For decades, artificial intelligence served a lot of narrative purposes: a symbol of humanity’s hubris; a metaphor for God, childhood, or otherness; a cautionary tale that industry chose to ignore. Now that AI is upon us (or, rather, a crappy version of AI that doesn’t work but does threaten everyone’s livelihoods, our electrical infrastructure, and the fight against climate change), it’s beginning to feel clumsy to use it as a device to discuss other issues rather than as an issue in itself. Sunny, the new offbeat sci-fi mystery on Apple TV , doesn’t ask any big questions about AI, nor does it pretend to. It’s a story about isolation, connection, and trauma which happens to explore those topics in part via a cute robot. Sunny has an intriguing premise, a quirky sense of humor, and the occasional profound emotional moment, but compared to something like the underrated Mrs. Davis, which offers all of the above plus an innovative exploration of humanity’s relationship with machines, Sunny doesn’t quite shine.

Thank you for signing up!

By clicking submit, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge we may use your information to send you emails, product samples, and promotions on this website and other properties. You can opt out anytime.

Suzie Sakamoto (Rashida Jones) is a misanthropic American expatriate living in a........

© Observer