As Apple TV+’s Sugar episode two opens, John Sugar (Colin Farrell) admits his investigation into Olivia Siegel’s disappearance got off to a rocky start. John is taking a swim in the hotel’s pool while collecting his thoughts and working through what he’s learned about Olivia. He stares at the moon (something we’ve noticed he frequently does) while confessing he knows he’s good at what he does.
A short while later, he meets with Bernie Siegel (Dennis Boutsikaris), Olivia’s dad. Bernie’s a movie producer, just like his father (John’s current employer), but definitely not in his father’s class. Bernie cuts to the chase and reveals he’s sure Olivia will return on her own at some point, ready for rehab again. Bernie also reveals he’s aware John met with Melanie Matthews, and wrongly assumes John didn’t know Melanie was his ex-wife. John sets him straight, reciting facts about Bernie and Melanie’s marriage.
John discreetly shows Bernie one of the Polaroid photos of Olivia’s deceased actress mother, Rachel. The photo stock is from 1996 when Rachel and Bernie were married. John believes Bernie when he says he didn’t take the photo. Bernie confesses he would have given his life for Rachel, and he’s insulted that John doesn’t think he cares about their daughter, Olivia.
He slams down money to pay the bill and storms off. John believes he’s hiding something.
Back in his room, John checks the surveillance camera footage and discovers Olivia’s brother, David, and Kenny were poking around his room. They went through his stuff and planted a listening device under the table right where John’s now seated. David and Kenny found some correspondence and took photos of the return address. John calls the person on the correspondence and warns her someone will be calling her under the mistaken belief that she’s his mother.
John smiles, noting that it helps when your enemies are stupid. But he’s stumped as to why David is spying on him. They should be on the same side, both trying to find Olivia.
Frustrated by the lack of assistance from Olivia’s dad and David’s evasiveness, John decides to approach Olivia’s friends for the information he needs. They share stories and insist she’s been sober for a year, but she was definitely a wild child growing up. She dated around and did things that should have landed her in jail. John also passes around a photo of the dead guy, and none of her friends recognize him as someone she hung out with.
Olivia’s drug dealer also confirms he hasn’t sold to her in a year. That’s good, however, being clean obviously hasn’t kept her out of trouble.
John fills Jonathan Siegel (James Cromwell) in on what he’s learned. Jonathan apologizes for his son’s behavior and warns John that David’s mom, Margit Sorensen, is a “paradigm of clawing self-interest.”
John explains that Olivia’s GPS indicates repeated visits to a woman named Carmen Vasquez. Olivia was there the night Carmen was raped and murdered. The man who killed her, Clifford Carter, is the man whose body is in Olivia’s trunk. Although he’s bound by law to inform the police about Carter’s body, he hasn’t out of respect for Jonathan.
Unfortunately, this is all adding up to the worst possible outcome for Olivia.
John also visits Ruby for lunch and provides her with all the updates on the case, too. John confesses he’s frustrated the clues aren’t adding up to an answer yet. Ruby suggests John push it aside for the moment so they can share a nice, relaxing meal.
As he’s leaving, Ruby reminds him to keep a low profile. She also reminds him to call Dr. Vickers when she notices his arm is spasming again.
Meanwhile, Bernie has bet his own money on his son David’s comeback film, a sequel to the project that made David famous. Bernie’s certain it will be a hit, but a close associate warns him that if a story about David gets out, he’s ruined. Another of Bernie’s people assures him they had signed NDAs from everyone involved except for accuser #8. The payoffs have been generous, but Bernie hints that David’s guilty of what he’s accused him of.
If number eight doesn’t sign, they’ll take her to court.
Melanie (Amy Ryan) calls John to meet, and he’s fine with that since she’s his best bet to find Olivia. John sits through her AA meeting as Melanie admits she’d been sober for 23 years but started drinking heavily again two weeks ago. She tells the group about bringing a stranger home (without pointing John out) and that she was lucky he was a real gentleman. Melanie believes the reason why people drink is because they’re lonely and afraid of being hurt.
Melanie’s not sure if John was sent to her by her higher power or if he’s just a decent guy or gay. Either way, he made her feel worthy of a second chance.
After the meeting, they discuss Olivia, and John wonders why Olivia was at Melanie’s almost every night the week before her disappearance. Melanie won’t say why, and John confirms Olivia’s social media posts also changed once she spent more time with Melanie. Olivia was posting more about women’s rights issues and seemed passionate about the topic. She stopped all posting on the day she disappeared.
