Let’s be real for a second. Most monster shows are kinda predictable. You see a zombie, you run, you get bitten, end of story. But when the Sweet Home TV series season 1 dropped on Netflix back in late 2020, it didn't just break the mold; it shattered the whole damn thing. It wasn't about a virus or a government experiment gone wrong. It was about us. Our greed. Our deepest, darkest desires manifested into fleshy, terrifying reality.
I remember watching the first episode and thinking, "Wait, is that guy's nose just bleeding because he's tired?" Nope. It was the first sign of the "monsterization" process that turned the Green Home apartment complex into a vertical hellscape. Directed by Lee Eung-bok—the same genius behind Descendants of the Sun—this show took Kim Carnby and Hwang Young-chan’s webtoon and gave it a high-budget, gore-slicked pulse.
What actually happens in Sweet Home TV series season 1?
The story kicks off with Cha Hyun-su, a suicidal high schooler who lost his entire family in a car accident. He moves into Green Home, a crumbling apartment building that honestly looks like it should have been condemned years ago. He’s planning to end his life on a specific date. Then, the world ends first.
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Suddenly, people aren't just dying; they’re transforming. But here’s the kicker: they aren't becoming carbon-copy monsters. If you were obsessed with working out, you become a giant, hulking mass of muscle that screams "protein!" while crushing skulls. If you were a peeping tom, you might become a giant eyeball. It’s poetic. It's gross. It’s brilliant.
Hyun-su finds himself infected but somehow resists the full transformation. He becomes a "special infectee," a hybrid who uses his monstrous powers to protect the very neighbors who originally looked at him with nothing but disdain. The social dynamics inside that building are just as dangerous as the monsters outside. You've got Lee Eun-hyeok, the cold, calculating medical student who treats people like chess pieces to ensure the group's survival. Then there’s Pyeon Sang-wook, the scarred "fixer" who everyone thinks is a thug but turns out to have more heart than the "normal" residents.
The monsters weren't just CGI
A lot of people complained about the CGI when it first aired. Sure, some of the rendering on the "Protein Monster" felt a bit like a video game from 2015, but look closer. The movement was incredible. They actually hired Troy James—the contortionist who played the Ragdoll in The Flash—to play the Spider Monster. Watching a human body move in ways that should be physically impossible creates a level of visceral discomfort that pure digital effects just can't match.
The sound design deserves a shoutout too. That wet, squelching noise when a monster is nearby? Pure nightmare fuel. It’s those small details that made the Sweet Home TV series season 1 stand out during a time when we were all stuck inside our own homes during the pandemic, feeling a bit of that same claustrophobia.
Why the "Desire" concept changes everything
Most horror relies on external threats. In Sweet Home, the threat is internal. This is what most people miss when they talk about the show. The monsterization isn't a contagion in the biological sense. It's a soul-sickness.
One of the most heartbreaking arcs involves a mother who lost her baby. Her desire was so focused on protecting her child that when she finally turned, she became a giant, harmless embryo in a womb-like sac. She wasn't a threat. She was just a manifestation of grief. That kind of nuance is rare in the genre. It forces the audience to ask: "If I turned based on my deepest desire, what would I look like?" Honestly, it’s a terrifying question to answer.
The show balances this philosophical dread with absolute carnage. We see a guy whose head is sliced in half but he’s still walking because his desire to find people is so strong. We see a runner who just wants to be the fastest. It’s chaotic. It’s messy.
The characters you'll actually care about
You've got a massive ensemble cast here, and usually, in these types of shows, half of them are just "monster fodder." Not here.
- Cha Hyun-su (Song Kang): He goes from a kid who can't even open his curtains to a warrior with a wing made of blades. Song Kang’s performance is subtle—lots of internal conflict expressed through wide-eyed terror.
- Lee Eun-hyeok (Lee Do-hyun): The "brain." He’s the guy you hate because he’s right. He makes the hard choices, like sacrificing one person to save ten. His relationship with his sister, Eun-yu, provides the emotional backbone for the latter half of the season.
- Seo Yi-kyung (Lee Si-young): A character created specifically for the show (not in the webtoon). She’s a former firefighter and martial artist. The scene where she escapes through the vents from the Spider Monster? Iconic. Lee Si-young famously got her body fat down to 8% for this role, and you can see every muscle working.
- Jayu (the guitar girl): Every horror group needs a bit of soul. Her playing her bass guitar amidst the apocalypse gave the show its "Sweet Home" title song, which is actually a banger.
Managing the middle-episode slump
I’ll be the first to admit that the pacing gets a bit weird around episode 6 and 7. The show shifts from "monster-of-the-week" survival to more internal politics. A gang of outlaws led by a total psychopath invades the building, and for a second, it feels like The Walking Dead. This is usually where people drop off.
Don't.
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The payoff in the final two episodes is worth the slower political maneuvering. The introduction of the "other" special infectee—someone who embraces the monster side rather than fighting it—sets up a fantastic ideological foil for Hyun-su. It raises the stakes from "can we survive the night?" to "is humanity even worth saving if we're all just monsters under the skin?"
How Sweet Home compares to the Webtoon
If you’re a purist, you might be annoyed by some of the changes. The webtoon is much more internal. We spend a lot of time inside Hyun-su's head, listening to the "inner monster" tempt him. The TV show externalizes this, which makes sense for the medium, but you lose some of that psychological tension.
Also, the ending. Without spoiling too much, the Sweet Home TV series season 1 ends on a massive cliffhanger that deviates significantly from the source material. It expands the scope of the world far beyond the Green Home apartments. While the webtoon feels like a contained ghost story, the series feels like the prologue to a global war.
Technical specs for the nerds
Netflix poured a ton of money into this. We’re talking roughly $2.7 million per episode. For context, that was a record-breaking budget for a Korean series at the time. You can see the money on the screen, especially in the set design. Green Home feels lived-in. It feels damp. You can almost smell the rot through the screen.
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The use of "Warriors" by Imagine Dragons as the recurring theme song was... a choice. Some people loved it; others felt it killed the immersion. Personally, I think it gave the show a weird, high-energy anime vibe that fit the more "superheroic" moments of the monsters fighting.
Key takeaways for your watch-through
If you're jumping into this for the first time, or maybe doing a rewatch before hitting the later seasons, keep an eye on these things:
- The Blood: Nosebleeds are the first sign. In this world, blood is the currency of transformation.
- The Eyes: Watch the characters' pupils. When they go full black, the monster is in control.
- The Radios: Pay attention to the emergency broadcasts. The world-building happens in the background while the characters are screaming in the foreground.
- The Shadow: Hyun-su’s internal monologue is often represented by a dark version of himself. It’s not just a hallucination; it’s his desire trying to negotiate a takeover.
The Sweet Home TV series season 1 isn't just a horror show. It’s a study of isolation. It’s about how a kid who wanted to die ended up finding a reason to live by fighting the very things we all try to hide.
To get the most out of the experience, watch it with the original Korean audio and subtitles. The dubbing is fine, but you lose the raw, desperate emotion in the actors' voices—especially during the more tragic deaths. Once you finish the finale, go back and read the first few chapters of the webtoon. Comparing how the "Protein Monster" was visualized in drawings versus the screen is a masterclass in adaptation. Finally, pay close attention to the character of Han Du-sik, the disabled veteran who builds the weapons. His arc is the true emotional heart of the season, proving that power doesn't come from your legs or your muscles, but from what you're willing to build for others.