Sugar Review: Season 2 is Still Stylish, but Less Surprising
Colin Farrell remains compelling, but the second season loses much of the daring that made Sugar one of TV's most original series.
When Sugar arrived in 2024, Apple TV marketed it as a callback to the noir movies of yesteryear. Colin Farrell played John Sugar, a private detective working on a missing person case in Los Angeles. So far, so typical.
What helped set the series apart, though, was Sugar’s love for old Hollywood, adding another layer to this homage through clips of classic movies that popped up to show we’d seen all this before. Except, we hadn’t.
Because as season one progressed, clues that something different might be going on finally came together with a twist that blew us away. The end of episode six revealed that John was actually a sapphire-skinned alien in disguise, which explained his peculiar little quirks and the odd company he often found himself in.
As twists go, it was a whopper. Even with the clues, it was hard to believe that a show would dare take a swing that big, and in the streaming age, no less. Switching up a classic genre so brazenly helped set Sugar apart as something singular in the streaming landscape. And now, the same is true of Sugar himself, a man adrift and alone on earth.
Season one ended with John’s fellow aliens going off-world once the truth of their existence came under threat. Only Sugar and one other visitor, the man responsible for his sister’s disappearance, remained. It’s a tantalizing setup for season two, creating a new cat-and-mouse dynamic that subverts what noir fans might be used to — except the show quickly decides to go another direction entirely.
Without spoiling anything, the premiere pivots almost immediately with another big swing before settling back into its groove with a new case for John to solve. This time, a local boxer named Danny Moon (Jin Ha) needs help locating his older brother, Ji (Ramond Lee). As is custom in noir stories like this, Sugar’s missing person is on the run from some dangerous people, and it’s not long before he ends up on their radar too.
As generic as that sounds, fans are coming into this story very differently than before. The cat’s out of the bag, which means that even the show’s most predictable tropes are now layered with a sci-fi edge, blending to create something new. But that actually turns out to be a double-edged sword. With no wider mystery beyond the central case to reel us in, season two ends up less intriguing.
Well, that’s not entirely correct. The show actually has a bunch of questions left to tackle. It’s just that season two isn’t really concerned with any of them. There are moments where more is teased, usually in Sugar’s narration, and these glimpses of the bigger picture are very much welcomed. Talk of missing his friends, of trying to connect with anyone who might have stayed behind, speaks to an existential angst that’s common to the noir genre, albeit in a very different fashion.
While this all adds to the show’s mood, wider questions around the humans who were hunting them or even John’s sister Djen remain frustratingly elusive (and no, I didn’t know that her name was spelled like that either).
A standout flashback sequence in episode six fleshes out Sugar’s past a little, teasing a potential that the series never really capitalizes on. The rest of the episodes double down on what doesn’t make this show unique rather than what does, and it doesn’t help that the case in question is less interesting this time too.
Sasha Calle intrigues as John’s new right-hand woman, but is rarely given the opportunity to shine, while Ha’s boxer Danny isn’t particularly likable given the key role he plays. That’s not to say every character should be warm and fuzzy — this is still a noir, after all — but performances from Ha and Tony Dalton as a corrupt Lieutenant end up functional rather than riveting.
Laura Donnelly is innocent, however. Playing John’s new love interest, Charlotte Fischer, the Outlander star is mesmerizing, just as the best femme fatales should be, and her chemistry with Farrell is a clear high point.
The cinematography, Emmy-nominated last season, also mesmerizes again. Lavish opening scenes set in Thailand really put that Apple money to good use. In fact, this might be one of Apple’s best-looking shows, even better than last season, and that’s really saying something.
Farrell remains a perfect fit, grounding this peculiar character with boyish good looks and charisma. Like before, his mannerisms and indeed, the tone of Sugar as a story, feels strange and slightly off, deliberately so. Almost alien.
The twist of that much-talked-about reveal opens season two up to explore parallels between John’s unique origins and the many immigrants who populate his newfound home. In that respect, season two builds on that reveal quite well, also tapping into the corrupting influence that life can have in the City of Angels.
It’s in these elements, which subvert classic noir concerns through a sci-fi lens, that you get a sense Sugar could survive beyond the twist that’s since become the show’s biggest talking point. A better balance is needed, though, drip-feeding us more of Sugar’s past in order to cement this show’s future.
New episodes of season two of Sugar (★★★☆☆) drop every Friday through August 7. Visit AppleTV.com.
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