In the opening scene of Sweet Home episode 2, we’re immediately given more context for Hyun-su’s mental state. A long-time loner with a history of self-harm, he was driven to despair by the death of his family in a car crash and their failure to leave behind enough money for him to live off. At this stage, it’s unclear if his financial woes are being presented as inherent selfishness or just a manifestation of guilt and grief, though I imagine it’s the latter.

Back in the Green Home, Ji-su is watching over him with her baseball bat, as news reports of the monsters list symptoms that begin with a violent nosebleed. Both the premiere and this episode delight in those nosebleeds, and they’re obviously going to be a consistent visual shorthand for infection going forwards.

The subject of infection is a pressing one since it isn’t immediately clear how the disease is spreading. Hyun-su seems to have contracted it without a bite, but anyone with symptoms is advised to quarantine. Sang-wook is bitten on the stairs by Hyun-su’s hungry neighbor, but after stoving her face in he seems okay — insofar as was ever “okay” to begin with. Nevertheless, when he heads downstairs, the bickering residents see no choice but to tase him and keep him captive, at one point even deciding to try and kill him, though it doesn’t go so well. Nobody seems sure of what to do.

Perhaps the most fun aspect of Sweet Home episode 2 is a particular monster whose head Jae-heon bisects with a sword. Highlighting that the usual means of zombie-killing aren’t going to do much good against the much tougher and more varied monsters of this show, Half-Head crops up several times throughout the episode, now effectively blinded. It later staggers into Hyun-su’s apartment and he’s forced to creep around it without making a sound. Later, after receiving a very game-y weapon upgrade, he’s able to distract, stab, and electrocute it. Fun.

But the most important thing Hyun-su does is endeavor to rescue a couple of young kids whose survival is going to become paramount for at least an episode or so. And that’s especially true since this installment ends with Hyun-su experiencing another nosebleed, urging the kids to get away from him as he’s besieged by flashbacks and his eyes turn dangerously black.



This recap of Sweet Home season 1, episode 2 contains spoilers. We recapped every episode — check out the episodes tag.