Melanie echoes Bernie’s words and says she believes Olivia’s using again and will return when she wants back in rehab. John knows they’re both circling the wagons, and Melanie admits she and Bernie are still good friends.
The mood completely changes when John shows her Clifford Carter’s photo. Melanie orders John to leave, denying she’s ever seen Clifford before.
John places a tracker on Melanie’s car and calls his associate, Charlie, telling her to get ready to follow her tomorrow. He’s sure Melanie knows where Olivia is.
John takes a break to take in the film Minnie and Moskowitz starring Gena Rowlands and directed by John Cassavetes. After the screening, John’s driving when he notices he’s being tailed, but this time it’s not David’s right-hand man Kenny. Suddenly, Carl’s dog Wiley (a very good boy) runs in front of John’s car and John follows him to a homeless encampment. It’s obvious Wiley is looking for Carl who’s nowhere to be seen.
Wiley takes a seat in John’s classic Corvette, and together they track the phone John gave Carl to a hotel. Wiley leads John to a specific room, and John finds Carl dead from an overdose inside. The drug dealer’s still inside the room and John, who abhors violence, is so disturbed by Carl’s death that he nearly kills the man.
He asks himself why he cares about all this and why he’s angry. He doesn’t have an answer.
Wiley whines outside the second-floor motel room door, and John, a truly goodhearted man, whistles for him to come on down. Wiley jumps into the passenger seat as if he was meant to be there all along.
John stops by Ruby’s without calling first and asks if Wiley can stay with her. Wiley can’t because Mirembe the cat rules the house, and she has a no-dog policy. Before he leaves, he asks if she knows who’s tailing him in a gray Volkswagen. She doesn’t know but reminds him to take care of the dead body in Olivia’s trunk.
Ruby calls someone after John leaves and says, “Obviously, they are watching him.” (Who is “they?”)
John and Wiley stop by Olivia’s car, and…surprise! The trunk is empty and clean. Only a single hair remains behind, which John collects.
David (Nate Corddry) and Kenny (Alex Hernandez) share all the photos they took in John’s room with Bernie, and David shows off the letters he stole while searching the room. (Apparently, the surveillance is being done at Bernie’s request.) They also took a photo of the invitation from the Societe Polyglotte Cosmopolitaine.
They realize John found the bug they hid, and Bernie’s frustrated with their work. Bernie only cares about himself, his family, and his production company. He doesn’t want John Sugar involved in any way in any part of his life. What if he looks beyond Olivia and discovers the allegations against David? Bernie won’t allow that to happen and orders David to find out more about Sugar by tomorrow night.
Wiley returns to the hotel with John, and John continues to try and work out the connection between Olivia and the deceased Clifford Carter. But then John reveals his real mission is to observe and report; he’s not supposed to become involved in anyone’s life. That’s what Ruby keeps telling them. (What organization is he in, and what’s up with this “real mission” confession?)
Wiley makes himself at home on the bed as John admits to himself that he’s too involved now and can’t stop. Plus, Olivia reminds him of his sister, Djen. His sister is still missing, and he can only hope this case has a different outcome.
Elsewhere, a Hispanic mom and her two small children enter their apartment and are shocked to discover four strangers inside. The leader of the group asks the single mom, Teresa, if she knows where Clifford Carter is. The man says Clifford was screwing Teresa’s sister, but Teresa claims not to know him.
He warns her not to lie and explains that Clifford knows everything about him and has private information stored on his phone, information that could cause trouble if it gets out. Clifford’s been missing for two weeks and one of his final texts was a photo of Teresa’s sister, Carmen, with a note that said, “F**k this b*tch.”
He knows Carmen was murdered, and shows Teresa one more text. This time it’s a photo of Melanie with “this b*tch look familiar to you?” under her picture. It’s obvious Teresa recognizes Melanie.
Episode two ends with John asleep sitting up next to Wiley on the edge of the bed. The moon’s passage in the sky and the sun’s rise indicate he spent the whole night in that position.
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Sugar premiered on Apple TV+ on April 5, 2024 with the release of the first two episodes. New episodes will stream on Fridays.
- Sugar Season 1 Episode 1 “Olivia” Recap and Review
- Sugar Season 1 Episode 3 “Shibuya Crossing” Recap
- Sugar Season 1 Episode 4 “Starry Eyed” Recap
- Sugar Season 1 Episode 5 “Boy in the Corner” Recap
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