Private Investigator John Sugar usually has his eyes on the ball, but in the third episode of the eponymous TV show Sugar on Apple TV Plus, he's totally unaware of the dangers growing in his shadows.
Sugar episode 3, called 'Shibuya Crossing' after the busy Tokyo pedestrian crossing, was released on Friday, April 12, a week after the two-episode debut of this new neo-noir detective series. While the first two episodes mainly focused on the private eye himself, episode 3 lets us spend more time with his friends and foes.
We've already seen John Sugar take the case of the missing Olivia Siegel, the grand-daughter of a powerful Hollywood movie producer, and uncover some secrets about this girl and the various facets of her life. But why has she disappeared? Sugar still needs to figure that out, and the suspect list is only getting longer.
Can Sugar keep his act together long enough to crack the case? Let's find out in this Sugar episode 3 recap.
A bold rescue operation
When John Sugar (Colin Farrell) wakes up in the morning, he calls Ruby (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) to ask for updates on the Olivia case. There aren't any. He also complains about the new dog.
Meanwhile Melanie (Amy Ryan) receives a call from Theresa (the woman from the end of the previous episode) because an intimidating man had visited asking questions about Olivia. Melanie rushes over to provide support... only to find out that this was a ruse, to trick her to visiting so the mysterious crime boss could confront her. If you'll remember, this man is looking for his associate Clifford Carter, who we know is dead. Melanie says she doesn't know where Carter is, but the crime boss doesn't believe her.
At home, Sugar receives a call from an associate called Charlie, who we've heard of but haven't met yet. Turns out she's a civilian that Sugar has hired to trail Melanie, and Sugar comes to visit her. He notices several very fancy cars with people watching the house, and knows something is up. He breaks into the building, noticing that one of the names on the door is for Vasquez (this is Theresa's surname, but it's important to Sugar as he remembers it's also the surname of the murdered woman Carmen).
In the apartment, the crime boss is preparing to put Theresa's hand in a blender to make Melanie talk... when Sugar starts banging on the front door. He pretends to be Theresa's probation officer, which nearly gets the gang to scarper, until they notice Sugar's fancy suit which suggests he's not a probation officer.
However just then Charlie sets off a smoke bomb under one of the trucks, so the gang leave to investigate. Sugar knocks out the one remaining henchman and they all escape — Charlie takes Theresa and her kid, while Sugar and Melanie go to Griffith Observatory to talk.
Melanie says that her and Olivia (the missing girl) volunteered at a women's shelter, where they met Theresa and Carmen. Olivia and Carmen got on particularly well... until one day Melanie was summoned to Carmen's house. Turns out, Olivia had gone to visit her friend, only to walk in on Clifford Carter trying to dispose of her body. Olivia had taken his gun and shot him, and then freaked out — Melanie helped her dispose of the body, to avoid getting the family in any tabloid issues.
Someone is searching for Sugar
David Siegel's henchman Kenny (Alex Hernandez) visits a man's house. They sleep together then Kenny asks him for a favor — turns out this man works for the NSA, and he provides Kenny lots of information on John Sugar. We learn that he was raised by his mother and trained at an army languages facility, and now his mom lives in Arizona.
At her home Ruby detects that someone has searched for Sugar's files, and does a reverse search to work out who this is. She also notices that they've looked up Sugar's mother's address.
David (and Olivia's) father Bernie Siegel (Dennis Boutsikaris) talks to a woman called Margit (Anna Gunn) about his upcoming movie, starring David. She tells Bernie that David's performance is great. However Bernie is nervous about the allegations raised towards David, and reveals that he set the young man "a task". This task seems to be to investigate Sugar, as David Siegel (Nate Corddry) meets up with Kenny to retrieve the NSA information.
A polyglot party and another foe
Sugar gives a gravelly monologue about how he thinks Olivia is being held by someone, then gets ready to go to the party that he was invited to in the first episode. He leaves his dog to watch Double Indemnity on TV as entertainment.
This party is being hosted by Ruby, for a collection of international language speakers, presumably connected to Sugar's training. Sugar doesn't want to be there, but he makes small talk, until noticing a woman. He follows this woman into another room, but is distracted by a friend called Harry who's just arrived. Soon after, we see that the room is really empty, and she must be a hallucination.
Sugar tells Harry about the Shibayu Crossing, and how he spent a long time there people-watching. They eventually talk about work, and Harry echoes what Ruby has been saying, that Sugar is getting too involved with the case.
Throughout the night, people have been summoned into a private room with Ruby, and soon it's Sugar's turn. It looks like an interrogation room, and in it, Ruby goes through Sugar's log-book. It's meant to be for the man's objective observations during his case, but it's filled with strange musings, notes on his musical taste and odd extras. Ruby uses this as evidence that Sugar is getting far too emotionally intertwined with the case, and gives him a new book.
Sugar also asks two more things. Firstly, he asks if Ruby has "heard from them" and wants to know what 'they' said, and Ruby responds that these people are "counting on us". Don't worry, we don't know who these people are yet. Secondly, Sugar asks about the license plates from the trucks earlier, and Ruby reveals that the gang leader is a man named Byron Stallings. She's going to give him more information once she cracks some necessary encryptions to access the police records.
Meanwhile David reports to Bernie some of his findings. He reveals that the party invite was from the Cosmopolitan Polyglot Society, ostensibly a group of multilinguists, but David recounts a rumor that Kenny has heard about a group of international spies who stopped fighting and teamed up to work together and do good. Bernie isn't convinced. David also reveals that he tracked down Sugar's mother, and despite Bernie's uncertainty, he undertakes a trip to Arizona to find her.
As Sugar is leaving the party, Ruby insists that he goes to see Dr. Vickers the next day. However after the party, Ruby calls this man to let him know that Sugar is onto Stallings, and will soon discover "the rest". Vickers tells her to tell "the others" especially someone called Miller. Afterwards, Ruby deletes the police records which she had told Sugar she couldn't access.
After getting back to his hotel, Sugar takes a night swim. Meanwhile Melanie pays a late visit to Bernie, though we don't know why.
