Sweet Home Season 3 Ending, Explained: Is Yi-su Dead or Alive?

For its third season, The Netflix K-Drama, ‘Sweet Home,’ brings its various narrative threads together for one impassioned conclusion. The series protagonist, Hyun-su, who has come a long way from his days in the Green Home apartment, battles with his more monstrous side as it fights to take control. Meanwhile, Yi-kyung’s daughter finds herself facing unexpected threats as her father, Sang-won, returns with grand plans of exploitation for his heir. As Hyun-su and the rest of the human survivors make new revelations about the world monsterization has created, they continue fighting for humanity’s survival even as the hope for the same dwindles. The season’s ending concludes several of the overarching plots within the show but maintains an air of ambiguity, leaving the fans to ponder over the climax. SPOILERS AHEAD!

Sweet Home Season 3 Recap

After Dr. Lim realizes that Sang-wook is actually Nam Sang-won, his previous test subject who has been jumping bodies since his near-fatal predicament in his research lab, he also discovers the latter’s plans to build a monstrous army for himself. However, Sang-won also holds other priorities, namely the daughter he knows he has with Yi-kyung. Since he left an imprint on her in the past, he can use their bond to track her down now that he needs her. Thus, as he leaves the lair to find his daughter, Sergeant Kim manages to escape with his life as the sole survivor, heading toward the Stadium to save his people from Sang-won’s upcoming attack.

Meanwhile, Eun-yu manages to take out the blue-eyed monster-version of Hyun-su through a blow to the head. Once he returns, Hyun-su abandons Eun-yu to save Yi-Kyung, who remains stuck in her monstrous state as a result of her daughter’s doing. Although he insists on solving the problem alone, Eun-yu ends up helping him alongside soldier Chan-yeong and survivor Ha-ni. Through his powers, Hyun-su manages to heal Yi-kyung, entering her brain to restore her humanity. In the aftermath, the power depletion the boy’s unconscious while the woman leaves to find her daughter before she can use her powers against the Stadium survivors.

Naturally, with Sang-won’s crew’s arrival and Chief Ji’s end, following the discovery of her monstrous son’s existence in a hidden hatch, a power shift occurs at the Stadium. With the special infectees in charge now, their leader corrals all young survivors from the Stadium to look for her daughter. Simultaneously, Yi-kyung also arrives at the bunker, knowing it’s the only place her daughter would be. There, she learns about her husband’s return from the dead from Lim, who discovers Sang-won plans to use his daughter as his next vessel since her uniquely monstrous birth makes her stronger than regular humans. Nonetheless, Yi-kyung fails to get to her daughter before her father finds her and coaxes her to stand by his side.

Back in the outside world, Hyun-su wakes again with his monstrous side in charge. Even so, Eun-yu realizes he’s incapable of killing her and strikes a deal for him to travel with his group while she attempts to bring out her real friend. Although he complies for a while, he abandons the group soon after learning Sang-won is still alive. During Kim’s escape from the facility, he manages to save a half-dying survivor, Eun-hyeok, Eun-yu’s previously presumed dead brother. As it turns out, after undergoing monsterization, Eun-hyeok became a neo-human, the next evolutionary step of the process.

Neo-humans possess monstrous powers while retaining their human form. Furthermore, they’re immortal and revived from a cocoon each time they die. However, they have no human emotions and operate solely on logic. Consequently, once all these characters’ paths inevitably collide, Eun-yu undergoes complicated emotions after realizing her brother is alive but inextricably changed. Nevertheless, while Kim manages to get Chan-yeong and Ha-ni away from the scene of Hyun-su and Eun-hyeok’s involvement in a monster fight, Eun-yu stubbornly remains by their side, unwilling to give up on them.

Eventually, a pressing situation compels Hyun-su’s blue-eyed alter-ego to introspect and become one with the real Hyun-su. As such, the boy finally returns to his own self and teams up with Eun-hyeok to put a stop to Sang-won and his destructive plans. In the meantime, Yi-kyung manages to catch up to her daughter and attempts to run away with her. Nonetheless, Sang-won finds them before their escape, leading to a tense familial confrontation in which he kills his wife in front of their daughter. Before dying, Yi-kyung reveals her daughter’s name to her, Yi-su. As her father cages her for her betrayal, Yi-su realizes his true colors and plans an attack against him.

