Binge-worthy: Sunny is a whimsical, AI-fuelled mystery in Japan

Sunny

Apple TV+
3 out of 5 stars

Sunny, a whimsical dark comedy and mystery thriller, is perfectly timed for the current artificial intelligence (AI) boom.

Suzie (Rashida Jones), an American woman living in Kyoto, is grief-stricken when her Japanese husband Masa (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and son Zen are involved in a plane crash and presumed dead.

To console her, the firm Masa worked for gifts her a top-of-the-line domestic robot named Sunny, which is how Suzie learns that Masa had been programming robots and not refrigerators as he claimed.

And it is the first in a series of dark secrets and lies she uncovers with the help of an eager-to-please Sunny, who turns out to be just as mysterious as her husband.

Here are some reasons to stream the 10-episode series on Apple TV+.

1. Not the usual Westerner-in-Japan tale

Although Suzie is a bit of a fish out of water and the story is told through her eyes, the show does not exoticise Japanese culture or reduce it to lazy stereotypes in the way many Hollywood productions have.

Instead, there are evocative vignettes and funny character sketches, from Suzie’s hilariously disapproving mother-in-law Noriko (Judy Ongg) to an elderly diaper-wearing yakuza boss.

Suzie is also repeatedly chided for her failure to learn much Japanese even after a decade of living in the country – a dig at a certain kind of expatriate, perhaps.

If there is a foreigner’s gaze at play, the show puts it to good use with strikingly beautiful visuals and music.

Almost every single shot is a visual treat, from Suzie and Masa’s gorgeous Kyoto home to the city’s famous streets.

2. AI-fuelled mystery

The plot moves briskly and gives the audience lots to chew on.

The first big question is why Masa was so secretive about his work. Nishijima, the acclaimed Japanese actor who starred in the Oscar-winning drama Drive My Car (2021), imbues the character with depth and understated charisma, which makes up for Jones’ one-note performance as the dour Suzie.

And where many AI-themed stories dwell on how sentient the robots may or may not be, which has become rather cliched, this series focuses on the more immediate question of what exactly they can be made to do and how it can go wrong.

3. A meditation on loneliness and connection

More important than AI, however, is the theme of loneliness.

Masa and Suzie were both loners before they met by chance at a restaurant – the kind, peculiar to Japan, where people dine solo and in silence.

And the best use of robots, the show suggests, might be to help lonely humans like them finally reconnect.