A private eye with a supernatural secret? This sci-fi noir series is absolutely worth watching

In this day and age, it can be difficult to convince someone to watch a slow burn Detective series on a streaming device when there are a lot of fast-paced programs competing for your attention. I get it; I do. But sometimes a show comes along that breaks free of the preconceived notions that can come with a genre, while also celebrating it. There’s one series, in particular, that comes to mind that ticks these boxes — it’s currently airing its second season on Apple TV.

Sugar stars Oscar and Emmy Award nominee Colin Farrell as private investigator John Sugar. On the surface, it looks and functions like the modern era Detective Noir ShowBut something supernatural happens if you look a little deeper.

I’m going to spoil something about the series now. This has to be done if I’m going to discuss the new episodes with you. So, if you’re not familiar with Season 1, you’ve been warned.

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John Sugar is an alien: a blue, bright-eyed alien who is not from this planet. And yes, he still looks better than me in a suit.

this Science fiction story Twist was revealed in 2024, when the first season of the show was brand new. While this creative swing disrupted expectations Genre noirThe matter did not overshadow the story or issue that he was seeking to solve in those episodes. It added to it like icing on a cake that didn’t necessarily need it but benefited from the sweetness nonetheless.

During the series’ initial run, Sugar was searching for his missing sister, and his need to find her and come to terms with that grief fueled his work as a private eye. Season 2 begins with closure on that story, and follows Sugar, who, after the events of the end of Season 1, is allegedly the only remaining member of his clan on Earth. Without family or community, Sugar returns to the work that gives him a purpose: finding missing people.

Films were an introduction to our culture. Old Hollywood black and white moviesTo be specific – and it is through that glamorous, dramatic and stylized lens that he sees our world. However, this perception is regularly disrupted by the harsh, violent and brutal realities that accompany his work.

Episode 3 will be released on Apple TV on Friday, which means Sugar is still largely focused on this season’s missing person case. The man he’s searching for is Ji (Raymond Lee), the criminally minded brother of promising boxer Danny Moon (Jin Ha). His investigation puts Sugar in all kinds of perilous situations, including gang territory, turning the series into familiar territory for those who miss shows like The Shield or The Wire.

This piece of information adds a new layer to the series and is a nice reminder that Los Angeles is an important character in the show. As in another L.A. series, The Lincoln Lawyer, Sugar regularly features scenes in which Farrell, dressed to the nines, drives his classic convertible through city streets, where the scene transitions from a tourist-packed vista to a shabby, uncluttered wasteland, and back again, just as it would if you drove around these parts regularly — which I do.

The first season introduced voice-over narration, with Farrell providing an internal monologue to tell the story. Stylistically, it’s a common device used in the detective noir genre and could easily lead the show into cheeseball territory, but it worked for the first run of episodes and continues to be a great addition in the new ones.

This shouldn’t be surprising, considering the quality of the actor delivering these lines.

Colin Farrell is charismatic as John Sugar, whose voice is soft, measured and stoic. His performance as the alien’s private eye is the exact opposite of the work he did Goose Cobb in Penguinwhere he disappeared into the role of Gotham City’s brash and brash crime boss through heavy prosthetics.

His voiceover clips, accompanied by classic film clips featuring plenty of Humphrey Bogart, guide Sugar’s emotional journey. He is far from being human, but he can’t get enough of humanity. The camera work, full of Dutch angles and other stylistic elements, helps enrich the series and pay homage to the noir genre while establishing the idea that John Sugar is a strange man, stuck living an isolated life in a somewhat strange land.

Heck, I’d even go so far as to say that John Sugar is kind of what I imagine Clark Kent would have turned into, if he’d stayed an outcast, fallen in love with the movies and never decided to don the Superman costume to share his powers with the world.

Pharrell Sugar is always observing, observing and being fascinated by the people around him. He is a rudderless being still searching for a purpose. So, he’s in the business of finding human beings – which I suppose means there’s a conversation to be had here about how cinema benefits and connects humanity, but I digress.

Yes, Farrell is the number one reason you should watch the series. But the supporting cast is worth your time too. Shea Whigham’s role as Sugar’s Big Lebowski mentor, Tom, adds a similar energy to Elliot Gould in The Lincoln Lawyer. Charlotte, Laura Donnelly’s femme fatale, keeps Sugar on his toes. Sasha Calle brings street smarts as his new sidekick, Val, the always cool Tony Dalton, and this season’s big bad, Ray Vega, do an unnerving job without chewing up the scenery.

Trust me, the scenery here can easily be chewed up, and it’s all very tasty, I assure you. Sugar is a sci-fi series that would continue to fire on all dramatic cylinders if it were just an interesting detective story. From the writing and cinematography to the steadily rising emotional stakes and the nuanced performances of the cast, it’s all very good.

But it definitely has supernatural DNA. This makes it another unique and interesting, A must-see entry in the Apple TV lineup.