooth Season 2, and much less Season 3.

SCORE: 6/10