Warning! Contains spoilers for Sugar.
Many overarching mysteries remain unsolved in Apple TV’s Sugar, but one subtle detail in episode 3 might have spoiled its biggest potential twist. In its early episodes, Apple TV+’s Sugar ingeniously sells itself as a detective drama in which the titular character, John Sugar, sets out to investigate the case of a famous Hollywood producer’s missing granddaughter. Even in episode 3, the show primarily focuses on the overarching mystery of the missing girl by giving away new details surrounding the events leading to her disappearance.
However, at the same time, the show unfolds a parallel storyline that revolves around the titular character and his sense of identity. Many intriguing scenes throughout its runtime hint that nothing about him is at seems. The show also paves the way for a potential twist that will disclose the truth about the main character. After three episodes, it may be hard to guess what this twist will be, but episode 3 might have provided some answers.
Apple TV+’s Sugar maintains an aura of ambiguity around who John Sugar is and which organization he works for. However, Sugar‘s episode 3 drops some subtle clues when he attends a get-together that involves other polyglots like him. During the party, Sugar is expected to visit Ruby in a room to get himself psychologically evaluated. Although Sugar initially seems hesitant about talking to Ruby, he forces himself to visit her because the evaluation is seemingly a part of his job requirements. Everything initially seems fine when Ruby and Sugar interact at the party.
However, when Ruby goes through Sugar’s journal, she notices a concerning pattern. She realizes that even though Sugar’s job is to merely observe and report his observations surrounding his investigations, he is a little too involved in the lives of the people his investigating. He repeatedly mentions his feelings in the journal, which, as Ruby reminds him, is something he is not supposed to do. The fact that Ruby expects Sugar to have no feelings and only wants him to observe and report to a higher power suggests that Sugar could be a supernatural being, likely an alien or angel.
Before Sugar gets himself evaluated in the Apple TV+ show’s episode 3, he has a brief conversation with one of his old friends, Henry. He tells Henry all about his first experience visiting Japan and looking at the Shibuya Crossing. The fascination with which he describes the feeling of watching hundreds of people at the crossing almost suggests that the whole idea of being human is novel to him. By observing others with a child-like sense of wonder, Sugar seems to be learning how to be human instead of actually being one.
In an earlier episode, he even questions his feelings and asks himself why he is feeling angry when he shouldn’t. As seen in Sugar‘s first three episodes, the titular character also seems a little too altruistic to be human. The character also has razor-sharp relflexes and nearly superhuman strength. There are also moments when he suddenly blacks out and has strange, terrifying visions of himself. All these little details in Sugar‘s initial episodes suggest the show is setting the stage for a supernatural twist for the Colin Farrell character.
The prospect of Sugar turning out to be an angel, alien, or some other supernatural being makes the Apple TV+ series even more exciting. It promises that the show is daring to be something more than a typical detective crime thriller and willing to bend genres instead of conforming to storytelling conventions. However, since the show’s supernatural twist can even seem off-putting and over-the-top if it is not executed well, Sugar seems to be taking a significant risk by setting the stage for such developments. Fortunately, Sugar‘s optimistic reviews suggest it will not disappoint viewers with its climactic twist.