Welcome back, Multiversity readers, for another recap of Netflix’s Sweet Tooth! Last time, we got to see what was happening with Tommy Jeppard and Aimee Eden and what they could come up with to get back to their kids. Gus has been working with Dr. Singh in a deal to keep the other kids safe, but they may not be looking at it quite the same way. Let’s jump right into and see what everyone is doing now!
1. Fort Smith
After the flower experiment, Dr. Singh put Gus through, the two (along with a couple of armed soldiers) head to Fort Smith to see if they can find any information on Project Midnight. It feels very Resident Evil because it’s an abandoned laboratory site that caused worldwide destruction. The director even causes a false sense of lightheartedness with Gus running around as if it were a playground, only to get drawn back into reality with a hybrid crocodile that turns out to be a child left alone. We all watch in awe as Gus talks to it to stop him from hurting any more of the soldiers, only again to be reminded that the soldiers with guns and weapons are in charge by tranquilizing the child and taking him back to The Preserve. Dr. Singh and Gus find some old cassettes, one that has a speech by Gertrude Miller, AKA Birdie, that explains how they stumbled upon the creation of hybrid children and how Project Midnight was initiated to combat diseases than create a new one.
2. Factory Town
Aimee and Jeppard are still trying to figure out a way to save their kids, and after being pushed out of the city, they must get somewhere safe. Jeppard knows a spot called Factory Town and a group of individuals that would be perfect for their plan. The only problem is his group of guys is all buried in the ground after contracting the latest ‘‘Doomsday Variant.’’ Aimee has a Hail Mary play with some people she used to trade with, but after leaving a message via phone, the only thing the two can do is wait. This trip to town is also important because it’s the first time the audience sees the two work together rather than pivoting from point to point while being chased. Aimee tries to get Jeppard to talk about the death of the people he knew, and he gets her to address why she has hidden away for a decade away from society. Their walls are still up, rightfully so, but they are making progress in chipping at their armor.
3. Last Men Propaganda
The Last Men have to use old-school propaganda tactics to get their soldiers, especially when it seems they will need them more than ever with the latest variant. It shouldn’t have been a surprise how they got people to join, but I suppose I just thought grown adults would have been enough to keep their armies strong and maintained, but with a disease wiping people out, they would need to keep the machine going. While Becky is traveling with Jordan and his grandparents, he mentions The Last Men and admires their strength and what it would mean “financially” for his grandparents. I’d assume there’s not a vast pay stipend, but whatever salary they provide might be sufficient to keep them from having to move around as much as they are. At one point, a train goes by, and a case of goodies falls off with sweets, medicine, and a pamphlet to join, thus painting them as saviors rather than the truth. Becky knows from first-hand experience what they do but can’t mention Jordan after he says that his father was killed by her old Animal Army.
General Abbott even goes to Factory Town, selling a snake oil-inspired “cure” for the disease using a half-used vial from Dr. Singh to inject into a person suffering. He seemingly gets better only to get shot at the end because Abbott knows it to be a hoax, but it’s enough to get the crowd at Factory Town riled up and joined without question.
4. The Truth of the Matter
While Gus is away, the kids are still trying to figure a way out of their cell by using a nail file to try and dull the bars, but it’s no use. In one attempt, they’re disrupted by a guard who mentions their lizard-hybrid friend getting killed by Dr. Singh, and they all turn to Wendy for the truth. Once Gus returns from Fort Smith with a pair of pliers that he thinks will help get the others out of their cage. The kids quickly confront him about what they know and how he’s now a liar in their book especially given that he gets to leave The Preserve. I like that the writer didn’t waste any time with his lie about the lizard kid escaping because if it had gone too long, it might have gone by the wayside, but now that it’s out there so quickly, Gus will have to build their trust back up. Of course, Gus had good intentions, and he may have unknowingly learned that from his Pubba; for them to lose a “sibling” and then lied to is a big thing to omit.
5. Time To Enlist
After Jordan and Becky head away from his grandparents with some of his nameless friends, he casually mentions how The Last Men are watching over a converted zoo filled with hybrid children. That information was enough to get Becky back to her mission of returning to Gus and Jeppard. She had this survivor’s guilt after finding out Gus and Jeppard got kidnapped and hurt, so when she found this new group of people, I think it was almost a way to distract her. However, once they get to Essex City, Jordan tells her that the only way into the city is to enlist, and so despite knowing the dangerous history of The Last Men, she has to join to get close to where Gus is.
