“Sweet/Vicious”: Exclusive: Jenn Kaytin Robinson Reflects on Season Finale and Hints at What’s in Store if Renewed
“The hashtag #RenewSweetVicious is very helpful, so get that going.”
MTV’s new dark comedy Sweet/Vicious recently aired it’s 2-hour kickass finale, and OMFGTV was lucky enough to discuss it with the master behind the curtain, creator Jenn Kaytin Robinson. We talked about everything from Nate’s overturned conviction to what’s to come if the show gets picked up for a second season! Warning: Spoilers ahead!
I’m sure most of you were just as angry as we were when Darlington’s President decided to overturn Nate’s verdict after the Title IX Board found him guilty, we so asked Jenn what her reasoning was for having the board find him guilty but then have someone else overturn that verdict. “Because that’s what’s happening.” Jenn was adamant that she wanted to show viewers this side of the story, the side where Jules gets to tell her truth, is ultimately believed, then someone else not connected to the case turned it over.
RELATED | Exclusive: Jenn Kaytin Robinson Previews Intense 2-Hour Finale
In the episode, we see that the President didn’t even look at the case against Nate before overturning the verdict so he could play in a big game. And, according to Jenn, this kind of thing happens ALL THE TIME. “And they’re doing it on behalf of athletes, and behalf of students whose parents are donors, and on behalf of these men who ‘made a mistake’.” Jenn calls this “the ugly side of patriarchy,” and says it is something that “we wanted to talk about and explore.”
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Another plot twist came in the final hour of the season, when Miles starts to believe Jules’ story over Nate’s. He ends up helping the vigilantes to take down his best friend. “The Miles storyline is probably one of my favorite arcs from the entire season,” Jenn commented when the character was brought up. The writers wanted to show not only the female perspective of this, but also the male perspective of, “What does it mean if your best friend does this?” Miles was the one who encouraged Nate to hook up with Jules, but really “he was being a bystander [to rape] because he didn’t understand.”
One of Jenn’s main goals this season was “to open more eyes, especially male eyes, to the fact that this is real and this is happening.” The creator goes on to say, “being a bystander is just as bad as being the rapist. You’re an accomplice. You’re part of it.” She wants to ensure that people “make it a group thing” to ensure the safety of everyone at parties so no one has to worry about getting sexually assaulted.
We couldn’t talk with Jenn and not get some details about what’s in store for season 2 (assuming it gets renewed)! There are several issues Jenn and her team hope to touch on in a second season, and with Jules and Ophelia running the Sweet/Vicious website they just might be able to address them all. They want to “avenge male survivors”, include some LGBTQ centered stories, more stories about “race and bullying”, and even more hazing stories. “The way that we end the season opens it up so we can do all of that and more.”
Jenn also hinted that Harris is going to be very instrumental in the next season “helping the girls not only take down the people committing the crimes, but the people that are helping those people get away with it.” And let’s not forget about “the Carter of it all.” In what Jenn likes to call a “Dexter move,” Jules and Ophelia frame a pedophile who has evaded the law for too long for Carter’s murder, but Tyler doesn’t believe that man did it. He thinks it was the vigilante. “Wouldn’t it be crazy if everything came to a head at once?” Yes, it would indeed be crazy! So if you want to see more of these stories, let MTV know they need to renew Sweet/Vicious!
Finally, Jenn had a thank you message for all the fans of Sweet/Vicious:
“Thank you so much for being on this journey with us. We very much hope that we come back for a season 2. If we don’t, I can say personally, I’ll never stop telling stories that matter. This won’t be the end of making sure that people’s voices are heard. I love the fans with all my heart and I want to thank them so much for loving and embracing the show, and for being part of this vigilante team with all of us.”
If you want to help get Sweet/Vicious renewed then use #RenewSweetVicious to let MTV know you want more!