Streaming Spotlight by Cindy Summers
Sweet Tooth – Netflix Originals
The main storyline behind “Sweet Tooth’ reflects aspects of today’s news headlines as it plays out ten years after what was called “The Great Crumble” where a pandemic plundered the earth’s population, mainly targeting adults, while simultaneously came the unexplained situation of most women giving birth to babies that where part human and part animal referred to as “Hybrids”. “Sweet Tooth” primarily focuses on the sheltered life of a hybrid deer-boy named Gus (Christian Convery) who is taken under the wing of a large nomad named Jeppard (Nonso Anozie) as they travel across the country to help Gus find his mother who he believes is in Colorado from clues in a photo he found after his father died from the disease.
Due to the fact that both occurred at the same time, many people blamed the hybrids for the pandemic and a group named the Last Men formed throughout the country to eradicate all hybrids, who were all only small children no older than 10 years old. Gus was raised in seclusion by his father to keep him safe from the dangers in the outside world since “The Sick” killed most adults, and unfortunately also Gus’ father when he was only nine years old.
Gus lived alone fending for himself for a year until he was rescued from some poachers trying to lure him with candy by a very large nomad named Jeppard, who nicknamed Gus “Sweet Tooth” due to the incident. Gus was no longer safe where he grew up, so he set out to find his mother in Colorado, though had no idea how to get there. Jep had survival and militaristic skills that were useful in keeping Gus alive and unharmed, and Gus kept following him until he agreed to take Gus to a train that would take him to Colorado.
They were captured by a group of teens living in an old theme park lead by a young woman called ‘Bear”. They all had animal names and trained in fighting skills to protect the hybrids from harm or capture. Their main enemy in this fight was the Last Men and upon seeing Jep had a Last Men brand on his chest, felt it was their duty to kill him even though he had been protecting Gus (who didn’t know up until then that Jep had been one of the Last Men).
Two other primary stories play out in the series. One involves Dr. Singh, who is a scientist involved with developing a cure for “The Sick” and his wife Rani, who contracted the disease but has managed to stay alive on sample doses of a vaccine being developed by one of her husband’s colleges with his assistance. Unfortunately, the cure they developed involves dark and drastic deeds, and eventually falls under the control of the ruthless “General”.
The other story involves a woman named Aimee (Dania Ramirez) who before “The Great Crumble” was a therapist the felt disconnected from everything in the world. She avoided “The Sick” and settled in an abandon zoo where she finally felt something she should relate to… the animals. One morning a basket with a baby was left by the front gate – a hybrid pig-girl baby, which Aimee took in with delight and raised as her own daughter.
Through glimpses of the past between Gus’ father and mother, clues to how the pandemic occurred and possible origins of the hybrids are revealed, and the end of the first season definitely points to a second season where the three primary stories are destine to collide in unexpected and explosive ways.
Season 1 – 8 Episodes 1Hr each
