If you’re reading this article, I can only assume that by now, you know the big Sugar twist: John Sugar, the enigmatic private investigator at the heart of Apple TV+‘s “genre-bending” noir drama, is *sigh* an alien.
For the first six episodes of Mark Protosevich’s series, which follows the titular private eye (Colin Farrell) on the hunt for the missing granddaughter of Hollywood producer Jonathan Siegel (James Cromwell), I was enamored by Farrell’s performance as the slick detective with an old soul and a heart of gold. I found the inclusion of classic noir hallmarks — from moody lighting and soul-stirring jazz music to unconventional camerawork and interspersed shots of old black and white films — more endearing than annoying. And the looming secret that viewers suspected Sugar was concealing, one tied to mysterious drug use and trauma flashbacks, only made the show (and him) more compelling to me.
Then I learned Sugar was a humanoid sent to Earth to observe, report, and conceal his true blue-skinned, bald-headed, piercing blue-eyed form, and like many others, I screamed at my TV in frustration and bewilderment.
In early reviews and Episode 6 recaps, a number of critics skewered Sugar’s extraterrestrial twist for coming too far out of left field, arriving too late, or feeling like an unnecessary component in an already successful show. Rolling Stone accused Sugar of “trickeration for its own sake,” describing the “sour WTF twist” as “counter-productive and annoying.” The Daily Beast braced readers for a “ruinous stunt” and “inevitable disappointment.” Variety argued the “clumsy” reveal came “far too late in the game,” and Vulture echoed the sentiment in a plea titled “Tell Your Friends That John Sugar Is an Alien,” which asserts, “Sugar would be a 40 percent better show if it were remade so that the twist becomes part of the show’s premise in episode one.” IndieWire even suggested “the first season should’ve been condensed into a pilot episode (or even a movie).”
I agree with much of that feedback, but rather than turn my back on Sugar like I was ready to do when Season 1’s finale end credits rolled, I’ve decided I need — nay, I demand — a Season 2. Why? I’m getting there. But if Sugar took six episodes to make its big reveal, surely I can have a few more paragraphs to present my case.
While I’m an ardent fan of sci-fi shows (many of which are Apple TV+ originals!), what bummed me out about this particular extraterrestrial twist is that it forced me to look back on a show I loved (in what I falsely believed was its purest form) and reluctantly rewrite history. A friend recently asked me to describe Sugar without spoiling the big twist, and before I knew it I was going on about a grilled cheese I once ordered at a cafe. The toasted sourdough slices were stuffed with gruyere, fig jam, apple slices, and basil, then drizzled with vincotto. On paper the sandwich sounded perfect. I loved all of its components individually, and together they sounded sublime. In reality, plops of fig jam made the sandwich too sweet, and much like the alien reveal in Sugar, I wondered if the whole would have been better without that specific part.
Just as a lighter spread of jam would have changed my grilled cheese for the better, I believe Sugar’s sci-fi twist could have thrived with a different presentation. In an interview with TV Guide, executive producer Simon Kinberg explained that while the sci-fi element was always a crucial component of Sugar, it originally came at the end of Episode 1. Moving the big reveal earlier (even Episode 3 or 4) could have done wonders for viewers, but a fear that the twist would make it more challenging to connect with and get to know Farrell’s character as the guy humans like Melanie (Amy Ryan) knew him as inspired the push to Episode 6.
The plan, according to Kinberg, was to “lay in enough clues over the previous episodes so that you would look back and be like, ‘Oh yeah, now I understand.’” But the clues were so subtle that even in hindsight I don’t understand why we had to be so in the dark for so long. I always knew there was a deeper explanation behind John Sugar’s inability to get drunk, his crystallized syringe injections, the occasional flashes of haunting images, and his ability to zoom in on objects through a circular camera-like lens. But “alien” was so far from my mind given what I thought this show was, that my jaw genuinely dropped when he had his Big Fat Liar moment. I was so taken aback that one episode later I paused and rushed to open the list of “DO NOT REVEALS” to confirm that was, in fact, what was going on.
Wanting to harness the element of surprise makes perfect sense. What doesn’t track is the fact that Sugar spent the series narrating his innermost thoughts, struggles, and fears, to us — yet the whole alien thing didn’t clearly come up in six episodes of increasingly vulnerable voiceovers. With only two episodes left in Season 1, John Sugar felt like more of a stranger to me than ever before. And when the end credits rolled on the finale, it seemed the show had simply acknowledged its extraterrestrial component rather than explore it in any meaningful capacity.
We know that Sugar, Henry, Ruby, and the whole lot of observers are aliens. We know that Sugar’s sister, who’s been missing for years and largely drives his emotional investment in cases, is now his missing alien sister. And we know that Sugar and Henry chose to hang back on Earth rather than returning to their home planet with their colleagues, teeing up what has the potential to be an exciting extraterrestrial battle. Aside from those facts, a shot of Sugar in the mirror, and quick glimpses of his home planet, we don’t know much else. And until the show offers viewers more satisfying, substantial insights into Sugar’s home, history, and makeup, it’s tough to definitively say if the sci-fi shift is an out-of-this-world success or fail.
Despite the Sugar haters, the show has a fair share of people rooting for it to stick the landing. A new piece from The Daily Beast calls the twist “genius,” while Collider argues that “…noir can feel a little tiring after a while, but Sugar adds a whole new layer to it, and one that works perfectly within the restraints of the genre.” The Verge says, “Turning Sugar into an alien doesn’t fundamentally change the show — it’s still a modern noir with a compelling mystery at its core.” And PrimeTimer suggests, “This new element actually doubles down on all the ways in which it appreciates the noir genre. If nothing else, an alien in detective drag is an enticing new challenge for Farrell. Let’s see what he does with it, shall we?”
What I failed to mention about that grilled cheese was that I only ate half of the sandwich in the restaurant. I took the other half home, reheated it the next day for lunch, and was shocked to discover how much better it tasted after it had time to sit. The fig jam soaked into the bread, creating a more evenly distributed flavor, and perhaps — I thought as I was trying not to spoil Sugar to my friend with this absurd analogy — with a second season, this Apple TV+ show could do the same.
Let the record show that my friend opted not to watch Sugar after I compared it to a sub-par grilled cheese that tasted surprisingly better as a leftover, but in the process of dissuading her, I gave myself hope. While I’ll never get over the initial confusion of Sugar‘s twist, the show took a major risk introducing aliens into a perfectly solid human detective show and I want to see if it can deliver the reward.
There’s a chance that Season 2, if not properly executed, will only exacerbate all existing complaints and frustrations. But there’s also a chance that once it the sci-fi elements are fully baked into the show, Sugar can prove itself and its ambitious vision — just like a sandwich I once knew.
Sugar Season 1 is now streaming on Apple TV+.
