‘Sweet Tooth’ Is a Pleasant Family-Friendly Surprise on Netflix: TV Review
Netflix has had varying degrees of success recently with pure genre serial storytelling – shows that dig deep into surrealism and find some level of heart within it. These are shown less like "Stranger Things," which is unexpectedly niche, which made for a broader, near-universally understandable appeal than "The Umbrella Academy."
In this realm, "Sweet Tooth" is a relatively successful outing. Netflix's new series follows the so-called "Great Crumble" a decade after a society-restructuring pandemic that coincided with a change in species. No one knows to what extent this change is related, but all new babies born since Crumble are hybridized with animals, giving birth to babies with animal characteristics that societies deal with despite their cuteness. not ready for Young Gus (Christian Convery), a boy with great horned deer, hides in the woods with his father (Will Forte); Suddenly left on his own, he enters the company of a single gambler (nonso enozzy, sublime and gruesome) and sets out on an adventure in a ruined, reclaimed America.
The show's vision of a landscape in an active process of giving back to nature is as compelling as, in flashbacks, the depiction of the collapse of social order can feel cramped. And its visual scheme has been carefully crafted towards keeping us engaged, which means each hybrid is downright cute in a way that's simple but easy on the eyes. The show isn't entirely kid's stuff, though: a subplot about a planned community of survivors who watch frantically for new viral cases was surprisingly chewy, especially when it comes to the end of a pandemic experience. What appears to be psychic leaves marks in our real world. ("Sweet Tooth", based on a comic book series that began in 2009, filmed its pilot in 2019; its writers' room took place in part of Zoom post-March 2020.)
The series is certainly not accurate: James Brolin's statement relies heavily on truths that reveal the lesser-known. Episodes can feel like a baggy pace. And to a single adult viewer, Gus's journey can seem a little predictable in moments. But for the right kind of kid, a "sweet tooth" can make the family look good; There's enough in the way of complexity here to keep parents interested without sending the show revolving around pure absurdity for its own sake. The depiction of young people as a separate species from their elders, fighting for their right to exist in a world they do not understand is a somewhat simplistic metaphor, but a denial of its fundamental power. would be silly.
Throughout the show, the show is built with a surprisingly keen eye for what changes will be seen in different types of communities in society, and with a vast imagination to boot. And while it imagines a world changed by disease and pain, "Sweet Tooth" seems fundamentally light of touch and, well, sweet of intent. Its pandemic-ridden world is torn apart, to be sure, and in its wake comes differences — but also kindness and connection. Change offers a massive opportunity to re-imagine what life might look like or be like, as well as small opportunities to come into one's own self – to find one's humanity, even if wearing deer horns.