Parents' Guide to Sunny

The vibe of this series veers abruptly from colorful satire to dark menace; it's playful, unsettling, and tantalizing at once. Sunny is also an odd duck: Science fiction narratives are typically rather grim, or at most, exhibit a satirical sense of humor, yet Sunny is positively silly on many levels. It's set during a cheerful Japanese Christmas (tinsel, reindeer imagery, and lit-up trees abound), is stocked with wry and comic side characters, and centers on a woman who can't get rid of an annoyingly optimistic bot. In another story, the bot would spark heartwarming change in Suzie's life. But in this one, we're pretty sure that either Sunny or the people who made her are up to something big bad, which makes the subtle pinpricks of unease amongst the cheeriness all the more unnerving.

Rashida Jones, well-known in America for comic roles in The Office and Parks and Recreation, is also an arresting choice for Suzie. Viewers are primed for her to do something sitcom-worthy and lovable; when her Suzie is instead suspicious and mournful and misanthropic, it adds to our feeling that something isn't quite right. Still, viewers won't be able to stop themselves from caring about the unpretentious, unsuspecting Suzie. And as she starts to dig deeper into the stories her husband has told her about his work and past, finding out more to be concerned about all the while, Sunny comes to vivid life. One of science fiction's big downsides is that it's often a downer; Sunny is something else again, like a cute and fluffy animal that still packs one heck of a bite.