The Secret's Out: "Sugar" Finally Got Good in Season 2

John Sugar is an alien. The fact that Colin Farrell's Los Angeles-based private detective John Sugar is an alien was kept hidden for a full six episodes in the show's first season — as if it were a season-ending twist rather than the very foundation of the story. The result: a character stuck on one note, a season that could have been captivating but instead became irritating, and that should have felt personal but instead felt distant.

Vulture critic Kathryn VanArendonk put it bluntly in her rebellious piece: "A thing being withheld doesn't make it fun!" Even so, viewers of the Apple TV show are only now discovering, far later than they should have, what the show is actually about.

It would be too much to blame all of Sugar's flaws on this withheld information; but it's genuinely surprising how much better season 2 gets once the secret is out. John is now an open book. Questions about what his alien nature can do turn either into charming comedy (like leaving a tennis ball suspended in midair in front of the pack of dogs he's hypnotized) or into an effective reveal (like getting sprayed with bullets in a drive-by attack and going home to replenish his glowing alien blood). His big troubles are no longer locked behind a closed inner monologue; we can now share in the experience of a lonely man who has lost all his friends. The mystery isn't him anymore — it's the cases.

The improvement doesn't come from that alone. New showrunner Sam Catlin builds an investigation that has Sugar seeing himself in people rather than positioning him against them. In season 2, rising boxer Danny Moon (Jin Ha) hires Sugar to find his lost and drifting brother Ji-Seok (Raymond Lee). Everyone initially assumes Ji-Seok is on a long bender or hiding from the police; of course, there's more to it than that.

When the crisis escalates, Sugar suggests Danny leave town. Danny refuses: this is his home, and Ji-Seok is his family. No matter how many times they hit rock bottom, these brothers won't abandon each other — a feeling John, who has refused to return to his planet without learning what happened to his sister, understands all too well.

"If I leave, who's going to help them?" Sugar asks; and here comes another subtle but fundamental shift in season 2: Farrell's performance. In season one, Sugar was a tough, assertive detective who moved through the world with intimidation. Now that his inner voice no longer hides his true self, Farrell opens up beautifully. In a word: he's sweeter. His voice is softer, his shoulders looser, and his tenderness comes through in every conversation. When he visits an elderly woman who has lost her grandson, he ends the meeting, quietly gets up, and does her dishes.

A stronger supporting cast helps too. Shea Whigham is perfectly cast as a friendly federal agent struggling with health issues; Tony Dalton brings an impressively menacing edge to an outwardly likable sheriff, and Laura Donnelly strikes the balance between femme fatale and innocent love interest. Sasha Calle also stands out as Val, the con artist Sugar takes on as his assistant and protégé.

What makes room for all this is the early resolution of the serialized alien subplot. Sugar finds Henry (Jason Butler Harner), whom he vowed to hunt down at the end of season 1, in the opening scenes of season 2; he watches him die, learns nothing about his sister Djen (Mireille Enos), and tries to move on.

Cut off from other aliens, Sugar now faces the fear of assimilating too much: he doesn't want to forget where he came from, but he also wants to enjoy where he lives. Los Angeles is the ideal setting for such a search; being a stranger in a strange land — and finding other strangers there — becomes a touching, measured, and effective allegory.

As Sugar tries to define who he is, "Sugar" now knows what it is. When the definitive answer arrives about whether humanity has changed him, it's a relief — both because it's honest and because we fully grasp what it means.

John Sugar is an alien. And thankfully, now he's so much more than that.

Seasons 1 and 2 of "Sugar" are streaming on Apple TV. The show has not yet been renewed for a third season.