Black and white scene in what appears to be Tokyo. An Asian man is cutting sushi when the phone rings. Someone tells him he dropped a bag of money outside of the door. If it’s not his, he’s sorry. A knock on the door reveals John Sugar.

He’s looking for a boy named Yuma who has been missing for six days. When the man says he has never seen the boy, Sugar closes and locks the door. He believes that this man is kidnapped the boy.

Yuma’s father is not his father. His real father is Masaki Hashimoto, a boss with the Tokyo Yakuza. What happens next? Take him to the boy, and he can escape to a foreign country. The fellow tries to get one over on Sugar, but that doesn’t go as he planned.

Please tell me where you’re hiding the boy, Sugar says, and the deal still stands. The man remains silent, and Sugar get the drop on him, ruining his severeaux suit in the process.

The boy and his father are reunited, and the father thanks Sugar, giving him a packet of money and telling him it’s best if he leaves now.

The scenes are in color now. Sugar doesn’t like hurting people or getting hurt. It’s a tough business but steady, too.

While eating his dinner, Sugar is bothered by a fly, which he catches with his chopsticks but lets go.

Sugar drinks a lot. He’s currently sitting at a bar and enjoying some sort of whisky (it’s scotch). A ping on his phone shows that Mr. Jonathan Siegel has requested his services.

Sugar is in a limousine listening to the driver speaking Arabic to someone on the other line. He’s talking about someone being sick. Sugar speaks Arabic, surprising the driver. He spent some time in Damascus before either was a lot of trouble. The driver’s name is Munzer.

At his stop, Sugar gives Munzer his doctor’s number so that he can attend to Munzer’s daughter. He asks Munzer to take his bags to the hotel of him and, if the dispatcher asks, say he dropped him there, as well.

On his way to the front door, his hand spasms, and he drops his phone. Sugar is at Ruby’s house. They hug. It’s been a while.

Sugar picks up a cat inside and snuggles her. Ruby gives Sugar some letters from Heather, who still likes to write. Ruby wonders what he’s been doing for our hours. He’s been with Jonathan Siegel. Thomas Kinsey called her about Sugar’s contract, at which time she told him Sugar was unavailable.

James Cromwell plays Mr. Siegel, a movie producer whose work Sugar appreciates, seeing it many times over.

Ruby is very angry that Sugar was contacted directly and responded. He’s her business and promised that, after Tokyo, he’d take a much-needed break.

Emily Carpenter told Spiegel that Sugar does one thing and one thing only — finds the missing for people like him. Siegel’s daughter, Olivia, has been missing for two weeks. His son Bernard only told him two days ago, considering it a misadventure.

Olivia has a past with drugs and disappearances, but this is different. She used to contact her grandfather regardless. After two years of sobriety, something is wrong. She was passionate a month ago at dinner. She was finally on her way, Siegel thinks, to becoming herself.

Ruby doesn’t care nor want Sugar to take the job. But the photos of this girl have gotten under Sugar’s skin. She reminds him of Jen. Ruby is angry. He sure knows how to play her. He assures her he’s not playing her.

Ruby has a conceal carry permit and other docs ready for him. But Sugar doesn’t like guns. But it’s the gun that Glen Ford uses in The Big Heat. That gets his attention. Ruby feels more comfortable if he carries a gun and knew this was the only way to do it. He tries handing it back to her. She demands he makes an appointment with Dr. Vickers, asking about his arm. My arm’s fine, he says.

He also gets the keys to a convertible covered in the garage. Ruby calls it a relic. He calls it a work of art. What’s a detective without a good car?

Ruby wishes he would buy a house, but he likes the hotel. She says it’s an illusion that he’s part of something.

Sugar gets right to work investigating Olivia’s place. It’s a pretty swanky place that keeps track of the comings and goings of those who live there. Sugar wants Gary’s copy of the condo key, and he gets it, offering his number should a leaky pipe occur.

As Sugar is looking through the house, a guy and his buddy named Kenny arrive, demanding to know who he is. It’s Davy “David” Siegel. Sugar recognizes him and talks kindly about him, telling him about his assignment.

