The central mystery, at the outset of the series, sees detective John Sugar (Colin Farrell) summoned to the mansion of a rich movie producer (James Cromwell), whose granddaughter has gone missing. It all plays in a very new-noir sandbox until an absolutely wild, love-it-or-hate it plot twist that drives the rest of the series. Clive Owen is great as the rumpled, emphysemic detective, and the story feels like a fitting sequel to Hammett's defining noir detective novel. As wacky as that sounds, the show deals somewhat poignantly with Lucifer's trauma, while also exploring our world as an outsider, not at all unlike John Sugar. Greed, fear, and shortsightedness make conflict nearly inevitable, even if the series isn’t quite as cynical as it at first appears.