This summer I've found the best streaming services have really delivered strongly across a wide range of genres. Sci-fi, in particular, has been really well served – and I think it's Apple TV+ of all the streamers that's really gone the extra mile in 2024.
Among some of its darker shows, such as Severance and Dark Matter, the summer series I've really been enjoying is the (sometimes) more light-hearted Sunny – a sci-fi based on the 2018 novel The Dark Manual, about an American woman in Japan whose husband and son have gone missing, only to be left with a 'homebot' called Sunny that begins to unravel a trail of mystery.
I'm not the only one who's appreciated the show and its (also sometimes) dark humour: the series has a well-regarded 90% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.
I get the feeling that's a snapshot from the show's opening episodes, however, where the mystery factor was stronger – the audience score of 70% may better reflect the overall feeling of where the show is going. As, for me, Sunny has now lost the plot – ahead of its finale, on 4 September.
Even the show's creator, interviewed by T3's News Editor, called the show "bonkers". That's part of the brilliance about it, ultimately, but without giving away any spoilers – this is a week-by-week release every Wednesday, after all – I've found the last two episodes out of the final three to be a real downward spiral.
The penultimate episode, in particular, took on a whole different visual style and pace. Sure, it reveals some key information, so hopefully the Sunny finale will go out with a bang – there's no official word on season 2 just yet – but I'm not holding my breath just yet. Let's see, come Wednesday 4 September, if the show can pull itself back to form.
