Forget ‘The Penguin,’ Colin Farrell’s Best Crime Series Is a Masterpiece From Start to Finish

Image via Apple TV Published Nov 9, 2026, 2:18 PM EST Liam Gaughan is a film and TV writer at Collider. He has been writing film reviews and news coverage for ten years. Between relentlessly adding new titles to his watchlist and attending as many screenings as he can, Liam is always watching new movies and television shows. In addition to reviewing, writing, and commentating on both new and old releases, Liam has interviewed talent such as Mark Wahlberg, Jesse Plemons, Sam Mendes, Billy Eichner, Dylan O'Brien, Luke Wilson, and B.J. Novak. Liam aims to get his spec scripts produced and currently writes short films and stage plays. He lives in Allentown, PA. Sign in to your Collider account It often takes a prestige television series several years to pull off a spectacular twist, such as the Red Wedding in Game of Thrones, the presidential assassination in 24, or “Not Penny’s Boat” in Lost. However, Apple TV delivered one of the most baffling debut seasons ever for a drama series with Sugar, a swanky noir mystery starring Colin Farrell as a reclusive private eye. Farrell is no stranger to making unusual television shows, and Sugar is initially somewhat surprising in how straightforward of a throwback it seems to be. However, any semblance of normalcy is completely disregarded thanks to a surprising reveal that forced its viewers to rethink everything that they had already seen. It's Impossible To Predict Where Apple TV's 'Sugar' Is Going Sugar begins by introducing Farrell as the titular detective Henry Sugar, who is hired by the wealthy film producer Jonathan Siegel (James Cromwell) to find his missing granddaughter Olivia (Alien: Earth's Sydney Chandler). He teams up with Olivia’s former stepmother Melanie (Amy Ryan) to solve the case, but it is later revealed that Sugar is a blue-skinned alien who has been masking his identity after landing on Earth. While the twist comes at such a baffling moment in the season that it almost feels like a joke or dream scene, Sugar’s decision to go down a science fiction path is both rewarding in the short term and exciting for the series’ future. COLLIDERInteractive Long-range scan active Movies/Science Fiction/Survival Assessment Collider Survival Assessment Which Sci-Fi WorldWould You Survive? 8 questions · 5 worlds · one honest verdict Five of the great screen futures, and not one of them is built for comfort. Answer eight questions about instinct, loyalty and the line you would cross, and the scan will tell you which one you would still be standing in. Worlds in range ▦︎The Matrix ◈︎Mad Max ◑︎Blade Runner ▲︎Dune ✦︎Star Wars Begin the scan Question 01 of 08INSTINCT The world as you know it ends overnight. What is your first move? No wrong answer. There is a wrong hesitation.AFind out what is really going on behind all of it BGrab a vehicle and as much fuel as you can carry CKeep your head down and show up to work anyway DLearn the rules of whoever is in charge now EFind other people and start organizing ← Back Keys 1 to 5 or A to E · Enter to advance Next Question 02 of 08RESOURCE You can stockpile exactly one thing. What is it? Choose carefully. You are not getting a second run.AInformation nobody else has BFuel CClean money and cleaner documents DWater EA ship that can get you off-world ← Back Keys 1 to 5 or A to E · Enter to advance Next Question 03 of 08THREAT Which kind of enemy scares you the most? Be honest about what keeps you up.AOne that can be anywhere, wearing anyone's face BA convoy of people who want what you are carrying CSomeone who looks exactly like you DA rival family that has been planning your downfall for generations EAn empire with unlimited resources and no patience ← Back Keys 1 to 5 or A to E · Enter to advance Next Question 04 of 08AUTHORITY How do you handle the people in charge? Every world has them. Even the ones that pretend otherwise.AAssume they are lying and work around them BNobody is in charge where I am CFollow the orders, file the report, stay invisible DStudy them, get close to them, outlast them EJoin whoever is fighting them ← Back Keys 1 to 5 or A to E · Enter to advance Next Question 05 of 08ENVIRONMENT Pick the place you would rather wake up in: You will be there a while.AA grey city that feels slightly too perfect BAn endless desert highway CA rainy neon street at three in the morning DA dune sea with a fortress on the horizon EA crowded spaceport full of strangers ← Back Keys 1 to 5 or A to E · Enter to advance Next Question 06 of 08ALLIANCE Who do you want standing next to you? Pick one. You only get one.AA guide who knows far more than they are telling you BOne person you trust and nobody else CNobody. You work alone DA loyal circle you grew up with EA crew of misfits who argue the whole way ← Back Keys 1 to 5 or A to E · Enter to advance Next Question 07 of 08MORALITY Which line would you cross to survive? Everybody crosses one.ALying to the people closest to you BTaking what you need by force CLooking the other way DPlaying a long game that costs other people dearly