Sweet Home 2 is not without its surprises, but the biggest one comes right at the end of the series, when a very unexpected character makes a return. Trudge ahead only if you’re ready for some massive spoilers. At the end of Sweet Home season 1, things were quite uncertain for Eun-Hyuk, whose nose began to bleed before Green Home apartments’ big collapse. We assumed he either turned or died under the rubble. At the end of season 2, we learn that it was neither, but he essentially became a monster larva. As the credits are about to roll, a naked being falls out of one of the strange monster cocoons, struggles to stand, and then walks towards the camera. It’s Eun-Hyuk, and he breaks the fourth wall, smirking at us through the screen, establishing his presence in season 3 as somewhat important.
In Sweet Home 2, most of Eun-Yu’s time is spent searching for her brother (and beautifully gazing at whatever’s behind her). Really, it’s a plotline that gets stretched out far too long and for no reason at all, but I digress. Eun-Hyuk’s last promise to Eun-Yu is that he will return to her safely. All of the first season she spent hating on him because he was too nice to her, even though she is to blame for them becoming orphans (or so she thinks). Eun-Hyuk is extremely practical through the first season; to him, survival is his priority, not just for himself and his sister but for all the residents alike. Fortunately, by the end of the first season, everyone trusts Eun-Hyuk, and his plans actually work, making him a fantastic leader. Unfortunately, this doesn’t last when he leads everyone to their safety, realizing he’s showing symptoms and will turn soon. A year later, Eun-Yu thinks Eun-Hyuk has become a monster, but like Hyun-Su, he can choose who to protect. In the end, it’s revealed that it was Hyun-Su himself keeping her safe and not Eun-Hyuk.
In episode 2, we had a glimpse of one of those reborn humans from the cocoon-like structures. It was Im Myung-Sook who had become the womb monster. Eun-Hyuk too looks the same way, so we can assume that he, like Myung-Sook, is going to be like a newborn with no thoughts. We can assume the smirk at the end of the show, is simply a way to get us excited for the next season, and in reality, Eun-Hyuk is going to be like a vegetable for a little bit before learning about the world. Maybe, he’s going to have no memory of his previous life and is essentially a brand new person or monster. It’s possible that a trigger of some sort could bring the memories back, but only time will tell. At the beginning of Sweet Home 2, Dr. Lim claims that the monsters are a vaccine for the virus that is humankind. There’s much weight to his words considering how the newborns are essentially monster babies, possibly devoid of their previous desires, shame, or any negative emotion for that matter.
Everything may be connected to Yi-Kyung’s daughter, though. Specifically, because she can control all the monsters, she could truly be the chosen one that her father is so desperate to believe he is. There are a few ways this thing could go. We already know that Yi-Kyung’s daughter isn’t happy with humans because they’ve always mistreated her, and the monsters have been much kinder to her from the start. It will be really easy for her to control the newborns (yeah, we’re sticking to this name for now) and turn them against humans. We don’t know just yet if these newborns are capable of human emotions or not, or if it’s only their appearance that is human-like. Alternatively, it could be that the monstrous curse is finally lifting and that these rebirthed humans are just new versions of their old selves that need to be poked around a bit before they return to their human selves.
If we stick to the first theory, there are a few more ways it can go for Eun-Hyuk. We can draw parallels between Yi-Kyung’s daughter’s birth and the newborns. They’re all half-breeds, so they can be just as powerful as her. If this is the case, there’s a possibility that Eun-Hyuk could be the next big antagonist of the series, although we’d be extremely disappointed if that’s the case. All we need right now is a reunion between Eun-Yu and Eun-Hyuk after how much we’ve had to see her struggle to find him.
Season 2 of Sweet Home comes across as much more disjointed in comparison to the first because there are a lot of new things happening but not enough information on anything, in particular, to keep us deeply invested in the many small story arcs. What we hope for in season 3 is for these arcs to be fleshed out better and for the gaps to be filled. With Hyun-Su also being taken over by his monster form, it’s possible that a lot of the next season will go into her trying to bring both Hyun-Su and Eun-Hyuk back to their human forms, however possible. We can also hope that somehow, Yi-Kyung’s daughter gets convinced by Eun-Yu to help her, maybe with Hyun-Su as the excuse. On the other hand, Hyun-Su’s monster version could want Eun-Yu to become a half-breed as well. The possibilities are truly endless, and luckily, we don’t have to wait too long. We’re eagerly waiting to see what Lee Do-Hyun will bring to the table in Sweet Home 3 as the new Eun-Hyuk.
