Summary

• Colin Farrell brings endless charm to the role of John Sugar, a unique take on a classic private detective character.
• Sugar upends genre tropes, delivering a compelling, unpredictable neo-noir story with visually engaging style.
• Despite season 2 teasing, the show leaves a few too many questions unanswered, but generally balances its intriguing world-building with meaningful character development.

The neo-noir genre has enjoyed something of a resurgence in recent years thanks to the likes of HBO's Perry Mason reboot, Matt Reeves' The Batman and Sugar. Though seemingly beginning in the same vein as many of its predecessors with a fairly routine private detective story, the show quickly upends various genre tropes to become one of the most unpredictable and compelling to date.

Sugar as the eponymous private detective hired by an aging movie producer in the hopes of finding his missing granddaughter, a rebellious free spirit known for various issues with addiction in the past, though seemingly caught up in something far darker than some of her self-centered family believe. As Sugar dives deeper into the case, he not only finds himself wrapped up in a decades-spanning conspiracy, but also grappling with a dark secret in his own life.

Farrell Brings Endless Heart & Charm To A New Iconic Detective

Sugar blends both homages and twists on some of the best cinematic private detectives.

As with any good neo-noir thriller, crafting a compelling private detective for audiences to follow is just as important, if not more so, than the actual mystery driving the plot forward, and Farrell's John Sugar delivers in droves. Between his somewhat cynical voiceover narration across the show's eight episodes to an ominous backstory, strong tolerance/love of alcohol and fighting skills, the character clearly pulls from some of the most iconic private detectives in cinematic history. Crucially, though, are the twists he brings to the well-worn character type.

Sugar quickly upends various genre tropes to become one of the most unpredictable and compelling to date.

Instead of shunning off those around him and wallowing in his traumatic past, Sugar instead relishes the relationships he builds with people in his line of work. Whether it's communicating with his driver or hotel housekeeper in their native tongues, or showing sincere sympathy to a homeless man in need of help, the protagonist largely sheds the melancholic misanthrope image so often associated with fictional private detectives and instead is a charming and kindhearted anchor for the darker corners of the story.

Sugar's Story Twists Harder Than Most

It starts as a typical missing person investigation, but the show's premise is flipped halfway through.

Across nearly a century of storytelling, the neo-noir genre often boils down to a handful of stories twisted in various directions in the hopes of keeping audiences guessing, though few go as far as Sugar. Creator Mark Protosevich, best known for co-writing I Am Legend and penning the script for Spike Lee's Oldboy remake, clearly has an affinity for many genre classics, even intercutting many scenes with clips from said movies that relate to the scenes at hand. But, more intriguingly, he finds a way to dissect these tropes to keep audiences guessing.

One of the more notable examples of this is Amy Ryan's Melanie Mackie, a lead in Farrell's search for the missing woman. Introduced singing in a bar, enjoying expensive rye and flirting with Sugar, she seems like the character's femme fatale who Farrell's character is destined to fall in love with as the story unfolds. Instead, Melanie's introduction acts as a springboard for a meaningful exploration of alcoholism and recovery, and her dynamic with Sugar instead shifts towards one of respect and platonic partnership more than a traditional neo-noir love story.

The other major example of this unique approach to the genre occurs halfway through the series. It not only sees Sugar venturing into distinctive genre storytelling, but also recontextualizes everything the viewer has seen up to this point, inviting rewatches of earlier episodes to try and find clues toward the twist that changes things for the show's cast of characters.

The Show's Worldbuilding Is Intriguing (But Not Deep Enough)

While its twist keeps us guessing and opens the door for season 2, it leaves many questions unanswered.

One of the other most promising elements of Sugar is also one of its biggest hindrances: Worldbuilding. Farrell's character is no ordinary private detective, as he's working in a unique organization with Kirby (formerly Kirby Howell-Baptiste)'s Ruby serving as his caring handler. As the show progresses, some elements of this group are revealed, including a darker connection to the case driving the plot forward, but there's also a lot left unanswered in regard to their ultimate objective and wide-ranging connections.

Despite this season-2-baiting ending, though, Sugar still remains one of the best examples of the neo-noir genre in a long time.

Some projects certainly get away with only minimal worldbuilding elements introduced in the hopes of revealing more with future installments, the John Wick franchise being one of the most successful examples of this. But, unlike the Keanu Reeves-led movies, Sugar's big twist largely relies on this piece of lore and ends on more or less of a cliffhanger for season 2 to carry these threads forward. While it could be argued this works for the show's genre-twisting goals, it does feel a bit frustrating, as the onus is more on its titular protagonist than on his case.

Despite this season-2-baiting ending, though, Sugar still remains one of the best examples of the neo-noir genre in a long time. Farrell delivers a pitch-perfect performance as the titular expectations-defying detective, the majority of his ing cast are equally compelling to watch, and the story's various twists set it apart from many of its counterparts. One can hope that these various elements are enough to draw audiences in and allow Protosevich to tell the rest of the story clearly brewing in his mind.

The first two episodes of Sugar premiere April 5 on Apple TV+, with the remaining episodes releasing weekly thereafter.