One of the best new series on Netflix in 2021 was ‘Sweet Tooth. The deer boy’, since this adaptation of the comic of jeff lemire He managed to balance his vocation as a story with a clear cute component with the need to establish a believable post-apocalyptic world in which horrible things can happen at any time. The result was not perfect but it was very stimulating and left you wanting to see how Gus’s story continued.
Unfortunately we have had to wait almost two years to find out, but this Thursday, April 27, finally arrives season 2 of ‘Sweet Tooth. The deer boy’ to Netflix. After having seen 5 of the 8 episodes that shape it -the platform has not made more available to the press-, it is almost as if not so much time had passed, because I have rediscovered everything that had already conquered me from the series. In addition, the universe of it grows instead of falling into the error of going around the same thing.
Expanding this universe with success
Unsurprisingly, Season 2 basically picks up where its predecessor left off, namely with Gus (Christian Convery) caught but together with other hybrids, while the Big One (Nonso Anozie) is recovering from his injuries with a new ally. All this leads to the fact that the marked family component of the series is still there, very well underlined by the occasional voice-over of James Brolin acting as a narrator, but also the dangers are becoming more and more concrete, thus raising the importance of the story, until now a little more in the background for the benefit of the drawing of its protagonists.
By that I don’t mean that ‘Sweet Tooth. El niño deer’ suddenly forgets the importance of his characters, but it is clear that the team led by jim mickle (‘Stake Land’) is aware that he already has a sufficiently solid foundation to allow himself to play a little more. This ranges from a change in the dynamics between the characters -the first installment was very marked by the link between Gus and Big Guy- to the fact that the plots begin to be much more specific, thus gradually closing the different options that exist for in front of.
For example, the fearsome General Abbot (neil sandilands) gains a lot of presence in this second season. Something inevitable considering where Gus is, but the series delves into his plans, something that in turn serves to get to know a little better the societies that have been formed around this post-apocalypse in order to get ahead. That also helps to include a greater intensity in a series that continues to know how to move well between two opposing realities.
There I am quite clear that one of the essential factors for ‘Sweet Tooth. The deer boy’ works so well is his photograph, more specifically its marked tendency to use warm and bright colors at all times. On the one hand, this allows for a tone closer to the series, further influencing its story component, but it also serves to give it a very distinctive look -and quite cinematographic-, clearly removed from other Netflix titles that are they look too much like each other.
It is true that this sometimes contrasts with certain decisions that suggest that either ‘Sweet Tooth. The deer boy’ would have needed a higher budget or simply that there are some designs, surely inspired by the original comic, that do not end up working as well when transferred to the real image. In my opinion, it is nothing seriousbut I am clear that there are moments that can shock some viewers a bit.
For the rest, what really matters is that the series flows in the narrative, knowing when he has to make small stops to delve into the mythology -the third episode is particularly important-, but always with his mind set on seeing how that helps everything to progress in general lines. And that also extends to the personal journey of the characters, seeing a clear evolution – we have a good example with Bigullón’s redemption arc, already present in the previous season but here it goes even further – or simply getting to know each other in more detail. their true motivations.
So is it worth watching?
I already liked ‘Sweet Tooth. El niño deer’, but this season 2 is a clear step forward that confirms it as one of Netflix’s essential series. And it has a lot of merit, because there are many things that could unbalance it in one direction or another, but Its managers have been able to find the exact point so that everything works and contributesbecause going from the tender and close to the hard and terrible with such fluidity has a lot of merit.
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