Warning! Constains spoilers for Sugar.

Summary

• Sugar shares narrative similarities with Shutter Island and may lead to a similar big twist in later episodes.
• Like Teddy Daniels, John Sugar might confront harsh truths about his reality due to past traumas.
• While Sugar has a higher critics score than Shutter Island, the audience seems less captivated by its initial episodes.

A new Apple TV+ show's story developments seem eerily similar to that of a 14-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio movie. Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the most celebrated actors of modern times, and rightfully so. With an acting career spanning over four decades, he has several accolades and close to 50 acting credits under his belt. Considering the diverse set of movies he has starred in, his films are bound to share some narrative and thematic similarities with other movies.

However, a new gripping Leonardo DiCaprio movie in its initial moments. Whether these similarities will continue emerging in the show's future episodes is yet to be seen. However, if the show is going down the same narrative route as the Leonardo DiCaprio film, its early episodes might have already spoiled its biggest twist.

Sugar And Shutter Island's Similarities Explained

John Sugar & Teddy Daniels Could Be Similar Characters

Apple TV+'s Sugar seems similar to Shutter Island in more ways than one. For starters, the protagonists of both, Colin Farrell's John Sugar and Leonardo DiCaprio's Teddy Daniels, are detectives who investigate the disappearance of a woman in their respective narratives. Shutter Island's big twist reveals that Teddy Daniels was only playing a detective to deal with past trauma and has a mental health condition that makes him create a false sense of reality to cope with his guilt. His partner, Chuck Aule, is also an identity assumed by Dr. Sheehan to help Teddy recover.

Something similar seems to be going on in Sugar. Like Teddy, the Colin Farrell character also seems to be playing a detective instead of actually being one. This would explain why he often enacts detective characters from classic movies and almost exhibits a child-like wonder and excitement when his manager, Ruby, gifts him the revolver used by Glenn Ford in The Big Heat. He also has random violent flashes and visions that can only be cured by injecting a drug, hinting that, like Teddy, he has a mental health condition that prevents him from seeing his reality for what it truly is.

Sugar's Shutter Island Parallels Might Have Spoiled Its Big Twist

Like Teddy Daniels, John Sugar Might Eventually Learn Some Harsh Truths About His Reality

Just like Teddy eventually learns that he created an alternate identity for himself to deal with the trauma of murdering his wife after she killed their three children, Sugar might ultimately realize that his perception of reality has been distorted by his past events.

Shutter Island's surprising ending reveal.

Just like Teddy eventually learns that he created an alternate identity for himself to deal with the trauma of murdering his wife after she killed their three children, Sugar might ultimately realize that his perception of reality has been distorted by his past events. Sugar keeps claiming that the missing girl, Olivia, he is investigating looks a lot like his sister Djen. He also highlights that her resemblance with his sister is the primary reason he took up the case. This raises the possibility that the Olivia case is merely a device to help Sugar deal with the traumatic death of his sister, Djen.

How Sugar Compares To Shutter Island (Based On Rotten Tomatoes)

Sugar Has A Higher Critics Score, While Shutter Island Boasts A Better Audience Score

Despite being touted as one of the most compelling psychological thrillers by many, Shutter Island surprisingly has a relatively low Rotten Tomatoes critics score of 69% and an audience score of 77%. Since Martin Scorsese directed Shutter Island, its low Rotten Tomatoes score can be attributed to the fact that viewers had incredibly high expectations of it and were let down by how it paled compared to the auteur's previous works. Some critics even complained about the movie's pacing, expressing their dissatisfaction with its rushed conclusion.

Apple TV+'s Sugar, on the other hand, holds an impressive 81% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 67% audience score. Since Sugar's audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is almost the same as Shutter Island's critics score, it seems like viewers are not fully captivated by the ideas in the show's first few episodes. However, since only three episodes have ed, it may be too soon to judge the series. Comparing the Apple TV+ show with the Leonardo DiCaprio movie also seems unfair since it is unclear whether Sugar's big twist will be similar to Shutter Island's.

New Sugar episodes release every Friday on Apple TV+.