Presumed Innocent, I guess one of Apple TV’s top shows (aggressively fine) just got renewed for a second season almost immediately after its first, yet their best show you probably haven’t seen, Sugar, languishes in limbo with no word whether its completely unhinged story gets to carry on.
Look, up until the end of episode six (if you know, you know), Sugar was a perfectly serviceable noir TV with a better-than-average cast led by Colin Farrell playing the titular John Sugar, a PI in Los Angeles with a heart of gold. The mystery was compelling; Farrell is always a highlight in anything, and if Amy Ryan (who had a supporting role) has no more fans left on this spinning rock, well, then I must be dead.
That said, I was pretty ambivalent about whether it would (or should) come back for a second season. Let’s face it, Farrell is booked and busy (as he should be) so you know, if not Sugar, I’ll get my Farrell fix elsewhere. Then episode six happened.
Do not read further unless you want to know about the most hard-left turn a TV show has taken in a very long time. Spoilers below.
Sugar is an alien! All of his buddies on the show are aliens! We find this out because Sugar decides to use some drugs in a motel bathroom and bam! He’s blue, man! He’s blue! At first I thought it was a metaphor for drug use, and then we get to the next episode and it’s confirmed: He’s! An! Alien! From! Outer! Space!
Look, we’re in an era of television where twists, turns, and shocking moments are the norm. Usually, that means someone gets killed out of nowhere (this is basically the entire plot of The Boys, if you think about it), someone turns out to be a bad guy who you thought was good (also the plot of The Boys), or something really gross happens to keep you on your toes (I won’t even insult your intelligence by comparing this to The Boys again). It’s been a very long time since a show had the guts to pull a completely random “WTF” moment out of its hat like Sugar did.
Making basically everyone an alien was a game changer because the show started out as a serviceable mystery, and ended with Sugar’s supposed friend, Henry, hanging out with a serial killer the entire time, and the rest of their alien buddies being totally OK with that. Also, Henry may or may not have killed Sugar’s sister on their home planet, because why not?! Let’s throw all the spaghetti at the wall because in this case, everything stuck, so now we’re cooking with gas!
The show, if it comes back for a second season, is no longer about whatever mystery Sugar gets embroiled in again as a PI. It’s about Sugar, the alien man on Earth out for revenge against Henry, who is also an alien man on Earth who is way too into murder. Presumably they are the only two aliens on Earth because all their other alien buddies left in the finale, but with this show, who knows?! Maybe in Season 2, episode 6, it turns out the entire show is in the consciousness of an AI program coming online in the year 4056, where merpeople have taken over the world, and now everyone communicates in song, and now, bam! Sugar is exclusively a musical now. Anything is possible with this show!
We are in the peak streaming era, where it seems like there is a show for everyone out there. Except for me. They took my beautiful garbage fire of The Idol away from me last year. (Shut up, it was glorious.) They simply cannot take away Sugar from me. This story must continue. If not, I will never get over it. So please, write your Congressperson. Write Taylor Swift. Write anyone in power and demand Apple TV renew Sugar for a second season so its divine circus can continue.
Published: Jul 18, 2024 05:10 pm