Summary
Sugar gets back to business perhaps too easily, given recent events, but the case remains intriguing, especially in how it intersects with the show’s underlying themes.
While John Sugar being an alien is the primary differentiating twist of his namesake Apple TV show, it does have some downsides. One of the more obvious ones is a complete lack of physical jeopardy. When Sugar was gunned down in a drive-by shooting, I wasn’t remotely worried about his well-being, and Episode 3 quickly vindicates me, since he patches himself up in the first five minutes and then it might as well never have happened.
What to do about this? Well, I’d argue that it isn’t really the point either way. As was very explicitly introduced in the Season 2 premiere, this story isn’t the neo-noir crime thriller it’s wrapped up in. It’s a story about isolation and loneliness, about belonging, and the idea of assimilation as both an objective to be pursued and a fate to be feared. It’s a metaphor for the immigrant experience about a character who is literally an illegal alien.
So, the point isn’t that Sugar was shot or that he recovered from the wound with a brief blood transfusion and a nap. The point is his evolving relationship with Val when she sees him covered in blood and decides not to charge him – this time – for getting his car fixed. The point is the flirtatious relationship he continues to enjoy with Charlotte, this time in the hotel pool, and the implications that a burgeoning romance might have for him. And, of course, the point is the deep sense of empathy that Sugar obviously feels for the people around him, and his regret over how humanity can treat its own kind.
That applies to murderous gangsters gunning down people who owe them money, sure, but it also applies to the unhoused people who continue to be Sugar’s primary source of street-level information (an unconventional detective cliché stretching back at least to Sherlock Holmes using street urchins as spies, and possibly even further). And it applies to the put-upon relatives he often speaks to tenderly to coax out new leads. Sugar, the ultimate alien, is a true man of the people.
Danny Moon, as a Korean American, represents a similar idea in different packaging. He fares quite well in Sugar Season 2, Episode 3. His job was a success, so he’s relatively flush with cash, and he’s now being eyed up for a big Las Vegas fight. Once again, we’re coming up against the idea that part of his internal conflict about Ji being missing is that his life is kind of better without him. As if to prove that point, Ji chose the moment things were finally looking up to re-emerge.
Ji’s still in trouble, obviously. And Danny doesn’t have many potential allies beyond Sugar, who isn’t exactly inconspicuous. This leads Ji to mistake him for a cop and flee, and Sugar takes a nasty blow to the back of the head when he tries to pursue him. It also means that Danny and Sugar are constantly being trailed by the people looking for Ji, creating a conga line of bad actors that Sugar has to race away from at high speed just to stay ahead of the curve.
With Ji back in the wind, the fortuitous arrival of Tom sends Sugar back in the direction of the gangbanger pursuing him. His name is Guapo, and he’s a higher-up in EZ4, but not so high that the hit on Ji and the concept of the “Fire Sale” that keeps cropping up all over town were his idea. This is the first thing he clarifies when Sugar tracks him down and speaks to him in a private side room in the projects. Someone else is pulling his strings.
By all accounts, “Watch Face” strongly implies that whoever the real Big Bad is, he might be associated with law enforcement. Guapo’s spot is promptly raided before he can reveal anything of significance, and he’s gunned down. However, outside, Sugar recognises one of the deputies, who seems to be the guy caught on the hospital surveillance pursuing Ji. He’s credited as Ray Vega and played by Tony Dalton, and if he’s behind the fire sale and has the authority to raid the gangs that are benefiting from it, it’s very likely that he’s playing both sides for his own gain. He sounds like exactly the kind of guy that Sugar wouldn’t like.
