Watching: Sugar S1

2024, Apple TV+ / Download 

Going into the show, I knew it was going to be a stylish, noir nodding, detective show set in modern LA starring Colin Farrell and just that had me sold. What I didn't expect, but was an added bonus was the twist.

Kent just wrote about it. I didn't even expect him to be watching it.

This is squarely in my wheelhouse. Everything about it fit what I wanted right now: a noir setting, LA, a tough, capable, mysterious but kind main character. There are few shows out there where people are kind. We just turned down the latest relaunch of British crime character Rebus because all the main characters were thoroughly dislikeable. 

John Sugar (Colin Farrell, The Batman) returns from Japan to pick up a case his handler cautions him against taking. He is a private detective who specializes in finding people. The granddaughter of a famous movie producer has gone missing. John is really into movies, and you get the idea he has built his identity around noir film characters, but choosing to be better. The granddaughter has gone missing before, but Grampa Siegel (James Cromwell, Star Trek: First Contact) feels this is different. Her father, his son (Dennis Boutsikaris, Law & Order: SVU; is that what his name is? I have seen him in dozens of roles and, I guess, did not know what his name was), seems less than happy Sugar is looking for her. Add into the messiness is her half-brother, a child star trying to resurrect a career but is under a sexual assault investigation where one accuser cannot be paid off.

This is Hollywood seedy. Sugar seems at ease here not letting their darkness touch him. Until it does.

Like all noir, there is a lot going on here. There are layers to everything going on. But this show has an additional layer, an even more mysterious secret that it hints for much of the show, and actually reveals near the end. It all centers around who John Sugar is, and who is the cabal of multi-language speakers he associates with. Much of the show's hints let you have fun positing what they are. The reveal is not the point of the show, the noir detecting is, its just a fun additional layer. And as Kent pointed out, there was an additional layer to the reveal that is... well, kind of annoying, feels kind of shoe-horned in, introduced solely to setup further seasons and motivations.

But still, I loved every moment of the show. There is a key scene where it established how much I would like this show, and this character. John is direct, forthright and attentive to people. He is kind. He acknowledges a homeless man, with a dog, not just interacting with him but making an active choice to help the man, encourage him to mend his rifts with family, get off the streets, feed himself and his dog. Sugar is a better man than me, better than most. The scene set a tone for who the show wants us to root for, and it was nice to finally skip past the usual "troubled man, troubled past" of crime fiction. And the show doesn't toss away his kindness after one establishing scene; he handles each and every person he interacts with, with the same fairness and kindness, until they give him no choice but to be unkind. And then he is, regretfully, very very violent.