'Sunny' goes dark in new Apple TV+ comedy that pits Rashida Jones against the bots

“Sunny,” a decent new dark comedy on Apple TV+, brings to mind an interesting question.

Namely, have we ever really thought the robots were here to save us?

Certainly not in the realm of science fiction. Replicants in “Blade Runner,” anyone? The Turing Test didn’t turn out well in “Ex Machina.” No one would want HAL 9000 from “2001: A Space Odyssey” as their tour guide. Sure, Arnold Schwarzenegger came around in the second “Terminator” movie, but he was reprogrammed. And his upgraded nemesis wasn’t exactly a Boy Scout.

Now our worries tend more toward AI destroying civilization, at least more than those weird mean robot dogs that become memes every so often. Technology can be freeing, but it can also threaten our existence. That’s quite a trade-off — and great fodder for stories.

What is 'Sunny' about?

Maybe Suzie Sakamoto (Rashida Jones), the central character in “Sunny,” has seen all of those movies. Whatever the case, she definitely doesn’t like the homebots that are commonplace in near future Kyoto, Japan, where she moved from the U.S. In particular, she doesn’t like Sunny, the homebot that is now an unwelcome resident of her home.

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Then again, the circumstances under which she received it are terrible. Suzie’s husband Masa (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and son Zan have been killed in a mysterious plane crash; their bodies have not been recovered. This leaves Suzie in a torturous limbo, though of course she suspects the worst. Her no-nonsense mother-in-law Noriko (Judy Ongg) doesn’t help.

Mostly Suzie drinks, at home or in bars. One night when she arrives home, a stranger shows up at her door with a gift: Sunny, a homebot designed by Masa. This is news to Suzie; Masa designed refrigerators, as far as she knew. But she comes to learn that not only was he a brilliant bot designer, he was also a somewhat cruel taskmaster, a punishing boss who did not suffer fools or failure. She thought he was just a nice guy.

Suzie hates Sunny from the start. If you think maybe this is one of those stories in which Suzie comes around on Sunny, you’re partially right. It’s that and more (and that journey is rocky).

Obviously, as both viewers and Suzie deduce, there is more to the story. It’s complicated and sometimes confusing, involving the Yakuza and an underground book of codes that rumor has it can reprogram the bots (the series is based on the novel “The Dark Manual” by Colin O’Sullivan) and the possibility that Masa and Zan are not dead. Suzie enlists the help of a free-spirited bartender named Mixxy (Annie the Clumsy, and yes that is her name, and she’s quite good) who has a lot of contacts in the Kyoto underground.

Finally, Rashida Jones gets to carry a show

Along the way we learn what brought Suzie to Japan, more about Masa’s complicated personality (the episode about his years of self-imposed isolation is pretty amazing) and witness a Yakuza family drama that plays like a mini-“Succession,” only more violent and not as interesting.

It’s way too long — the story could have been told in half the time — but it’s a treat to see the often-underused Jones carry a series. Her deadpan, eye-rolling ennui is perfect for the role of a drunken could-be widow whose innate cynicism has risen to the level of nihilism — not a big jump, given her circumstances. And Annie the Clumsy is also quite good, as is Jun Kunimura as the stranger who delivers Sunny.

Katie Robbins, who created the show, takes some big swings, including an episode consisting of a freak-out game show, only with much larger stakes. Some of it works, some of it doesn’t. It is a comedy, which doesn’t always mix well with the mystery aspects.

But it’s Jones’ show. For much of the series she’s given only one note to play, really, but she plays it well. Her laconic delivery may be an acquired taste for some, but it’s a taste well worth acquiring. Watch an episode or two and you won’t need a homebot to convince you of that.

How to watch 'Sunny'

Premieres Wednesday, July 10 on Apple TV+.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. X: @goodyk. Subscribe to the weekly movies newsletter.

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