Sweet Tooth – Season 1, Episode 1

Out of the Deep Woods

Overview

Were introduced to Dr Adi Singh, who is a front-line worker when the virus starts to hit and the panic within the hospital trying to deal with this unknown virus and how its outbreak could be dangerous to humans. When his wife Rani begins to show symptoms of ‘the sick’ by a shaking pinkie finger, we really see the impact ‘the sick’ has had on the outside world. ‘No one knows what came first, the hybrids or the virus’ hybrid children are half-human, half-animal.

Richard, or as we know him, Pubba, escapes to Yellowstone National Park with a hybrid child Gus who is a half deer half-human. We watch how Pubba teaches Gus how to be safe and how to survive staying in the premises that Pubba has built for them. Gus soon reaches an age in which he becomes intrigued about his origin after asking Pubba about his mother when coming across some deer within the trees.

After years undetected, the pair are startled when they hear a voice in the distance. Pubba approaches and is told by the passer-by how much the outside world has changed after all the years of dealing with ‘the sick’ and ‘the great crumble’. Pubba realises then wonderer was part of ‘the last men’ group and has marked the premises with a red ribbon to let other people know there is a hybrid there.

Pubba hides Gus away and tells him not to come out, but when Gus spots a deer who has wandered into the house, he can’t help but follow it outside. When he gets back, he finds Pubba slumped in his chair. When he sends Gus out to gather some things for breakfast the next morning, he tells Gus to reiterate their rules, and sadly when Gus walks back, he finds Pubba dead. We see Gus go through the emotional turmoil of losing his Pubba and having to adapt to life on his own without him and trying to look after himself. Naturally, there are plenty of frustrating moments for the child, which ends up with Gus causing an accidental fire which the boy throws his beloved Dog into the fire, which his dad had made for him.

After having a bit of a temper tantrum in the house, the boy comes across a map Richard had left behind, which leads him to find a box containing personal belongings. We forget the naivety as he discards the money and credit cards as he does not know what they are and how he becomes fixated on a picture of a woman he believes is his mother with Colorado on it.

Gus is determined to go and find Birdie as he builds himself a little sledge and sets off on his way to go to Colorado when he is lured into a trap, suddenly freed; he runs back to the house and under the stairs where his Pubba had put him earlier to keep him safe. A man catches up with him in the house, finds him and seems nice and kind compared to the other men who had trapped him. Jepp explains to the boy he is the oldest hybrid he has ever come across and is taken back by the fact that he can speak. After talking, Jepp walks outside and gives him a few pointers on tasks Gus had previously struggled with. Gus is very wary and tries to chase Jepp from the property when Jepp turns and calls him Sweet Tooth.

The profound information that Gus is not the only hybrid really shocks him, and he cannot believe there are other children out there like him. Once Jepp leaves, Gus starts to question all the things his Pubba had told him about the outside world; jumping over the fence, he is surprised nothing happens, and then keeps going until he is caught up with ‘Big Man’.