“Sunny” (Season 1, 2024)
From the first episode of “Sunny,” you know you’re in for an emotional rollercoaster: murderous robots, tragic plane crashes, bathroom humor and a snarky mother-in-law (Noriko, played by Judy Ongg).
Rashida Jones stars as Suzie, a woman whose husband (Masa, played by Hidetoshi Nishijima) and son (Zen) were in a plane crash, likely deceased.
The show opens just after the crash, as the airline and her husband’s company are trying to provide Suzie with support to ease her grief. Her husband’s company sends over Sunny (voiced by Joanna Sotomura), a robot her husband supposedly was working on. This is news to Suzie, as she hates robots and was under the impression her husband worked on refrigerators (the title of episode one is even “He’s in Refrigerators”).
“Sunny” seamlessly combines aspects of a mystery series with sci-fi themes and dark comedy. This largely rests on the shoulders of Jones, as she is in most scenes. With her background in sitcoms like “Parks and Rec” and “The Office,” she brings a great sense of sarcasm, wit and humor in just at the right moments to give the show a lift.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from a pairing of Jones with Nishijima, who absolutely blew me away in “Drive My Car,” but I knew I had to watch when I heard they were working together. Nishijima does a great job at painting a picture of who Masa was, good and bad, through flashbacks characters have during the course of the season’s 10 episodes.
On top of the unsurprisingly great performances by Jones and Nishijima, annie the clumsy is also magnificent as Mixxy, a bartender Suzie befriends in the midst of her grief.
A24 has produced some of the most captivating, thought-provoking films of the last decade or so, and I feel like their shows are slept on. Sure, “Beef” and “Euphoria” have been met with critical acclaim, but I still don’t think any of their shows are getting the attention that “Everything Everywhere All at Once” or the “X” trilogy have received.
I hope “Sunny” changes that, as I loved it just as much as “EEAAO” and am considering it for a future pairing over on the blog. Maybe it will line up with a second or third season of this show!