‘Sugar’ Ending Explained: How Does Season 1’s Finale Say “Farewell” To John Sugar?

It seems like just yesterday Sugar fans were struggling to wrap their heads around that mind-boggling alien reveal. Heck, they still are! Yet the Season 1 finale of Apple TV+’s unexpectedly out-of-this-world noir drama is already upon us, so buckle up and prepare for liftoff to another planet — kidding! Well, sort of…

When we last left John Sugar (Colin Farrell) in Season 1’s penultimate episode, he had killed Stallings, learned Olivia’s location (a creepy basement torture chamber belonging to a Senator’s son), and rescued her in the nick of time.

Season 1, Episode 8, “Farewell,” picks up right where Sugar left off and shows our favorite nostalgic humanoid wrapping up his latest case, dealing with his group having to head back home, and learning life-altering info about his past that drastically shapes his future.

Need a recap of Sugar‘s Season 1 finale? Decider’s Ending Explained has you covered. Read on to learn how the Apple TV+ series says “Farewell” to John Sugar, Melanie, Olivia, Ruby, and the rest of Season 1’s main characters.

Sugar Ending Explained: Episode 8, “Farewell” Recap

“Three words. That’s the best part. A phone call. Letting them know. The nightmare is over…Three words: I found her.”

Another sultry Colin Farrell voiceover opens the episode alongside black and white footage of John Sugar driving his classic car (and Olivia) to safety. We rewind a bit back to that creepy basement, with the show now in color. He locates a terrified Olivia under the stairwell, carries her outside, and places her in the back seat of her car, reminding himself and viewers, “Everything ends.”

Back in the hotel room, Melanie is temping herself with the sight of alcohol bottles when she gets the call. Olivia wakes up Melanie with above her, and the two embrace, letting themselves feel the full weight of what’s happened. Sugar excuses himself, as if he has no business bearing witness to such intense human emotion. Next time we see him, he’s strolling barefoot on a beach, pondering the strangeness of endings. “I’m glad this case is over, well not completely yet…” he says. Then, he’s back in his room, suited up and staring at the CD he swiped from the basement, marked #44. He realizes he’s obsessing, but he tells himself that’s what PIs do. “They turn over the last rock,” he says. “I need to hurry. All of us do.”

Speaking of hurrying, Sugar’s boss Miller is speeding down an open road when a cop car pulls him over. It seems like a typical traffic stop until the woman requests his license and registration, then shoots him three times. Meanwhile, Sugar stops by Ruby’s house, where she tells him Henry is being stubborn and she’s glad he found Olivia. “They’re probably looking for us,” she stresses, reminding Sugar that he exposed the Senator’s son Ryan Pavich. Everyone in their group has to return to their home planet by the end of the day, and last call is at sunset.

Sugar heads inside to check in with Henry, who’s still jotting thoughts down in his notebook. (“And now with the departure, I realize I’m alone…”) Before Sugar heads to Jonathan Siegel’s house, Henry gives him a CD player so he can double check a hunch. Sugar agrees to pick Henry up before sunset then heads off to check in with Jonathan, listening to the CD he swiped from Pavich on the way, which is filled with deranged rants and records of his torture sessions. Once Sugar arrives at Jonathan’s, he stops to give Margit his condolences and heads upstairs to say goodbye. Mr. Siegel offers him a job as head of security for his company, but Sugar turns it down. He looks out the window at Olivia and flashes back to a hooded figure on what appears to be his home planet. Then he and Jonathan get down to business.

Sugar learns that Olivia hasn’t said a word about what happened in the basement, then he lets Jonathan know he had Clifford’s body go missing from the trunk of her car. Before he leaves, Sugar hands Jonathan the polaroids he found while searching for clues earlier in the season. “I recognize dress Rachel’s wearing. It’s the same dress your wife Lorraine wore in The Winds of Change. You took those pictures, didn’t you?” Jonathan confirms Rachel was unhappy and he was drawn to her free spirit nature. Sugar insinuates that Olivia is Jonathan’s daughter, and though he doesn’t confirm, it’s heavily implied. As Sugar leaves the house, he glances at Olivia again and has another vision of his home planet. We see his blue self standing beside the same hooded figure, whose identity is still hidden.

