In the first episode of Sugar, Apple TV Plus‘s new crime drama, we meet John Sugar, played by Colin Farrell, a modern private detective with a love for classic noir. The episode, “Olivia,” sets the stage for an interesting story that takes Sugar into the dark side of Los Angeles and the private lives of the Siegel family.
Sugar Episode 1 Recap
The episode starts in an unknown Asian country, where Sugar is on a mission to save a kidnapped boy from a Yakuza boss. Following a tense argument, Sugar saves the boy and trades him for a large amount of money, showing how clever and determined he is.
Back in Los Angeles, Sugar gets a new case about Olivia’s disappearance. Olivia is the granddaughter of James Cromwell, a Hollywood producer named Jonathan Siegel. Even though his handler Ruby (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) doesn’t want him to at first, Sugar takes on the job because Olivia’s story makes him think of someone named Jen.
As Sugar starts his investigation, he finds hints in Olivia’s apartment, such as news articles about her mother Rachel and a roll of photos of Olivia with her stepmother. Melanie (Amy Ryan), a woman with ties to Olivia, comes up in his research. He tries to get information from her but ends up protecting her.
Sugar’s past and personal problems are hinted at throughout the show, which gives him more depth as a character. The fact that he saw a mysterious figure watching him from a distance makes him think that his search for Olivia may have deeper effects than he first thought.
Sugar Episode 2 Recap
The story gets more complicated in “Sugar” episode 2 called “These People, These Places,” in which John Sugar looks into the disappearance of Olivia, Bernie Siegel’s (Dennis Boutsikaris) granddaughter. Here is a full summary of the episode:
Sugar meets Bernie after a morning swim. Bernie thinks Olivia will come back and tells Sugar she’s wasting money on the search. Sugar is shocked when Bernie tells her that Melanie (Amy Ryan) is his ex-wife. Bernie says he didn’t take the Polaroids of Olivia’s mother Rachel and that he really cares about Olivia.
When Sugar gets back to his hotel room, he finds that David Siegel (Nate Corddry) and his helper Kenny (Alex Hernandez) have broken in. They put bugs there, but Sugar quickly took care of them. Because Olivia’s friends haven’t seen her in a while, Sugar talks to them about her case. They say Olivia stopped using drugs and had a lot of boyfriends.
But Bernie is also worried about David, the star of his movie, who is being accused of things that could ruin the movie. Sugar tells Ruby what’s going on with the case and that she met Bernie and David. They learn that Olivia went to a house where a Latina woman had been killed, and that Clifford Carter, the guy in Olivia’s trunk, was the killer.
Ruby suggests that they see a doctor about Sugar’s strange illness, but he refuses. Melanie calls Sugar to set up a meeting and tells her about her new problems with alcoholism. She makes it sound like Bernie might have changed how she thinks about Olivia’s disappearance.
Sugar follows a lead from the homeless man in episode 1 and finds him dead from an overdose in a motel room. He takes the man’s dog and goes to Ruby for help, but she can’t keep the dog because she has a cat. When Sugar turns around, he sees that Olivia’s body has been taken out of her trunk.
David and Kenny tell Bernie what they found, which includes pictures of Sugar’s apartment and letters from his mother that were stolen. At the same time, gangsters threaten a woman, admitting that they are Clifford’s friends. They show her a text message from Clifford that has a picture of Melanie in it, which suggests that she has a stronger link to the case.
As the show ends, Sugar goes back to his room with the dog and thinks about his past. He also hopes that Olivia’s case will turn out differently. The mystery gets stranger, which makes people want to see the next show.
