Character Building
We begin episode 6 of Sweet Home with a look at Sang-Wook’s past, specifically the moments he was hired to take down Seung-Jae. Although he initially refused, a picture of a young girl and an impassioned, grief-stricken Father were enough for him to change his mind. Back in the present, Sang-Wook holds Yu-Ri round the neck as he awakens with a start. He soon lets go but it’s clear the team are divided over whether he should be allowed to stay in the apartment block or not. Jin-Ok is incredibly grateful though, handing over a necklace for him as thanks. Sang-Wook’s final act to rid himself of Seung-Jae’s memory is to bury his keys in the dirt next to the two graves. Given he was paid to find the girl, Sang-Wook is wracked with guilt – so much so that he even asks Jae-Hun to pray on his behalf. While most of the residents start building traps, Ji-Kyung heads off alone. It’s here we cut back to June 2020 to see her working and flirting with the Chief Physician Sang-Won. This man happens to be her fiancé and another flashback in July that same year sees Ji-Kyung asking in vain to head back into a fire to find any victims. When she’s refused that honour, she hands in her badge and resigns. Back in the present, Ji-Kyung races off on her bike as Eun-Hyeok and Jae-Hun sit and talk. It turns out Jae-Hun used to be an alcoholic but he turned to religion which helped him through his dark times – and there are plenty of dark times ahead. For now though, the residents instigate three simple rules for survival including moving in pairs and having their temperature checked every night at 8pm. While most of the residents are fine with rules, Doo-Sik isn’t happy with the way Hyun-Soo is being used as a weapon. For now, Hyun-Soo is being used as an errand boy, heading into different rooms to collect up what the residents want. Meanwhile, Suk-Hyun begins to turn into a monster, with hair flowing all the way down to the floor. Like a grotesque Cousin It, he shuffles forward before telling his wife to kill him. Sun-Young certainly obliges and begins repeatedly slamming an iron pipe across his head. All those years of abuse, both mental and physical, all come gushing out in one swift motion of blood-soaked revenge. Ji-Kyung makes it to Sang-Won’s office where it’s revealed that the Crucru blog is actually his. He’s been writing up a report on this curse and as she reads the words he’s written, she suddenly looks up to find soldiers standing over her. They snatch her up and take Ji-Kyung away. Back at the apartment, Hyun-Soo continues to suffer from the demons inside his head. When he awakens, Eun-Yoo happens to be watching over him and notices the scars up his arms. She helps patch him up and eventually leaves him the plasters to finish the job himself. Eun-Hyeok heads inside the room and talks to him about the monster situation. He wants them to try and find a way to survive and right now they’re not sure how long it takes to fully turn into a monster. Deducing what we heard earlier from the Crucru post, it seems to be 15 days. Ji-Kyung meanwhile is held up from the ceiling by these soldiers who question her over what she read. Instead, she tries to bargain with them and promises to show them someone resisting becoming a monster. As we soon see though, Hyun-Soo is losing the battle against this infection as he hangs upside down from the ceiling and turns himself into a strange oozing cocoon. The residents immediately knock him down but that’s the last of their problems. The lightning quick, glowing creature from before comes racing out the traps and begins going after the group down in the basement. Remember the licker-like creature from several episodes ago? It’s back. It chases one of the kids through the hallways before Doo-Sik shows up with his weapon, ready to fire.
The Episode Review
With a slower episode this time around, Sweet Home delivers a welcome relief from its relentless action to flesh out more of it characters and world. Understanding who all these residents are is certainly a nice touch and seeing Suk-Hyun and Sun-Young’s character arc come to a close is an equally nice touch too. With a slight burst of action at the end and a little more information about the crucru blog, Sweet Home starts to answer some of its questions and it seems San-Won may have a bigger part to play in this one going forward. Equally so, learning about Ji-Kyung and Jae-Hun is a nice touch although personally it would gave been nice to receive some of this character development earlier in the season. For now, the episode ends with a big cliffhanger leaving the door wide open for the future.
