‘Sugar’ Review: New Apple Detective Story Starring Colin Farrell Is Intriguing But Ultimately Fell Flat
(L-R) Kirby and Colin Farrell in Apple TV Plus’ “Sugar”.
“We all have our secrets. Especially me,” says Colin Farrell’s John Sugar in the closing moments of the third episode of Apple’s new series, Sugar. As with any neo-noir, untangling our protagonist’s dark past and the details he’s hiding under that rough-guy façade is as much a focus as solving the mystery presented by the plot. And as much fun and engaging as the latter is, the truth is that the former is not as interesting and a late-in-the-game twist kind of ruined it too. (No spoilers here!)
But let’s get to the positives first, because that’s a good chunk of the show. For eight, 30-minute episodes (the first two are currently streaming on Apple TV Plus), we get to follow Sugar as he investigates the disappearance of the grand-daughter of a legendary Hollywood producer, played by James Cromwell, who basically reiterates his Succession character on a different show. As one would come to expect, there are a lot of different pieces to the puzzle that are spilled over the table for Sugar to put together.
Olivia, beautifully played by Sydney Chandler, went AWOL two weeks before, but it feels different for his grandfather this time. In previous instances, she’d at least call him whenever she’d disappear due to her continuing drug abuse issues. But not this time, not a peep, which is why the grandfather is concerned, while his son, Olivia’s father (Dennis Boutsikaris, of Better Call Saul fame), is not as much. He’s not exactly a role model and is more concerned with resurrecting his other son’s career (a warning sign about entitled, privileged mamma’s boy) than he is about getting his daughter into rehab.
Colin Farrell in Apple TV Plus’ “Sugar”.
So how, exactly, do these two and their own mysterious shenanigans factor into Olivia’s disappearance? That’s one of the questions that John Sugar will have to answer as he digs deeper and deeper into it. In his research, Sugar meets Melanie (Amy Ryan), a member of Olivia’s father’s roster of marriages but one the 25-year-old felt especially connected to. She’s also very interested in finding the kid, but has her own demons to deal with, and welcoming Sugar into her life could be the key to finally locking them up.
He’s someone who cares a lot for people, as his actions show throughout the show (especially in the first couple of episodes), and represents the brightest side of humanity — while also keeping some of our darker instincts inside and trying for them not to flourish even under pressure. He has a no-gun, zero-violence policy that will get tested over and over again throughout the course of the story, especially as the profile of the people he meets gets more and more dangerous.
Farrell, with his magnetic on-screen personality, is more than able to sell it, and the show was so much better with him at the front than it would have been with most other leading men. His supporting cast is also very good, with Kirby playing Sugar’s right-hand woman and Amy Ryan excelling in ways that are not unlike stuff we’ve seen from her in the past. I was particularly captivated by Chandler’s irresistible charm, even with the limited screen time that she gets in the show. The directing is also pretty remarkable, although that’s not exactly news considering that Fernando Meirelles (City of God) directed five episodes, and Adam Arkin (The Offer, Succession) directed the other three.
The problem that Sugar (aside from its instantly forgettable name) runs into is that for the majority of the narrative it fails to feel distinct from any other LA-based noir thrillers in which a girl goes missing and a bunch of powerful people want or do not want to see her return. The story introduces a novelty factor in the second half of the season and particularly explores it in the final two episodes, but it was such a swing (once you read it on social media it will feel extremely laughable) that even trying their best, the writers couldn’t properly sell it.
(L-R) Colin Farrell and James Cromwell in Apple TV Plus’ “Sugar”.
Even Farrell’s character, Sugar, sort of makes fun of this. He’s obsessed with movies, and essentially sees life as a compilation of small moments captured across the past 100 years in pictures — his narration even references the nods that some of the story beats are making. L.A. Confidential is a clear source of inspiration for the entire series, but as much as it tries to stay fresh with a pretty intriguing character, fully exploited by Colin Farrell, it ultimately felt like it got lost in its own references. Yes, there are a few moments throughout the show that now thinking back on it felt like clever foreshadows of future things to come, but that alone doesn’t grant a rewatch.
And yet, with all of that being said, the goal of a mystery thriller, or a detective story, is to keep us guessing and on our feet, and in many ways, Sugar managed to do just that. Even if it doesn’t feel unique, I appreciated the more serious approach to a The Lincoln Lawyer-like story, where the main character inside his car has a lot more personality than it should, and where the characters in the orbit of our lead feel as interesting as him. Kirby’s character could have used more screen time, though, and it definitely feels like there was a lot left on the table for her despite her solid acting job throughout.
If you’re interested in an engaging mystery story you will probably not think much about after it’s done, then I’d recommend Sugar on Apple. The showrunner, Mark Protosevich, also tried to introduce some philosophical elements into the last couple of episodes of the show, tied into the twist and making it reminiscent of Rear Window, which itself is pretty brave, but much like those last couple of episodes, kind of lost me.
The first two episodes of Sugar are now streaming on Apple TV Plus, with subsequent episodes coming out weekly.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
