[Editor’s note: This piece contains spoilers for Sugar season one.]
Oh, Sugar, what have you done? Apple TV+’s thriller, which aired its season-one finale on May 17, makes the grave error of resorting to a ridiculous plot twist that should’ve been the damn plot all along. This decision of an over-the-top reveal late into its run chips away at its well-crafted neo-noir essence. And it’s a real shame because the Mark Protosevich-created series is uniquely charming until the end of episode six, when the whole schtick comes crashing down. (Or goes crashing up, perhaps? That’ll make more sense soon).
TV has already served a fair share of spit-takes this year, in everything from The Curse to X-Men ’97. However, Sugar is in a league of its own because the genre-bending occurs so arbitrarily, robbing us of its genuine impact. And that’s despite the hints of something being askew with the movie-loving private eye John Sugar (Colin Farrell). While investigating the disappearance of a noted Hollywood producer’s granddaughter, he often shares in detail his innermost thoughts and challenges. The voiceover makes us question whether he’s a reliable narrator. Is he suffering from PTSD or job-related guilt? Does this case tie to his missing sister somehow? Is he a recovering drug addict? What makes him so oddly closed off yet far too kind to everyone?
If Sugar will have you believe, his peculiar humanity comes from the fact that he’s not human at all. John Sugar is an extraterrestrial. In the final moments of episode six, “Go Home,” he stands in front of a mirror and briefly, randomly exposes his real self—a bald, blue creature—as the screen cuts to black. For the sake of transparency, this writer burst out laughing when the scene occurred. Once you’ve picked up your jaw and tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, Sugar doesn’t live up to a potentially promising gamechanger. It doesn’t use its remaining two episodes to build on the twist. Episodes seven and eight barely scratch the surface of the suspense. In trying to set up season two, Sugar glosses over its explosive truth bomb.
Fans have been theorizing about John’s true nature since the show premiered because early reviews (annoyingly) promised a curveball was coming. Guesses ranged from John being a deeply traumatized vet to someone who was experimented on, from him being AI to a supernatural being. After all, Sugar implies he doesn’t get drunk and takes suspicious injections. He takes beatings without suffering much injury. Then there’s the secrecy of the fellow detectives he associates with. Are they, including his mysterious handler, Ruby (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), all part of some dangerous mission?
It turns out they’re all aliens who, for some reason, have settled on Earth to understand more about its people. Each one masquerades themselves in a different profession to do this. It’s safe to say now that John also loves films beyond their obvious entertainment value. They’ve become his gateway to understanding and learning about how people function, feel, talk, move, and communicate with each other. It’s a fascinating detail, perfectly fitting into the genre mold of being an outsider sucked into a world of grisly, gothic crime.
Up until episode six, Sugar’s moody lighting, direction, performances, music, and production design are intoxicating. They make the show atmospheric, harkening back to the old films John obsesses over. Here, he’s our very own John Wick, a loner on a quest for justice. (He even interacts with multiple dogs!) He’s slowly coming to know Hollywood’s seedy underbelly, police corruption, and horrible crimes like human trafficking. John is potentially falling for Melanie (Amy Ryan), who similarly seeks resolution, with no idea of how to deal with these feelings without involving his work and identity. Even if the show’s central mystery isn’t all that enticing, Sugar is immersive and impressive.
Sadly, these aspects feel like afterthoughts once Sugar goes from being a neo-noir to a sci-fi show. By giving itself only two episodes to unpack the fallout of John being a freaking alien, while also trying to tie up several other loose ends, Sugar pushes itself into a jarring corner. Throwing in a single scene of John and his sister on a shiny azure planet doesn’t help. It would have been much more evocative to know John’s identity earlier, as it would have added an interesting dimension to his interactions with everyone. SYFY’s superior Resident Alien is an exceptional example of this type of narrative.
It’s not that Sugar completely lacks potential now. If you’ve somehow watched through its season-ender, and if Apple TV+ doesn’t cancel the Farrell-led drama, there’s a good chance you’ll tune in to know what John Sugar will do next. Hopefully, there are answers about what he’s up to on Earth and why he needs to report back all his minutely written observations. But in establishing these key questions for another round, Sugar haphazardly lets go of everything that made it distinctive and cool in the first place.