Next stop? Melanie’s house, where Sugar drops off his pup and steps inside to say goodbye. He opens up to Melanie, telling her his sister was taken by somebody a long time ago, but they never knew who. “That’s kind of why I do what I do,” he reveals, before grabbing her hands and giving her a glimpse at his reality. With Melanie’s hands in his, Sugar’s eyes turn blue and she silently tears up over the sight. “I’ve never shown a human being. I’m not supposed to. It’s strictly against the rules,” Farrell’s voice says as Sugar drives away. “But I’m glad I did.”

On her way to evacuate, Ruby calls Sugar, stressing, “They’re hunting us…the humans we told you about. They want us gone so no one can ever learn about our pact.” On his way to pick up Henry, Sugar continues listening to the CD and has a haunting breakthrough: Pavich wasn’t alone with his captives in the basement. He speeds back to Jonathan’s house and asks Olivia if she knows who else was with her down there. Though she never saw the second man, she heard him writing, which leads to Sugar’s epiphany. It was an observer. And not just any observer. It was Henry!!!!!!

When Sugar arrives back at the house, it’s all cleared out except for a phone that’s ringing. He follows the sound upstairs and when he answers, Henry’s voice comes through the receiver. “So now you know. Once you started listening I knew it was only a matter of time,” he says. When Sugar accuses him of sitting there, watching, and doing nothing, Henry argues that he observed, learned, and did his job. He tells Sugar he’s staying on Earth — that he belongs on there, as does Sugar.

Before Henry hangs up, he tells John he left him rose petals. Sugar finds a pile sitting outside the closet door. And inside, he finds the same cape-like dress the hooded figure in his vision was wearing. The scene plays in his mind again, but this time, the figure turns, reavealing a blue skinned, blue eyed woman: Sugar’s sister, Jen.

In case you had any doubts, Sugar helpfully spells out what’s going down for us in a voiceover: “Jen. Henry. He took Jen. Is she alive? Is she here? Observe and report and make sure the mistakes don’t become ours. And look at Henry, trapped in a cycle of violence. What about me? Am I any different? I like being here — how I can feel hurt, taste, touch, dream, hate. Have I become more human, like Henry? Need to hurry. Need to find him.”

In Sugar’s vision of his planet, he and Jen are standing together watching a group of iridescent star-looking particles flutter through the air. Perhaps they’re space birds, because on Earth, the fluttering creatures turn into a flock of seagulls as Sugar watches the sky from the beach. Fully suited up, he lets the waves wash over his bare feet, prompting a young girl behind him to ask, “What are you doing? You don’t have a bathing suit?” Sugar assures her he does, just not with him, and she advises him not to go any farther because of sharks. With a small smile, he thanks her. Then gets back to business.

“I’m gonna find Henry Thorpe no matter how long it takes. I’m gonna find him,” he vows. He drives to meet Ruby at the evac (an airplane runway) and she reveals, “We knew about Pavich. That was Henry’s idea. We all went along with it. We all did. For the mission. Jen — I had no idea.” She asks Sugar if he’s OK — what with his hand and the voices in his head and *checks notes* everything. Before they can get into it, a circle appears in the sky overhead, which she says is the last ride home.

Sugar reveals he’s going to stay on Earth, and she reminds him all he saw was Jen’s dress — that more than likely she’s already dead. “Probably,” he replies. “But Henry’s alive and he’s here and we brought him here. Now he’s looking for human beings like him…looking for people he can learn from, people can teach…”

“I love my home. I’ll miss my home,” Sugar says. “And I’ll miss you, Ruby. I will. And all the others. But this place, these people, for better or worse, I like them. I’m like them.”

The two say goodbye and Sugar wishes her safe travels. He hops back in his Corvette, speeds off, and looks up to see a line in the sky. It’s Ruby heading home.

Before Sugar‘s credits roll, we get one final Farrell voiceover. “Man oh man. A movie ending is a strange thing. You know it’s coming and yet you spent all this time laughing, crying, you’re surprised when the credits roll,” he says. “THE END” cards from old movies flash on the screen, and he delivers a final line: “But sooner or later when the lights come on, you put on your jacket. It’s time to go home.”

Just like that, we’re left to wonder if Sugar will be back for Season 2.

Sugar is now streaming on Apple TV+.