Apparently, Davy’s dad, Bernie, has a copy of the keys to the condo that Jonathan bought Olivia, Davy’s half sister. That confuses Sugar. Why didn’t he just ring or knock on the door? Why did he just assume that she wouldn’t be there?

Sugar thinks Davy is a scared little boy, of what or who, he doesn’t know. Olivia’s mom is an award-winning actress named Rachel Kay. She has the same sadness in her eyes.

He finds a photo strip of Olivia and her former rockstar stepmom, Melanie Matthews. He visits the Step-Hi lounge, which was written on the back of the photo. He stops to say hi to homeless man in front named Carl with a dog named Wiley. He asks him to watch his car and offers him some money.

Sugar gets what the blonde is drinking. A $100 per shot whiskey. Melanie asks if he’s ever had rye. It falls between the beautiful whiskey sweet spot. He only knows it from westerns. Barkeep, give me a shot of rye. He’s never actually tried it. Melanie asks him to get drunk, but he can’t get drunk. His metabolism processes alcohol 50% faster than others. But he still drinks because he likes the romance of it.

Sugar equates everything with the movies. He loves the movies.

She assesses him, realizing that he keeps things hidden, only sharing with the trusted few, and gaining that trust isn’t easy. She asks if he wants to take her home. He does.

He thanks Carl for watching his car and Carl thanks him for remembering his name. Wiley likes Sugar. Sugar wants Carl to find somewhere decent to sleep tonight and wonders about his family. Does his sister, Sophie, know what’s going on with him? He allows Carl to keep his phone and hopes he’ll call Sophie tonight and ask for help. He promises to get him and Wiley on a plane tomorrow.

That made me a little bit teary.

Melanie and Sugar chat as he drives her home. They connect. She says deep down, he’s lonely. He chooses to be alone. But there’s hope for you John Sugar, she says.

John is prepared to see her to the door only, but she asks him to check that nobody is waiting got rape or kill her. She offers him a bottle of rye for the road. He can’t get drunk anyway. Is all of that booze still in his blood? Maybe he should stay here tonight. Not tonight, Melanie. He doesn’t want to stay when she’s drunk and he’s not. She says their signs are compatible.

It’s his fault. He lost track of the whiskey and won’t get much from her tonight. She’s a funny Taurus with a swimming pool, but answers will have to wait. He puts on a movie he loves, telling her sleeping self that she’s in for a treat.

Outside, Kenny is tailing Sugar. He can’t even get his gun out of the glove box before Sugar knocks on the window. Sugar tells him where he’s staying and to share that info Davy.

Why is Davy having him followed? He’s one of the good guys, although good and bad is in the eye of the beholder.

He visits Olivia’s car and rifles through it, taking her GPS information and looking in her trunk. Someone is in her trunk inside of a body bag. He takes photos and gets a fingerprint. After so much time, he’s almost gotten used to it. Almost. All this violence. Doing this so long, he’s grown to expect it. He knows what it says about the world, but what does it say about him?

He stays a the Hotel Del Corazon, where he has a bungalow, and doorman Clint knows him by name.

There’s a full moon.

When he arrives at his bungalow, he stows the gun in the safe and takes a look around, checking cameras and preparing to feel safe. His bag is delivered, as is his food, by a woman named Consuela. He asks after her family. She has a letter for him. It’s an invitation to a party. If it will be so good to see everyone, then why does he so often avoid them, someone might ask. He would answer if he wasn’t so busy working.

Sugar watches Rachel in a role online. Rachel Kaye died in a car accident in 1998. Next, Sugar checks out Olivia’s Instagram page. She repeats her mother’s words almost verbatim. Inside of the bag, he sees photos of Rachel in various stages of undress, wondering why Olivia would have them.

Blood is pouring down Sugar’s arm. He needs to lie down. His imagination combines real and past events as he gets a shower.

He blacks out, coming to with a bandage around his arm and his shirt outside the shower stall. He has no recollection of getting in there. He revisits the bag he looked at earlier and shoots a syringe into his neck while saying, “I have to.” Is he a drug addict? It looks more like a serum of some sort.