Warning: SPOILERS lie ahead for Sweet Tooth season 3!
Summary
Mrs. Zhang is back with a brutal vengeance inSweet Toothseason 3. Introduced in season 2 of the Netflix comic book adaptation, Zhang is one of the warlords known as The Three who seek to restore society to some semblance of normalcy after The Sick destroyed the world. Their key strategy for doing so is to wipe out the hybrid population, while also experimenting on them to find a cure for The Sick.
Following the death of General Abbot in the season 2 finale,Sweet Toothseason 3 picks upwith Mrs. Zhang now more powerful than ever as she is the last of The Three still remaining, and is hunting down Gus, Big Man, Bear, and Wendy. More than just looking for revenge, though, Zhang believes that Gus may be the key to not only curing The Sick, but also preventing the birth of further hybrids into the world. Zhang is particularly in a race against time in the hopes of keeping her youngest daughter from giving birth to a hybrid, turning to her older child for help, including using her three hybrid wolf children to hunt the group down.
Sweet Tooth Season 3 Review: The Netflix Series Sticks The Landing With Death-Defying Final Season
Sweet Tooth season 3 continues Gus’s voyage to Alaska in hopes of finding his mom and the cure for the Sick, with a fitting ending to the series.
In addition to Rosalind Chao as Zhang,the ensembleSweet Toothseason 3 castincludes Christian Convery as Gus, Nonso Anozie as Big Man, Adeel Akhtar as Dr. Sing, Stefania LaVie Owen as Bear, Naledi Murray as Wendy, and James Brolin as the narrator, with Amy Seimetz also getting a bigger role as Birdie after appearing in a recurring capacity in prior seasons. Maintaining the show’s perfect “Certified Fresh” streak on Rotten Tomatoes, season 3 closes out the Netflix show in epic and emotional fashion.
Following the show’s final return,Screen Rantinterviewed Rosalind Chao to discussSweet Toothseason 3, Mrs. Zhang’s bigger arc in the closure of the show, the introduction of her daughters, her fate in the finale, and whether she thinks she could ever change her opinion regarding hybrids.
In reflecting on her work with the show, Chao humorously recalls being both “moved” by the metaphors ofSweet Tooth’s story, but also that “everybody’s going to hate me” for how villainous Zhang is. The star explained that her approach to playing the character initially involved “making excuses for her” before ultimately realizing there’s no way to reconcile with her actions:
Rosalind Chao: It’s a delight. When I first watched the show, I was so moved, I felt like this is why I act, to kind of bring enlightenment and a bigger way of seeing the world through the metaphor of Sweet Tooth. So, just the fact that I got to be on it is such an honor, even though everybody’s going to hate me after this. That’s okay, that means I’m doing my job. [Laughs]
She is not a nice lady, I can’t even make excuses for her. I started out making excuses for her, saying, “Well, she’s just saving humanity.” But then, I watched it and, “No, she’s not. How could she be like that to Sweet Tooth?” But yes, it was just such a delight to be a part of it, they’re wonderful actors. The whole crew, they’re really nice people. It isn’t an accident that the show has so much heart, it really comes from the top, Jim Mickle.
While discussing her largerSweet Toothseason 3 role, Chao reveals that she was originally expected to have a larger role in season 2. Interestingly, despite not having “agreed to do a series before”, as she jokingly calls herself “commitment-phobic”, she reveals that the reason for this change came from her commitment to another Netflix hit,3 Body Problem:
Rosalind Chao: Well, when I signed up, I knew season 3 was coming up. The casting director, Carmen Cuba, when she first approached me back then, I had never agreed to do a series before, I’m very commitment phobic. [Chuckles] So Sweet Tooth was the first time I agreed to do a series, and she sent me the entire series. I binged it, of course, with season 1, and then they sent me a breakdown of where they intended the character to go.
So, in season 2, I was supposed to appear in more episodes, but I also had 3 Body Problem going, so we could only do a couple episodes, so I had to murder everyone in two episodes. And then, I think they introduced the possibilities of the family in the last episode, and I had an idea of the arc. I didn’t realize how it was going to end, and that was so much fun. When Jim told me about it — he’s a brilliant director in that he prepares you for how to think about the character before you play the character. So, he gave me some really good images and things to think about before I went into another Zhang period.
Casting Was So Good The Crew Mixed Up TwoSweet ToothStars
With her bigger role in the new season came the introductions of Kelly Marie Tran’s Rosie and Louise Jiang’s Ginger, Zhang’s daughters with very different relationships to their mother, as the former is initially cast out of the family after giving birth to three hybrid wolf babies, while the latter has remained close to her. For Chao, she was not only thrilled to get to build these characters with Tran and Jiang, but also humorously recalls how similar the duo looked that even the crew mixed up the two:
Rosalind Chao: We laugh about this. I don’t know if anybody’s mentioned this to you, but we laugh about it. Before she agreed to do this show, I don’t think she had closed her deal yet. Her agent asked my agent if I’d had coffee with her, and when I had coffee with her, I could tell we were going to have an interesting dynamic. And I could see that she wasn’t sure. It’s in New Zealand, it’s a long time, all the same reservations I had at first for like two seconds until I saw the show. But as soon as we met, I knew that we would have an interesting dynamic. And then, what about Louise Jiang, who plays her younger sister? How much do they look alike?