EBlowing something very expensive up ← Back Keys 1 to 5 or A to E · Enter to advance Next Question 08 of 08PURPOSE What are you really fighting for? Last question. Make it count.AThe truth, whatever it turns out to be BTomorrow. Just tomorrow CSomething that finally feels like a real life DYour family's name EEveryone who cannot fight for themselves ← Back Keys 1 to 5 or A to E · Enter to advance Run the scan Scan completeYou would survive ▦︎ The Matrix The Resistance, Zion You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. You would survive The Matrix because you were never fully sold on the version of reality you were handed. You notice the seams. You ask the second question. In a world built to keep people comfortable and incurious, that instinct is the whole fight, and it is why Morpheus would have found you long before you found him. From the Collider file The Wachowskis' 1999 film won four Academy Awards, including Visual Effects and Film Editing. Bullet time was shot with a rig of roughly 120 still cameras firing in sequence around the actors. Keanu Reeves trained in martial arts for about four months before a frame was shot, recovering from neck surgery the whole time. It opened the same year as Fight Club and eXistenZ, in a run of films about not trusting the world in front of you. Red pill energy Pattern spotter Built to question ◈︎ Mad Max The Wasteland Oh, what a day. What a lovely day. You would survive the Wasteland because you do not waste energy mourning the world that ended. You move, you improvise, and you are very good with whatever is bolted to the thing in front of you. Furiosa would let you drive. That is not a compliment anybody earns easily. From the Collider file Mad Max: Fury Road won six Academy Awards in 2016, more than any other film that year. George Miller storyboarded the entire film as roughly 3,500 panels before there was a script. The chase was shot almost entirely practical in the Namib Desert, with real vehicles and real stunt performers. Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth carried the prequel, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, in 2024. Keeps moving Improviser Good with engines ◑︎ Blade Runner Los Angeles, 2049 All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. You would survive 2049 because you know how to be small in a very loud city. You keep your head down, you do the job, and you hold onto one private thing that belongs only to you. That quiet stubbornness is exactly what both Deckard and K run on, and it is what keeps either of them going when the case stops making sense. From the Collider file Blade Runner 2049 won Roger Deakins his first Oscar for cinematography, on his fourteenth nomination. The film also took Best Visual Effects, 35 years after Ridley Scott's 1982 original. Villeneuve shot it on large-format film and kept the fog and rain practical on set wherever he could. Three short films by Luke Scott and Shinichiro Watanabe bridge the 30-year gap between the two movies. Keeps her head down Private Noir soul ▲︎ Dune Arrakis Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. You would survive Arrakis because you think in decades while everyone around you thinks in weeks. You read the room, you learn the customs, you wait. The desert does not reward speed. It rewards people who understand that patience is a weapon, which is the one lesson the Fremen never had to be taught. From the Collider file Denis Villeneuve's Dune won six Academy Awards in 2022, including Cinematography and Original Score. Hans Zimmer turned down Christopher Nolan's Tenet so he could score Dune instead. Dune: Part Two arrived in 2024 and brought in Austin Butler, Florence Pugh and Christopher Walken. David Lynch's 1984 version and Alejandro Jodorowsky's unmade one are both their own legends by now. Plays the long game Reads the room Patient ✦︎ Star Wars A Galaxy Far, Far Away Rebellions are built on hope. You would survive the galaxy because you never try to survive it alone. You collect people. You end up in the middle of other folks' problems and you stay anyway. Every version of this story, from the Falcon's crew to the Ghost's, runs on somebody exactly like that holding the group together. From the Collider file The 1977 original won six Academy Awards plus a special achievement award for sound effects. John Williams' score was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra and became the best-selling symphonic film soundtrack ever. Andor took the galaxy somewhere colder and earned Emmy nominations for drama series in both seasons. The saga now runs across eleven feature films and a growing shelf of series on Disney+. Collects people Shows up Hope merchant Compatibility readout · top three 1 2 3 ↻ Retake the quiz Copied to your clipboard Scan filed byCOLLIDERCollider.com · The Sci-Fi Desk Making a shocking plot detour doesn’t always require meticulous planning (just ask M. Night Shyamalan), but Sugar was sowing the seeds for its big reveal early on. It’s established from the beginning that Sugar is a massive cinephile, as he often compares the work in his cases to classic