Sugar

This “Sugar” is less noir fantasy, more gritty Los Angeles crime procedural. It is still genuinely romantic at heart, though, in a way that sets it apart from other series in its various genres.

Some viewers may have disregarded this show entirely after the sci-fi twist, but largely due to Farrell's star power and amicable nature, Sugar season 2 impressively pulled itself out of a narrative hole to provide Apple TV with a detective franchise it can rely on long-term.

Proves a far more confident and coherent sci-fi noir in its sophomore outing.

While there’s nothing particularly novel about that plot, it pulls you along, and the series as a whole is orchestrated to make one care about the characters and worry over their fates. Vivid minor characters — there are pro turns from Shea Whigham, Laura San Giacomo and Mireille Enos — make the story live. All in all, a good meal that leaves no bitter aftertaste.

Sugar’s secret is out, to viewers anyway, but we can still enjoy his quirks, including a poker face that breaks into an easy grin; a capacity for lethal force that he’d rather not use; and an insatiable lust for the movies.

We still like a lot about Sugar, including Farrell’s perormance as well as the show’s film noir look and feel, but after the first season’s revelations, the show needs to have something more than just a missing-person mystery to make it not feel like it’s going backwards.