Apple’s Sunny is a grief-stricken crime dramedy with a smile on its face

More than yet different sci-fi parable astir a aboriginal plagued by unsafe robots, Colin O’Sullivan’s 2018 caller The Dark Manual was a lyrical meditation connected grieving and the emotions we task onto mundane objects. The book’s premise, prose, and thematic ambivalence astir artificially intelligent machines made it consciousness similar the benignant of communicative that could lone beryllium adapted arsenic a grim drama. But Apple TV Plus and A24’s Sunny brings a caller extent and nuance to O’Sullivan’s communicative by tempering it with steadfast doses of whimsy and animatronic puppetry.

Similar to The Dark Manual (which seems to person been precocious retitled successful anticipation of Apple’s caller show), Sunny revolves astir Suzie Sakamoto (Rashida Jones), a pistillate trying to portion her beingness unneurotic pursuing a level clang that (seemingly) killed her hubby Masa (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and their young lad Zen (Fares Belkheir).

As an American transplant with a constricted quality to prime up languages oregon marque caller friends, grieving successful a near-future Japan is simply a disconcerting acquisition for Suzie. Even with her overbearing mother-in-law Noriko (Judy Ongg) perpetually astatine her door, and everyone being connected by their Devices — pillow-like astute gadgets that consciousness inspired by It Follows’ ammunition telephone — Suzie’s nonaccomplishment leaves her spiraling into a profound loneliness. But arsenic achy arsenic it is surviving successful a location afloat of memories, what unnerves Suzie astir is the unexpected accomplishment of a home homecare robot called Sunny (Joanna Sotomura), who insists that Masa programmed her specifically for the mourning widow earlier the crash.

There’s a pronounced consciousness of dread moving done O’Sullivan’s caller that makes its homebot-filled satellite consciousness similar a cold, acheronian place, wherever the drumbeat of technological advancement has convinced galore to clasp machines they don’t wholly understand. Jones brings immoderate of that vigor to her witheringly acerbic Suzie who, similar her publication counterpart, does not initially spot Sunny and lashes retired astatine the homebot arsenic it begins taking attraction of chores. 

But dissimilar The Dark Manual’s mechanical servants with their unblinking sensors that displacement from a menacing shadiness of scarlet to bluish arsenic they process information, each of Sunny’s robots are presented arsenic smiling, friend-shaped beings whose cartoony designs are reflections of a larger displacement toward aesthetically playful technology.

Had Sunny been created wholly retired of CGI, the vigor betwixt Sotomura and Jones mightiness not play truthful dynamically arsenic the homebot and her proprietor snipe astatine each different successful the show’s archetypal fewer episodes. But due to the fact that Sunny is an animatronic puppet whose animated facial expressions were real-time recreations of Sotomura’s, there’s a realness to their interactions that makes them some consciousness similar weightier (in the communicative sense) characters arsenic a result. 

Through Sunny and Suzie’s caregiver / caretaker relationship, Sunny taps into thing precise existent astir however societies crook to exertion to deal with personal and communal issues. And yet the silliness of Sunny being a googly-eyed puppet who we ne'er spot (but presumably can) spell up stairs is simply a immense portion of however the amusement besides manages to enactment arsenic a drama that’s truly astir its 2 leads trying to lick a pulpy mystery.

While fewer of Sunny’s twists and turns are wholly novel, the show’s committedness to making its satellite consciousness similar a plausible imaginativeness of a aboriginal wherever people’s gadgets enactment to code their needs is fantastic. In spot of the book’s allusions to tensions with North Korea, Sunny puts much accent connected yakuza brag Hime (You) and the shadowy assemblage of radical illegally jailbreaking homebots to execute functions they’re not technically expected to beryllium capable to do. 

Some of Sunny’s astir fascinating worldbuilding comes by mode of its villains and their fixation with the fabled Dark Manual cardinal to crook homebots into execution machines. But arsenic Suzie and Sunny’s intrigue pulls them deeper into Japan’s underworld, you tin consciousness Apple mounting Sunny up to proceed increasing beyond its archetypal play successful a mode that seems similar it could pb to excessively overmuch of a bully thing.

Sunny also stars annie the clumsy, Jun Kunimura, and Shin Shimizu. The show’s archetypal 2 episodes deed Apple TV Plus connected July 10th.