Season 3 of Sweet Home just released and furnished some game-changing answers about the overall monsterisation taking place in the K-drama. However, its epic finale — which saw the old Green Home residents reunite one last time — left a slew of new questions in its wake. Was Hyun-su able to stop the monster curse once and for all? Did Eun-yu find her brother Eun-hyuk? With director Lee Eung-bok deeming the season as “coming back home”, know who gives into their inner monsters and who survives the epic ending of Sweet Home 3.
A Korean drama adaptation of the popular webtoon of the same name written by Kim Carnby, the Netflix K-drama focuses on a handful of survivors fighting for their lives in a world where humans are turning into savage monsters and the society is plunging into terror.
According to the OTT, Sweet Home 3 concludes this monster saga and knits together all the events unfolding in the previous seasons. It premiered worldwide on Netflix on 19 July 2024.
Spoilers ahead!
Sweet Home 3 ending explained: Is the war between monsters and humans finally over?
Does Cha Hyun-su bring Seo Yi-kyung back?
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The third and penultimate season of Sweet Home is filled with new, bloodthirsty monsters, numerous deaths and, of course, the return of Seo Yi-kyung.
The first episode of season 3 begins with a close-up shot of Hyun-su’s (played by Song Kang) monster version, which has completely taken over the former’s body now. He takes his sweet time teasing Eun-yu (played by Go Min-si), as she tries bringing the human Hyun-su to take the lead. Hyun-su’s other version informs Eun-yu that a weak Hyun-su will only be a liability in their world. However, Eun-yu is persistent and eventually manages to bring the human Hyun-su to his senses. The latter then regrets giving up on Yi-kyung (played by Lee Si-young) and decides to help her turn back into a human.
For context, in the last episode of season 2, Hyun-su decided to kill Yi-kyung and ended her suffering by throwing her into a pit, after her daughter turned her into a monster. In season 3, Hyun-su jumps back into the pit, hugs an injured Yi-kyung and enters the section of her mind that’s still human. Just as the latter is about to give in to her desires, Hyun-su manages to convince her to stay and brings her back as a human.
Does Yi-kyung survive as a human?
After regaining senses, Yi-kyung informs Eun-yu that she must go and stop her monster human daughter (played by Kim Si-a) from entering the stadium, as the latter is dangerous to humans.
Elsewhere, Sang-won (played by Lee Shin-sung), who was revealed in season 2 ending as the slime monster using Green Home resident Sang-wook’s (played by Lee Jin-wook) body, finds a new host in Sweet Home 3. As the episodes roll out, it is revealed through multiple flashbacks and conversations between Dr. Lim (played by Oh Jung-se) and Sang-won that the latter was the first one to turn a monster human (mh1). Dr. Lim manipulated Sang-won and promised to extract the curse from his body after the latter turned symptomatic. But the main intention behind Dr. Lim prodding and torturing Sang-won in the name of experiments was to become a monster himself. While his attempts failed, the extreme pain led to Sang-won’s slime monster version leaving his body. It changed several bodies, before eventually entering Green Home resident Sang-wook’s body.
However, that’s not all. Sang-won is now in search of his child with Yi-kyung, to use her as his next host. Sang-won reveals to Dr. Lim that his child, being a monster human, has the perfect body for his use. Later, Sang-won takes over the stadium, finds his daughter and manipulates her into helping him. Little does he know, Yi-kyung has been in the stadium all this while and is planning to ruin his mission.
Soon, the vulnerable mother gets a hold of her child and in an emotional confrontation, tells her daughter that she has nothing but love for her. The duo promises to start afresh somewhere afar. As they are about to leave the stadium, Yi-kyung turns to her daughter to let her know that she too, like all other living beings, does have a name, and it’s Seo Yi-su. Just then, Sang-won arrives. In a fierce battle between the husband and wife, the wife succumbs to her injuries. Sang-won holds his daughter captive.
The big reveal: Is Lee Eun-hyuk alive?
To clear up the confusion — Lee Eun-hyuk (played by Lee Do-hyun) is no longer alive as a human. Season 2 ended with Eun-hyuk emerging naked from a cocoon, officially hinting at his return in the third instalment. However, Eun-hyuk has now entered his neohuman stage — the last phase of monsterisation.
One of the most loved characters of Sweet Home, Eun-hyuk’s presence is only felt towards the end of season 3. Not to forget the OG Green Home duo Hyun-su and Eun-hyuk’s epic reunion, which serves as the highlight of the entire series. Viewers are made aware of some of the most important facts about neohuman Eun-hyuk — that he cannot feel emotions, just has to exist with the memories of his past human life and is immortal.
