¡°Sunny,¡± the new Apple TV+ show, invites us to think about what even the most innocuous robots can be. Friends? A crime-solving partner? Or, perhaps, as the show¡¯s opening scene suggests, even killers?
The dark drama-comedy, from Hollywood darling production studio A24 and starring ¡°Parks & Recreation¡¯s¡± Rashida Jones, tells the tale of the grieving Suzie Sakamoto, an expat in Kyoto grappling with the mysterious loss of her family in a plane crash. The twist is the eponymous Sunny, an irritatingly accommodative helper robot ¡ª designed by Suzie¡¯s husband (who she thought made fridges), and which may be the key to finding the truth.
The inevitable place to set this show, then, is Japan. Robots ¡ª like bullet trains, kimonos and animal cafes ¡ª remain, rightly or wrongly, among the enduring go-to images of the country.
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