Sweet Home Season 3 Ending: Does Hyun-su Stop Sang-won?

As proven throughout the series, Sang-won already poses a great threat to humanity as he remains hellbent on creating a monstrous army of his own special infectees. Therefore, if he overtakes Yi-su’s body, he could become twice as dangerous due to the young girl’s ability to turn other people into monsters. Even though Yi-su was open to bonding with her father before, her mother’s death cements her hatred for Sang-won. Therefore, after he cages his daughter, she employs the help of Yeong-su, a stadium kid she befriended, to escape. Moreover, she begins secretly farming her own army, mind-controlling numerous survivors in the midst of their haphazard plans of evacuation under Tak’s command.

Yet, when the time comes, and Sang-won tracks Yi-su down, the girl’s army fails to defeat her father. Consequently, he manages to take Yi-su with him in preparation for the vessel transfer. Earlier, when he tried to take over her body, the process hadn’t worked. However, this time, with Lim’s help, Sang-won knows the exact circumstances he needs to replicate to transfer into a new body. Previously, whenever he has jumped bodies, from his original to Ui-Myeong and finally Sang-wook, Sang-won has been on the brink of death. For the same reason, he walks into the pyre with his daughter nearby, allowing himself to return to his slimy form and take over Yi-su’s body.

Once in control of Yi-su’s body, Sang-won gains control of his daughter’s various mind-controlled minions as well. Furthermore, once he finally make it to the Stadium, Hyun-su doesn’t immediately recognize Sang-won. Still, he catches up to the program after the other reveals he has killed Yi-kyung. As a result, Hyun-su uses his powers to enter Yi-su’s mind to help her escape from her father’s control. Inside her mind, he also comes face to face with the real Sang-won, who puts up a fight that is interrupted by Eun-hyeok’s physical attack against Yi-su in the real world.

The attack triggers Hyun-su’s escape from Yi-su’s mind, as the former attempts to stop Eun-hyeok from harming the young girl, convinced he can bring her back. Yet, as a Neo-human, the other man remains unsympathetic to Yi-su’s predicament. Consequently, he ends up harming Yi-su in a near-fatal injury. Even so, she manages to get her father out of her head from her sheer will, pushing the slimy Sang-won to evacuate her body. Sang-won, never one for giving up, still manages to come back by taking over the half-charred body of his right-hand man, whom he previously killed inside the pyre. Thus, even after Hyun-su chars him again, he still manages to survive in his slime form.

In the end, Hyun-su and Eun-hyeok realize they must take a grave measure to put an actual stop to their enemy. Therefore, the latter comes up with the plan to allow Sang-won to take over his body and then crawl into the pyre, ending Sang-won’s life alongside his own. Although Hyun-su tries to offer himself up for the same task, neither ends up requiring him to sacrifice their lives as Sang-won returns to Sang-wook’s body that he previously discarded. Only this time, Sang-Wook’s control over his mind is stronger. Thus, as he remembers his days in the Greem Home, Sang-wook battles Sang-won for control of his body and crawls into the pyre, sacrificing himself and ending the monster’s life once and for all.

Do Tak and Kim Save the Stadium Survivors?

While Hyun-su’s battle with Sang-won unfolds outside the Stadium, the survivors find themselves fighting for their own escape. Since the special infectees’ takeover of the place, the location is no longer safe for Tak and his people. Furthermore, Tak’s own on-set monsterization poses a possible threat to his people, who would be otherwise lost without his leadership. Nevertheless, despite his condition, the soldiers refuse to give up on him, willing to follow his orders. They continue to trust him with their survival. Yet, Kim’s arrival at the Stadium with Chang-yeon and Ha-ni allows for some respite since the Sergeant knows he can trust the other man with his responsibilities.

