The topic Sleeping on Apple’s new show because you don’t like detectives? Trust me… is currently the subject of lively discussion — readers and analysts are keeping a close eye on developments.
This is taking place in a dynamic environment: companies’ decisions and competitors’ reactions can quickly change the picture.
When I reported on the first season of Sugar, released in 2024, I was expecting it to be a by-the-numbers, hard-boiled noir detective story. That was the appeal.
As evidenced by my appreciation for Spider-Noir’s black-and-white color options, I like this style of story, and it was a nice change of pace from all the true crime and police procedural shows I covered as part of my TV editor job.
I know I’m in the minority in liking “film noir” style storytelling. Like the Western, it’s a genre that hasn’t weathered the transition to modern movie and TV mores.
I know plenty of people who skipped Sugar because they don’t care about the style of private detective fiction, and that’s totally fine.
But what these people are missing is that Sugar is so much more than a detective TV show. It has a second genre hiding under the surface, and it’d be easy to miss the show if you don’t know about it.
I know loads of people have since stopped chasing new releases on streaming platforms, but it’s one worth seeing.
And with Sugar season 2 airing on Apple TV from June 19th, it’s time that the show found its true audience.
Oh, you don’t know Sugar? That’s okay, it wasn’t one of Apple TV’s biggest releases. The first season came out in mid-2024 and enjoyed a weekly release schedule, as is Apple’s style.
The show starred Colin Farrell as the titular character, a private investigator called John Sugar, who worked in Los Angeles (because, of course, it’s a PI story).
His case? To investigate the missing granddaughter of a powerful Hollywood producer, in a case that goes to the heart of the industry.
Also joining the cast were Amy Ryan, James Cromwell, and Kirby Howell-Baptiste, with a pre-Alien Earth Sydney Chandler and Anna Gunn showing up in smaller roles.
Sugar was chock-full of noir references, and I’m not just talking about visually.
Props were taken from classics, clips were shown from various movies — the vehicle you see in the above image, a Chevrolet Corvette, was chosen as a reference to the 1955 movie Kiss Me Deadly.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: that synopsis makes Sugar sound a lot like a detective TV show. And I can’t deny that. For a lot of runtime, that’s how it feels.
However, the first season of the show hints and teases to a second genre being made. And I’m going to share them with you — but spoilers for some massive plot twists are coming, so if you want to watch the series blind, it’s worth doing so yourself.
Over the course of Sugar’s first season, it’s hinted, and then abruptly confirmed as part of a plot twist in a later episode, that the show is actually a science fiction story. The last few episodes make a jarring about-turn straight into the genre.
Colin Farrell’s Sugar is an alien. That’s right: An extraterrestrial is on Earth, running around and solving crimes. His investigations are greatly helped by the enhanced strength this gives him.
He’s part of a secret society of aliens on Earth, who are living there on some kind of mission — although at the end of the story, they’re summoned back to their home planet.
These aliens’ presence hasn’t gone unnoticed. Part of the web of corruption that Sugar gets roped into as part of his investigation stems from the fact that powerful humans have learned about this extraterrestrial foray and blackmail its leaders to get Sugar to stop the investigation.
Lots of Sugar’s traits come from his alien-hood. His love of the detective aesthete seemingly comes from his growing humanness, the longer he stays on Earth.
And his self-given role, of finding missing people, stems from his youth, when his sister was abducted on his home planet.
The historic mystery of his sister comes to the fore towards the end of the show, when a break is made in the case, and this promises to be a focal point for Sugar’s second season.
Since Sugar’s alien-hood is part of the show’s big plot twist, it’s hard to pitch the series as a sci-fi without ruining this twist.
But it’s a shame, because the idea of a secret alien outpost hiding amongst humans is quite interesting. The theme of these extraterrestrials changing in various ways from their human cohabitation is a strong suit, especially as we see the way it forms Sugar and his antagonist.
As I hinted at in the previous section, Sugar’s big plot twist was divisive amongst fans of the show at the time.
Some praised the boldness of the drastic reinvention of the show mid-way through its story, while others found the change jarring, especially those who were watching for the noir elements.
While I’m a massive science fiction fan, I didn’t love the execution of the twist. I found the post-twist show unfocused, unable to properly address this new genre, while also failing to make good on the original premise of the show.
However, I’m hopeful that, now that Sugar has established this dual-genre convention, it will be able to balance the two halves much easier. No more jarring plot twists, or changes of goal: we know who Sugar is and what he wants.
At the end of Sugar’s first season, most of the aliens leave, with only Sugar and his sister-kidnapping nemesis remaining on the planet.
The detective vows to hunt down this enemy, while continuing to find missing people (apparently, revenge is only his second priority, after the day job).
Sugar season two is about Sugar’s hunt for the missing brother of a local boxer, but Apple’s official description makes it clear that the sister hunt is also an important sub-plot.
So it feels like the series creators are more confident in the genre mash-up this time around.
Apple TV is full of great science fiction shows, with Foundation, Constellation, and Monarch being some of my favorites.
And I’m not going to pretend that Sugar is up in the pantheon of great sci-fi, not with how well this genre is hidden.
But if you’ve already finished your watchlist, read everything on your bookshelf, and downloaded the best Android sci-fi games, it’s worth trying out.
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