Tell Your Friends That John Sugar Is an Alien

Detective John Sugar is an alien, successful twist alien reveal. Photo: Apple TV+/Apple TV+

Yep, John Sugar is an alien. After six episodes of Colin Farrell driving astir modern-day Los Angeles successful a vintage car, wearing an immaculate achromatic suit and sunglasses, inexplicably flashing to references from golden-age noir films, and poking his chemoreceptor into the enigma of a disappeared pistillate nary 1 seems to privation him to solve, the Apple TV+ bid Sugar yet shows its hand. At the extremity of episode six, John Sugar has had a truly atrocious time and conscionable can’t clasp it unneurotic anymore. He gives himself an injection, stares into the bath mirror, and watches arsenic his quality detective look dilatory morphs into a patterned bluish alien face. “He’s an alien” is not a satisfying, all-encompassing reply — it is simply a connection that creates each kinds of different questions. But answering them does not look similar an urgent extremity for Sugar. If it were, surely we’d person known John Sugar was an alien close from the start.

Yes, Sugar has been hinting astatine thing going connected with this feline from the beginning. In the first episode, portion he’s looking astatine a mysterious document, the country cuts to an odd, mechanical zoom-in camera shot, arsenic though the oculus focusing connected that portion of insubstantial is simply a high-tech camera oregon immoderate different inhuman observer. The changeless insertions of film-noir scenes, too, suggest something’s atypical astir this feline and that possibly helium processes his surroundings successful an antithetic way. He has a handler, and from the commencement it’s not wholly wide what she’s handling. But until occurrence six, there’s tons of uncertainty astir what the existent concern is. Is helium a robot? Is helium from the future? (Or possibly the past!) Is helium an angel? Or possibly he’s a quality subject experiment?

Generally, this benignant of uncertainty is meant to support viewers invested. They’ll cognize something’s up! They’ll support watching to fig it out! It’ll consciousness truthful overmuch much satisfying if everyone has to hold for the twist! But, successful practice, the nonstop other is true. Not knowing John Sugar’s existent quality is an annoyance, a secondary interest that pulses softly underneath the cardinal enigma of a missing pistillate similar a headache that won’t spell away. It’s similar your person who texts “omg conjecture who I saw” and past hours spell by earlier she sends adjacent 1 further message. It’s similar you bought a java array and a sofa, but the sofa is connected backmost order, and each clip you look implicit to that country you conscionable spot a java array floating successful the mediate of the room, oriented astir nothing. Just due to the fact that thing is missing does not marque that lack fun!

Sugar would beryllium a 40 percent amended amusement if it were remade truthful that the twist becomes portion of the show’s premise successful occurrence one. The dilatory unraveling of the woman’s disappearance could see a gradual find of Sugar’s full alien deal, hinting astatine the weird mechanics of his quality injections — Where does helium get the quality medicine? Are determination world things that irritate his alien body? — portion the noir-film interruptions correspond his hopeless effort to assimilate, alternatively than inexplicable, intrusive ideas. But barring a implicit reshoot of a play that was undoubtedly finished implicit a twelvemonth ago, determination is simply a comparatively simple, inexpensive hole that could execute astir the aforesaid goal. The archetypal occurrence of Sugar should statesman with an opening rubric paper that reads “What you are astir to ticker is simply a amusement astir the extraterrestrial detective John Sugar. Although this accusation is kept deliberately unclear astatine the beginning, helium is an alien the full time, and you tin consciousness escaped to bask it with that knowledge.”

This economical, applicable solution would not get Sugar that afloat 40 percent bump successful quality, but it could inactive make a steadfast 15 to 20 percent bump. All sorts of tensions that don’t get afloat expressed successful the archetypal six episodes abruptly go overmuch much absorbing and exciting. John Sugar, an alien, is possibly going to person enactment with quality pistillate Melanie Mackintosh (Amy Ryan). How’s that going to work?! Who among his friends and colleagues cognize astir him? Is helium moving nether the radar due to the fact that the U.S. authorities doesn’t cognize astir him, oregon due to the fact that they bash cognize and they’re controlling him? What precisely does being an alien let him to do? What happens erstwhile helium gets shot?! Putting this accusation close up beforehand would springiness Sugar the state to beryllium the amusement it truly wants to be: a silly enigma astir alien detective Colin Farrell trying his champion to lick crime.

Instead, Sugar keeps tripping implicit itself for three-quarters of its eight-episode run, stumbling connected a poorly hidden cornerstone of its ain premise. But there’s nary request for everyone to endure the aforesaid fate. Tell your friends! Tell your neighbors! Make T-shirts! Post it freely connected societal media! “Sugar on Apple TV+ is benignant of fun!” you should say. “Colin Farrell is an alien detective! You should cognize that from the start!” Unenlightened, unsuspecting bystanders mightiness protest, but it’s connected each 1 of america to beryllium the alteration we privation to spot successful the world. Colin Farrell plays an alien detective, and it’s clip to marque definite each imaginable spectator knows.