Roush Review: Not a ‘Sunny’ Outlook in a Near-Future Mystery

Matt’s Rating:

A woman’s best friend is her robot? That’s the pitch being sold by the ImaTech Corporation in the futuristic Sunny from Apple TV+. Just try convincing Suzie (Parks and Recreation‘s Rashida Jones), an American expat in Japan, who thinks A.I. “homebot” companions are creepy—and she’s not wrong.

We first encounter Suzie in a daze of devastated grief after losing her husband Masa, an ImaTech employee and covert robotics employee, and young son Zen in a plane crash where they’re presumed dead. (We who’ve consumed a lot of TV know that until we see a body, we reserve the right to remain skeptical.) Suzie is less than thrilled when she’s gifted a perky new model named Sunny (voiced by Joanna Sotomura) as a consolation offering.

Sunny, presented in English and heavily subtitled Japanese, begins as an offbeat, tragedy-laced buddy comedy—“I was programmed for you,” the bot pleads with her big eyes and expressive animated features, insisting, “I just want to make you happy.” But the 10-part series soon spirals into an uneven thriller when an embittered Suzie, who has no idea she’s being carefully watched, begins digging into what happened to Masa (a very good Hidetoshi Nishijima in flashbacks) and Zen.

The trail leads to an undercooked and violent subplot involving a power struggle within a yakuza crime organization that has a special interest in Sunny’s code. This distraction, combined with Sunny’s uncertain tone and Jones’ relentlessly (if understandably) dour performance, keep the series from building much in the way of suspenseful momentum, let alone genuine humor. Only the enigmatic assassin (played by a stylish actress named You) who’s stalking Suzie and Sunny seems to be fully invested in this weird sci-fi hybrid caper.

Things pick up toward the end with the reveal of Masa’s poignant backstory and, in the dazzling penultimate episode, an existential crisis for Sunny that takes the surreal form of a wacky Japanese game show. Should we be surprised when a machine is the one with all the feels?

Sunny, Series Premiere (two episodes), Wednesday, July 10, Apple TV+

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