Critic’s Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
4.5
It’s fair to say that Rashida Jones is no stranger to the entertainment industry, whether music, movies, or television.
However, this new series from A24 and Apple TV+ takes the actress to new heights with a simple yet powerful premise.
However, a futuristic setting with sentient robots is hardly groundbreaking storytelling, but what the series gets right in so many ways is focusing on the most human aspects of the show.
While this project is one of Rashida’s darker entries in her filmography, she’s still bringing her years of comedy chops to the intense and extremely entertaining new series Sunny.
Things Are Not Sunny for Suzie
As far as openings go, the series certainly doesn’t waste any time getting to the bloody center of what will likely be the violent heart of this series.
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While AI overpowering its creators is a formulaic approach that has been a constant motif since Frankenstein, it still has us side-eyeing our Alexas and Roombas.
It is worth noting that despite the tremendous upheaval and trauma Rashida’s character is going through, the actress still somehow looks amazing despite her questionable choices.
By questionable choices, I mean, of course, drinking wine straight out of a bottle while actively sitting on a toilet.
That is not an image audiences will soon forget.
The most interesting thing about newer sci-fi is that most viewers’ reactions are less about the wonder of technology and more about the likelihood of the gadgets being real.
Like that earpiece that translates foreign languages in real time.
Was that Apple’s way of shoehorning their next technological advancement into their newest series?
Once again, audiences see the weird science fiction trend of self-driving car crashes despite the illogical nature of a futuristic society that is still working out the kinks of self-automated automobiles.
It’s seriously a cliche at this point because, as I recently mentioned in my review of Orphan Black: Echoes Season 1 Episode 4, it was already done in both Upload and Orphan Black: Echoes.
It’s Morbid Mayhem At Its Best, With a Good Amount of Grief and Questionable Culture Shock
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As the series is toted as a dark comedy, there were expectations of comedy in whatever form it would take, and while the subtle jokes are there, it still feels wrong to laugh.
Rashida’s Suzie is clearly going through that deep, dark void of grief, and her mother-in-law is far from being helpful, especially considering the older woman just lost her son and grandson.
But that tear-crying ceremony was tough to grasp until I saw it in action.
Still, “handsome man makes us cry and then wipes the tears” will be a hard sell to anyone.
And “make them cry” he did because the man made them call their lost loved one’s phones.
However, you’ll know you’re watching an excellent dark dramedy if you don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or grab a baseball bat for protection.
Robots Have Feelings Too
Then there is the namesake for the entire show in the form of a little, but quite heavy, “Home Bot,” Sunny, who came out the gate looking to hug Suzie.
You’d think the future AI would be able to read the room as well as it can read code.
And if an over-eager and unrequested robot wasn’t enough, there’s the bonus that her husband was straight up lying to her about his job for their entire marriage.
Apple TV+ is on a roll with these shady husbands keeping their jobs and secret lives from their wives, as is the situation for Eva Longoria’s character Gala on another Apple TV+ original, Land of Women.
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One thing that stuck out quite a bit was how the man who delivered Sunny to Suzie kept referring to Masa, Suzies possibly late husband, in the present tense.
It seems like a deliberate choice since the character had a firm grasp of the English language.
That poor little robot has no idea it’s been set up in a toxic relationship, but at least Suzie has a drinking partner because, apparently, screens on a loop can get Sunny wasted in a hurry.
That is definitely not something seen very often, although Janet from The Good Place was able to get super drunk if she was near really strong magnets.
Please Do Not Have Sex With the Robots
While Sunny was an odd choice as a gift to a late employee’s grieving wife, the robot has some interesting benefits and features despite it being a device the size of a large child.
A robot that knows when it’s martini o’clock? Take my money and sign me up!
It’s better than chugging red wine until face-planting on the floor.
Although it seems like a liquored-up Suzie is easier for total strangers to say the most absurd things, starting with the employee who word-vomited his feelings about Masa right to Suzie’s face.
Then there was Mixxy, the mixologist who flat-out told Suzie that she had her “Home Bot” programmed to service her for maximum pleasure.
It’s unnerving to think that no matter what technological or scientific innovations are made, people will still try to find a way to use it for sex.
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The series premiere of Sunny left audiences with far more questions than answers, but at least we know someone is watching Suzie, someone who likely has ties to Division 5, where Suzie’s late husband worked.
And as sweet and helpful as Sunny appears, there’s no getting around the possible “Trojan Horse” plot device the series seems to be setting up.
All in all, the show feels like an episode from Black Mirror, with strong similarities to the episode “Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too.”
With so many possible influences and similarities to amazing projects, our hopes are high that Rashida Jones will lead viewers into an epic series with more intense and awkwardly laughable moments.
What did you think of Sunny’s series premiere?
Do you think everything happening to Suzie could be part of a more elaborate experiment by Division 5?
Drop a comment below to let us know, and join us again when we review the next episode of Sunny!
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