Tak utilizes the map he previously got from Chief Ji—which marked secret exits—the survivors mobilize to escape the bunker without notifying Sang-won and his minions. The fact that Sang-won turned on his own minions near the end further helps the survivors reach the tunnel that would lead to their freedom. However, moments away from the finishing line, Tak’s monsterization takes hold. Although Kim attempts to protect the others from him, he ends up failing to save Tak, who blows up in a bomb blast.

Once the dust settles, in Tak’s place, an ice wall stands, blocking the survivor’s way out of the bunker. As it would turn out, Tak has actually turned into an ice wall monster who prevents anyone but humans from passing through. Tak has always been a soldier dedicated to protecting his people. Therefore, even post-monsterization, he stands as a shield for the survivors. Eventually, one special infectee catches up to them, but Kim and the others manage to hold him off long enough for people to escape.

Ultimately, the stadium survivors manage to escape with their lives under Kim’s leadership and find a rundown apartment complex to rest. Hyun-su also catches up to the survivors after he part ways with Eun-hyeok, who goes back to his people, the Neo-humans. After the Stadium’s loss, the humans needed someplace they could reside in again that would save them from the monsters. As such, Hyun-su comes up with an unconventional plan and leads the survivors to a bridge populated with other Neo-humans like Eun-hyeok. Thus, in the end, the humans end up living with the Neo-humans, forming a harmonious society. Together, they are able to restore some semblance to their regular lives while also protecting themselves against the monsters.

Does Yi-su Die?

By the time the season wraps up its narrative, the fate of Yi-su’s character still remains somewhat ambiguous. During Hyun-su and Eun-Hyeok’s battle with Sang-won, the girl had gotten fatally injured, leading to an emotionally taut interaction between her and Hyun-su. She was certain she had reached her end and would reunite with her mother in the afterlife. Still, after Sang-wook’s sacrifice killed Sang-won, who burned to his death in the fiery pyre, Yi-su momentarily came back to life with a painful scream.

Furthermore, in the ending montage, viewers can see Yeong-su, Yi-su’s friend, back to his human form, hanging out with a dark-haired teenage girl who sports the same mark on her forehand as Yi-su. Therefore, it remains evident that Yi-su never actually died and is still alive by the show’s end. In season 2, something similar was shown to have happened to the girl when she was shot by some young guys as a kid. In the aftermath, she survived, waking up in the body of a pre-teen. As such, something similar must have happened after Sang-won’s death, wherein Yu-si grazed her own fatality but survived and rapidly grew into a teenager. Still, she continued wearing the mark on her hand, signaling her continued survival.

What Happens to Eun-yu? Does She Become a Monster?

Much like Yi-su, Eun-yu also has an ambiguous fate near the show’s end. During her, Hyun-su, and Eun-hyeok’s trip to the Stadium, monsterization began to set into the woman, who had unwittingly given in to her dark desires. The recent complications with Hyun-su’s monster persona, as well as the unexpected return of Eun-hyeok, who sports no warmth or emotions of her actual brother, had to have taken a heavy toll on her mind. Therefore, she unwittingly succumbed to the darkness, allowing monsterization to take hold.

For the same reason, Eun-yu doesn’t accompany Hyun-su and Eun-hyeok to the Stadium, knowing it would only be a matter of time before she would transform into a monster. Afterward, she returns to Green Home, where she hallucinates a conversation with her actual brother. Even though she knows it’s in her head, she allows herself a moment of respite as her human self fades away. Although the fans never get a visual confirmation of her turning into a monster, the symbolic scene of her hand dropping is enough to signal that Eun0yu becomes a monster near the end.

Still, all isn’t lost for Eun-yu, and her fate hasn’t been sealed yet. The bond between Hyun-su and her won’t allow the former to let her be lost forever. Since he can turn monsters back into humans— as he did with Yi-kyung— he could potentially save her if he ever finds her in the future. On the other hand, she could also go down a different path and achieve neo-human status as Eun-hyeok did. The evolutionary process would rob her of her emotions and bring her back to life forever changed, but it would save her nonetheless. The show’s ending sequence, where Hyun-su, Eun-yu, and Eun-hyeok hang around a rooftop in a dream-like haze, seems to hint at the same, allowing room for either interpretation of Eun-yu’s fate. Either way, in the future, the trio reunites.