Caemeron Crain
The following recap contains spoilers for the Season 2 finale of Sugar, S2E8, “Like Sugar” (written by Sam Catlin and directed by Michael Morris)
The Season 2 finale of Sugar begins in the past, with Djen (Mireille Enos) in the desert in Chile, where she’s just completed an experiment using levitating discs (small-scale tropospheric nodes, I guess) to grow a delicious berry. She calls John (Colin Farrell), providing the other side of the phone conversation we heard in S2E6, and then some men arrive in cars, with Henry (Jason Butler Harner) among them. They quickly kill Djen’s assistant, and the opening credits hit before we jump to the present.
In the wake of last week’s episode, the authorities have arrested all the deputies and medical examiners involved in the Downer Town scam (which I don’t fully buy as plausible), and there is a funeral for all of the unknown dead who had been exploited by the scheme (which I definitely don’t buy as plausible).
John talks with Assemblywoman Spiro (LisaGay Hamilton), who laments that Vega (Tony Dalton) apparently got away, before Sugar notes that Ray wasn’t the worst one. Someone had to be helping with those government contracts, and the implication is that it was Spiro, as she is dragged away by the feds. OK, I guess we’ll take what is almost a happy ending.
Sugar has a conversation with Tom (Shea Whigham), which doesn’t do much beyond bookend their relationship this season. I suppose there is a message here, though, as Tom conveys the importance of connecting with other people, citing some podcast he’s been listening to where the guy said men die earlier than women because they don’t communicate enough. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it serves to put another point on how alone Sugar is (or feels).
Then there’s Charlotte (Laura Donnelly), who might make John feel less alone, but after the two spend some nice time on the beach, she invites Sugar to come to Milan with her and lets slip that she knows that all of his friends are gone. We can read on John’s face that he’s put something together that remains unspoken, and so can Charlotte.
Charlotte cries alone in her room before making a call asking what to do, given she’s slipped up. John follows her to a party at the home of Tyson Pavich (John D’Aquino), but Charlotte says Pavich isn’t the one that Sugar is looking for. That would be Djen.
I’ve been wondering all season about the fact that Sugar recast John’s sister, who appeared only briefly in flashbacks in Season 1 (portrayed by Maeve Whalen), but I haven’t mentioned it in these recaps because the new name on the cast list almost felt like a spoiler. You don’t cast Mireille Enos unless she’s going to play a bigger role, and that finally comes to fruition here in the season finale.
Henry wasn’t behind Djen’s disappearance; that was a lie he told John on her behest. The others didn’t understand or condone what Djen was trying to do, but Henry helped her. In light of this revelation, I wonder again about his path to suicide, but Sugar S2E8 doesn’t provide any new information on that front.
Rather, the reveal is that Djen is behind the Weather-Smurfing Machine that Stanley (Bernard White) told Sugar about in last week’s episode. The party that John has come to attend is an unveiling of the project (named Acalica, after mythical Bolivian weather fairies), which Djen hopes Sugar will come around on once he sees it in action.
He doesn’t, so Djen instructs Charlotte to hit John with some kind of knockout powder. As he’s in a daze, Djen hovers over him, saying she has to go away again, but asking him to come and find her when he’s ready. Because, she says, this isn’t for them (human beings), it’s for us.
Sugar gives Djen all the trappings of a villain in these scenes, from her white suit to the way she ends her presentation by saying, “Let there be light!”
She’s literally playing God, but I have to ask, what’s wrong with that?
She’s right that the planet is dying, and she’s right that human beings have killed it, whether through action or inaction. Real life isn’t an episode of The Smurfs, and while, all things being equal, it might be hubristic to try and control the weather, all things are not equal. We face heatwaves that are killing people, rampant wildfires, strange weather patterns and storms, flooding, potential water shortages, and the (hopefully longshot) possibility that the atmosphere will go Venus on us.
I think I endorse the Acalica project!
Of course, that could put me in the camp of all those human beings Djen writes off with a scenery-chewing smile before she bids Sugar adieu, but, honestly, if part of the plan is an alien invasion, I’m not sure that changes my mind. These seem like pretty chill aliens! I don’t think they’d set out to kill us. It’s against their rules!
And, I know, Djen’s plan is definitely against their rules, too, which is part of why Sugar has such resistance to it. He’s been worrying about losing himself, since he’s been eating cheeseburgers, having sex, and did a murder.
At least one of those things is bad (maybe two, in my opinion), but when it comes down to it, I can’t help but remain on Djen’s side when it comes to Acalica. Sorry, humans, we ruined the planet! If only some alien would come play God and save us.
Sugar S2E8 closes with a denouement. John goes to see Danny (Jin Ha) fight in Las Vegas, and then meets with Jonathan Siegel (James Cromwell) to get his dog back. The scenes feel like they’re tying things together, with Sugar coming to feel like Los Angeles is home.
Just before the credits roll, his alien comm device blinks, indicating that he’s finally received a response to the message he’s been sending out all season. So, the path for the series to continue is set. Someone is out there who will probably take John’s side against Djen’s plan, while Sugar takes another case helping some down-and-out in LA.
I don’t know if the series will be renewed, but if we get a Season 3, I’ll be here for it.
