Sugar Episode 6 Just Took The Biggest Creative Swing I've Seen In Years
This post contains major spoilers for the Apple TV+ series "Sugar." Like, truly gigantic spoilers.
The internet has been humming with potential theories about John Sugar (Colin Farrell) and his real identity for weeks, but the newest episode of "Sugar" confirms one of the biggest guesses that's been floating around for a while: Private investigator John Sugar is an alien.
"[Character] has been an alien the whole time" is right up there with "[character] has been dead the whole time," or "this entire show has been a dream" in terms of the most paradigm-shifting, world-shaking reveals a television series can execute, but shows rarely have the audacity to provide their audiences with such a massive misdirect. The last time I can think of a show pulling off a twist this big was in 2017, when "The Good Place" revealed that its characters were actually in the Bad Place for the entirety of season 1. But even that twist felt like it was within the bounds of the universe in which that show was operating; this one feels so monumental because it totally changes the DNA of what this show even is.
For most of its runtime, "Sugar" episode 6 simply felt like a more suspenseful, action-forward episode than the five that preceded it. But after my substantial shock at the closing shot, in which Sugar reverts to his true alien form in front of a mirror in his hotel room, finally began to dissipate, some pieces began to fall into place. Nagging observations became clear, and lingering questions were suddenly answered. Here are just a few of the key moments in the show — some subtle and some not-so-subtle — that, in hindsight, were tipping us off to Sugar's alien heritage.
Sugar's opening narration has a dual meaning
"I don't like hurting people. It's true," Sugar tells the audience in the first lines of his voiceover narration in the pilot episode. "This world has more than enough suffering without extra contributions from me." The words "people" and "this world" take on a whole new tenor when you realize Sugar's an alien. He's telling us who he is, albeit extremely subtly, right from the start.
Colin Farrell's John Sugar can't get drunk
In the first episode, after matching Melanie drink for drink at a bar, she complains that he's stone-cold sober while she's totally drunk. "I have a ... strange metabolism," Sugar explains. His body "processes alcohol at a rate 50 times faster than normal," which prevents him from basically ever getting drunk. At the time, I chalked it up to a character quirk — something to further subvert the trope of the down-and-out, drunk P.I. who frequently populated the noir films Sugar loves so much. But after the reveal, this quirk makes way more sense. "Strange metabolism," indeed.
(In that same conversation, Melanie says she enjoys sci-fi movies, and she also tells Sugar there's more to him than meets the eye. "You have secrets, and you keep things hidden," she says. Madam, you have no idea!)
Sugar's drug use isn't what it seems
At the end of the pilot episode, we see Sugar inject himself with a substance and lay on his hotel bed. Naturally, I assumed this was the same type of drug use that often pops up in prestige shows like this, akin to how Clive Owen's character self-medicated with heroin in "The Knick." As that injection scene played out, I remember thinking that the syringe Sugar used looked a little unconventional, but I didn't give it any more thought than that — until we see what really happens when he injects himself at the end of episode 6. The props department hinted at something being "off" with the design of that syringe, but didn't overplay their hand. Well done.
He stopped those Dobermans pretty easily in Sugar episode 6
As Sugar approaches Stallings' house in episode 6, the villain's attack dogs come roaring around the corner, barking furiously. But as soon as they lock eyes with our protagonist, he quietly shushes them and stops them in their tracks. Sure, maybe Sugar has simply watched a lot of "Dog Whisperer" ... or maybe those dogs react that way because my guy is a mother effin' alien.
That blood bag looked awfully strange
In episode 6, when Henry is treating Sugar's wounds, Henry sends Melanie out to the drug store to purchase some supplies. As soon as she leaves, he locks the bathroom door with Sugar inside and tosses a blood bag down on the counter — one that not only has an indecipherable label on it, but the blood itself inside the bag seems ... almost alive, somehow. It might just be air bubbles inside the bag, but then again, it could be that Sugar's alien blood operates a little differently than ours. It's a quick shot, proving once again that "Sugar" is not a show that you can watch passively if you want to track all of its potentially explosive details.
Sugar seemed to block a bullet with his hand
During the big confrontation with Stallings and his crew, Sugar is on his knees with a gun near his head, about to be executed on the living room floor. But when Stallings gives the order to one of his cronies to fire, Sugar basically slaps the bullet out of the air, redirecting it across the room before killing everyone. This is the type of thing I would typically have rewound, because it definitely stood out as a "wait a second, how exactly did that happen?" moment, but it's a testament to the writing (from "Raised By Wolves" alum Donald Joh and "Breaking Bad" alum Sam Catlin) and the direction of the episode (by "City of God" helmer Fernando Meirelles) that the story held my attention long enough to override that impulse and take me through all the way to the end, where, of course, the big reveal happens.
(In the opening minutes of the first episode, Sugar also snatches a fly out of the air with chopsticks; at the time, I sort of rolled my eyes at that, but in hindsight, it was giving us a glimpse into the preternatural speed he would use in that bullet scene.)
Will Sugar be able to stick the landing?
The creative team behind "Sugar" just took one of the biggest possible swings they could with this story. Now, with two episodes left in the season, we just need to wait and see if their swing actually connects. Personally, I'm rooting for 'em.
New episodes of "Sugar" debut on Apple TV+ every Friday.