With the world on the brink of annihilation, the finale of Sweet Home sees Eun-hyuk heading to the stadium, aiming to defeat Sang-won and bring his neohuman brothers back to safety. He meets his sister and Hyun-su on the way, and after explaining his current situation to them, he teams up with Hyun-su for one last battle.
Is Sang-won defeated in the final showdown?
The final showdown of season 3 sees Eun-hyuk stabbing a whole gaggle of monsters. Meanwhile, Hyun-su finishes off an enormous flying monster in style, with his extended wing tearing the creature to pieces in the stadium, seemingly ending the army of monsters Sang-won created to give team humans a fighting chance. But is that really it for Sang-won?
Well, the answer is no. Sang-won makes for one of the most powerful antagonists of Sweet Home 3, and the most difficult one to defeat. After wiping off the army of monsters in the finale, Eun-Hyuk fights Sang-Won’s monster inside Yi-su’s body, with Hyun-su trying to stop the former from harming the child. Hyun-su asks Eun-Hyuk to trust him and says he can bring back her human version just like he did with her mother, Yi-kyung.
However, when Hyun-Su gets distracted by another monster, Eun-Hyuk takes the chance to attack Yi-su. The human version of Yi-Su inside the body takes over Sang-won’s monster and lets Eun-hyuk stab her. This leads the monster to exit Yi-su’s body, leaving her severely injured. Hyun-su reaches Yi-su, who asks him to kill his father and end the war.
A grieving and enraged Hyun-su returns to the battlefield to fight Sang-won’s monster, only to find that it has now taken over his old friend Sang-wook’s body once again. While Sang-wook is Hyun-su’s weakness, he still decides to attack him and finally kill Sang-won’s monster.
Eun-Hyuk stops Hyun-su and offers to take one for the team, getting ready to jump into the fire pit along with Sang-wook. However, before anyone could sacrifice themselves, the human version of Sang-wook, who is still alive inside, takes over Sang-won’s monster version and starts controlling the body. He makes it crawl into the massive pit of fire, killing himself along with the monster version of Sang-won. As it dies, his daughter’s body, too, feels the pain and finally meets her end.
Sweet Home 3 ending: Is Cha Hyun-su able to stop the war between monsters and humans?
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Yes, Hyun-su succeeds in ending the war. After Sang-won’s end, the finale episode of Sweet Home sees Sergeant Tak In-hwan’s (played by Yu Oh-seong) final conversion into a monster. However, instead of harming humans, he helps the human survivors escape the war zone, as expected from a soldier. Following this, Sergeant Kim Young-hoo (played by Kim Mu-yeol) becomes the leader and takes the survivors to another safe place.
Towards the end of the Netflix horror K-drama, Hyun-su and Eun-hyuk part ways. The former works towards transferring all the other survivors from the stadium to their new abode. The latter leaves to exist with his other neohuman brothers.
Elsewhere, Hyun-su and Young-hoo realise that humans can only be safe from monsters in the future if they live with neohumans. The duo, along with all other survivors, approach the territory of the neohumans, and upon getting permission, start co-existing with them. It takes time for the human survivors to come to terms with neohumans, but they are eventually happy sharing space with this new kind and even start teaching them human emotions.
In the final moments of the Korean series, Hyun-su meets Eun-hyuk on the rooftop of a dilapidated building that appears similar to their former apartment Green Home. Together, they watch Eun-yu walking over the edge of the roof while listening to music. Eun-yu, who was symptomatic, has completed her monsterisation process and is now a neohuman. However, Hyun-su believes there is still hope for her human emotions to be alive inside her and decides to wait for them to come back.
The series ends with Hyun-su and Eun-hyuk smiling, and Eun-hyuk’s voice-over calling this new era their “Sweet Home.”
Watch all three seasons of Sweet Home on Netflix here.
(Hero and Featured image: Courtesy Netflix)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
In the end, Cha Hyun-su and Eun-hyuk defeat Sang-won's monster version and start a new world together, one where humans co-exist with neohumans.
Yes, Hyun survives in all the seasons of 'Sweet Home'.
Yes, Lee Do-hyun's character Eun-hyuk was alive in season 2 and returns in season 3.
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Sushmita is a writer with a passion for crafting engaging and informative stories. An avid fan of K-pop and K-dramas, Sushmita mostly writes about Korean culture and entertainment. When not writing, you can find Sushmita dancing, reading, collecting books, learning about fashion, art, motion pictures, and appreciating BTS.
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