While Sweet Tooth had the surprising benefit of its fictional illness, the Sick, paralleling the COVID-19 pandemic upon its release in 2021, this comparison leads to a major issue for the ending of the television series. Sweet Tooth originated as a comic book series written by Jeff Lemire in 2009 and later developed into a television series for Netflix. With the series being renewed for a second season, speculation has risen about how closely the series will follow the comics, and whether it should at all.
Sweet Tooth takes place during the Sick pandemic, a virus that causes hybrid human-and-animal children like Gus, a hybrid deer, to be born. Because of its release in 2021, this stuck particularly well with audiences, even with the addition of fantastical hybrid children. The show’s depiction of isolation during widespread sickness, the struggle for safety, and the hope for an eventual cure paralleled much of society’s feelings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although this comparison worked well for the debut of the series, the end of the series derived from the original comics may not fare as well with audiences.
Sweet Tooth’s Real-Life Pandemic Parallels Make The Comic Ending Awkward
The on-screen parallels between the Sick and COVID-19 in Sweet Tooth make Jeff Lemire’s comic book ending awkward because in the comics, the hybrids, rumored to have caused the virus, thrive and live on while non-hybrids die out. If Sweet Tooth were to follow this plot, the pandemic comparisons would become much more divisive and accusatory. In this way, it becomes clear that Sweet Tooth’s fantasy elements make this pandemic story much different from real life, despite how it may have come across at the beginning of the series.
Future Sweet Tooth episodes may attempt to separate fiction from real life. While the pandemic parallels helped forge audience connections in the first season, the next installment can welcome old fans but also reassert its differences from real life. If Sweet Tooth becomes less like the comics in terms of atmosphere, it will make the pandemic parallels less frightening and potentially harmful.
How Sweet Tooth Could Adapt its Comic Ending (Without Making Things Weird)
Sweet Tooth could take various avenues to have an ending that is comfortable but honest, one of them being lightening up the material. Already, the on-screen Sweet Tooth has a much more light-hearted atmosphere than the comic books, which have been described as “Mad Max meets Bambi.” By leaning into a more lyrical and innocent narrative, Sweet Tooth can diverge more from the violent source material and focus on themes of community and forgiveness.
Rather than portraying the hybrids winning over the non-hybrids, there can be moments of understanding and change that lead to both parties uniting through the Sick. By emphasizing its fantastical elements and the parts of the Sick that are different from COVID-19, the series can try to remove its story from reality and get viewers hooked on this other world being built up before them. If Sweet Tooth attempts to distinguish itself as different from the Sweet Tooth comics and from the real-life pandemic, it may be able to end on a note that is unique and unconnected from audience expectations.
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