noir films like The Maltese Falcon and Chinatown. It strikes an unusual tone because Sugar is acting like he’s in an Old Hollywood mystery, even if the world around him is more grim and realistic. Considering that Sugar’s commitment to the tropes of classic cinema is a bit too obsessive, even for a massive film buff, it makes more sense upon the realization that he has used Hollywood to develop his understanding of humanity. Sugar has immersed himself in the language of Howard Hawks and John Huston, which is why he assumes that everyone he meets fulfills some sort of cinematic archetype. This also helps to justify why he is in Los Angeles, as he has dreamed about the “City of Angels” after seeing it in countless Golden Age classics. As abrupt as the twist may have seemed for viewers who thought they were watching a traditional crime thriller, Sugar needed to deceive its audience in order to get them emotionally engaged with the protagonist. Asking a viewer to sympathize with an alien creature living in human skin would’ve been a difficult premise to sell, especially for an original series that doesn’t have the same degree of spectacle as other prestige projects. However, allowing Sugar to live out his fantasy up until the point that he can’t conceal his true nature anymore makes the twist more effective, as the viewer finds out the truth around the same time that Melanie figures it out. Seeing the apathy and concern that Sugar faced before opening up to Melanie makes his struggle more palatable to an audience, and also allows the show to exist as a more standard noir before it gets into more heady territory. While some viewers may have been turned off had they known it was a sci-fi show from the beginning, they would have found it hard to stop watching after the mystery reaches its apex in the final two episodes. Apple TV's 'Sugar' Blends the Noir and Sci-Fi Genres in an Inventive Way​​​​​​ The science fiction components are woven in cleverly in order to make Farrell’s character feel more vulnerable, but the twist does not in any way compromise the integrity of the mystery. The specific guidelines that Sugar is under regarding his relationships with other extraterrestrials give him a limited capacity to change the course of human events, as he is forced to strike out on his own in order to help Melanie. Olivia’s relationship with her complex family history and local powerbrokers is still gripping, but the suggestion that there are powerful groups of humans that are monitoring Sugar and the other visitors from his mothership only heightens the intensity. Best of all, there is nothing about the execution of the twist or the subsequent conversions it spawns that is treated flippantly; modern entertainment has become so irony-pilled that it feels radical when something is played straight, and Farrell is the type of committed actor who isn’t afraid to be completely sincere. 'Sugar's Season 1 Finale Leaves the Door Open for More Crimes and Mysteries Image via Apple TV+ The first season of Sugar wraps up its core mystery in a satisfying way, but leaves the door open for more stories to tell. As is often the case with old-fashioned mystery books or movies, the detective can leave one case behind before engaging with a new set of characters in their next adventure. Sugar has an intriguing hook for its next season because of the reveal that Sugar is looking for his sister, which could both add new information about his family history and offer more insight into the intentionality of his species and their interactions with humanity over the course of time. It’s just the right amount of information needed to spin out into an exciting and unpredictable next season, which is why it is exciting that Sugar has already been renewed for Season 2. Farrell has done tremendous television work on The Penguin and True Detective, but Sugar marks the first opportunity for him to develop a role across multiple seasons. Apple TV is ahead of its competitors when it comes to science fiction, but Sugar is so original that it doesn’t feel derivative of Severance, Foundation, Silo, For All Mankind, or Murderbot. Even with half-hour episodes, Sugar is so layered with details and subtle moments of foreshadowing that it has proven to be rewarding upon rewatch. While there’s no confirmation that it has a premise that will be sustainable, Sugar’s first season is so electrifying that it can’t be missed. Sugar is now available to stream on Apple TV. Release Date April 4, 2024 Network Apple TV Showrunner Mark Protosevich, Sam Catlin Directors Fernando Meirelles, Adam Arkin Writers Mark Protosevich, Donald Joh, Sam Catlin, David Rosen Cast Colin Farrell, Matthew Arkin, Miguel Sandoval, Scott Lawrence, Ben Mankiewicz, Laura Donnelly, Marisa Echeverria, Nate Corddry, Travis Richey, Salma Khan, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Jamil Zraikat, Cameron Cowperthwaite, Nicole Berry, Andrea Salloum, Nanci Kelham, Monia Ayachi, Amie Raylynn Apodaca, Koya Harada, Cheyenne Perez, Bianca Diezmo, Amy Ryan, Dennis Boutsikaris, Alex Hernandez, James Cromwell Creator(s) Mark Protosevich