Screen Rant: It is striking how similar they look!
Rosalind Chao: I’ll tell you something on the side, crew members would get confused. I think Louise showed up on the set — I’m not sure if she showed up first — but at one point, when she showed up, everybody thought it was Kelly. [Laughs] Kelly’s not really like her character. She’s warm and easy to get along with.
Zhang Is Incapable Of Changing Her Views As She’s A “Digger Inner”
Sweet Toothseason 3’s finalesees Zhang’s efforts to put an end to The Sick fail as Gus burns down the tree with the Earth’s blood, and she is left out in the cold while Gus and his friends go off to build a safe haven for hybrids in Yellowstone. Despite showing potential reservations in her actions, Chao believes that Zhang is a “digger inner” and is never going to change her beliefs:
Rosalind Chao: I honestly feel that there are so many parallels, but I feel that she doesn’t see them as people, and she sees them as a threat to her bloodline. It is a metaphor for a lot of things that are going on in the world, and I think sometimes, the more you have people against you, the more you dig in, and I think she’s a digger inner. She’s very absolute in her beliefs. We don’t know, maybe — spoilers — after the last moment, she re-thinks her decision. It didn’t go well for her. [Chuckles]
Given the ending of the show ultimately puts the focus back on Gus and Wendy’s raising of future hybrid generations, Zhang’s ultimate fate is left a little unclear, save for the time jump essentially confirming all humans have died. When asked about what happens to her, Chao offers an intriguing response, indicating that “she does not give up easily” and that she likely still fought her way back to her family afterward, and potentially “woo the younger” of her children back to her side:
Rosalind Chao: I think she does not give up easily, and if anybody can beat that environment and come back worse than she was before, it’s that lady. I would not put anything past her, because I think she has an ability — I don’t know how much they showed it, I can’t remember — to make people think that she’s one way, and then flip it again. So, I think she’s capable of just about anything. We do see the end result, so we know it’s all okay, but in my mind at the time, before I’d seen that, I thought, “She’s not the type, she won’t really regret it. She would survive that, she would not die in that environment. That lady, she’s not dying.” She’s like that roach that you keep trying to step on, and they keep crawling out from that. She’s that lady. [Chuckles]
I think she could woo the younger one back and use her wiles to get people under her thumb again. I really do. Those people are very resourceful, let’s put it that way, and people without a conscience, which she seems to not — I mean, we see a little window of it in episode 3, when she first sees the babies. I think she really wanted to love the babies, and really was hoping, but that freaking baby bit her finger, and it unleashed something in her, I think. I don’t know, maybe I’m being too harsh. Maybe it could go the other way. But I don’t think she’s ever going to be the perfect mom.
AboutSweet ToothSeason 3
Having defeated General Abbot in the battle at Pubba’s Cabin, Gus (Christian Convery), Jepperd (Nonso Anozie), Becky (Stefania LaVie Owen), and Wendy (Naledi Murray) embark on a journey to Alaska in search of Gus’s mother, Birdie (Amy Seimetz), who has been working to uncover the mysterious origins of the deadly Sick. Along the way, they are joined by Dr. Singh (Adeel Akhtar), who may have his own dangerous beliefs about Gus and his role in reversing the virus. Meanwhile, a new threat emerges in the form of Helen Zhang (Rosalind Chao), her daughter Rosie (Kelly Marie Tran), and the ferocious Wolf Boys, who seek to restart human birth and view Gus as the solution to their plans.
As they navigate through perilous terrain, Gus and his group of friends find refuge at the Outpost in Alaska, where they meet a new ensemble of characters including Siana (Cara Gee) and her hybrid daughter Nuka (Ayazhan Dalabayeva). With the clock to find answers running out, alliances are tested and destinies intertwine, all leading to a thrilling climax that will determine the fate of humanity and hybrids. Based on the DC comic book series by Jeff Lemire, Sweet Tooth is executive produced by Jim Mickle, Susan Downey, Robert Downey, Jr., Amanda Burrell, and Linda Moran. The series is produced by Warner Bros. Television.
Sweet Tooth
Cast
Based on the comic series of the same name, Sweet Tooth is set in the not-too-distant future, post-apocalyptic United States in the wake of a devastating viral pandemic. After the disease decimated the world’s population, some children began to be born with human and animal hybrid characteristics. Many people are afraid of the hybrids, believing them to be the cause of the virus. When his father is killed, a young deer hybrid named Gus (Christian Convery) embarks on a quest to find his mother with the help of a traveler and loner named Tommy Jeppard (Nonso Anozie).
