Surface season 2 premieres Friday, February 21 on Apple TV+. New episodes debut by means of April 11.
Considering Surface is an amnesia thriller, it’s on theme (and perhaps a tad on the nostril) in case you can’t keep in mind what occurred within the first season finale. After all, it aired over two and a half years in the past. Struggling to recall plot factors could be a detriment to different reveals, however this one stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw as a girl attempting to determine her previous – add to {that a} change of setting from San Francisco to London, and this second season counts as each a mushy reboot and a worthy jumping-on level.
Back in 2022, Surface fell into the meandering traps that have an effect on so many streaming collection, treating its first season like one lengthy pilot episode. Thankfully, its sophomore outing is extra pressing in its quest for the reality – and far much less forgettable because of this. Memory loss from the accident that kick-started Surface nonetheless clouds quite a bit about Sophie, however the thriller stretches again to her childhood; she’s gone to England to crack the thriller of her mom’s loss of life and its connection to an attractive heiress. In London, the place she goes by Tess, Sophie nonetheless travels in the identical upper-class circles, and forsaking the wealthy, Californian embezzlement victims of season 1 in favor of the ultra-wealthy Huntley household ups the ante for season 2 significantly. The cash right here is previous, and the sizable closets are filled with skeletons. When Sophie’s ongoing probe intersects with a reporter’s investigation of abuses tied to the Huntleys, the puzzle on the coronary heart of Surface takes on a brand new weight..
Having stolen hundreds of thousands of {dollars} from her husband, James (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), Sophie doesn’t must ditch her lifetime of luxurious: Plush accommodations, designer clothes, unique golf equipment, and costly booze are nonetheless on the menu. How rapidly she reconnects with the youngest Huntley sibling, Eliza (Millie Brady), reminds us of how good Sophie is at faking it till she makes it, and Mbatha-Raw expertly walks the road between drawing consideration and slipping beneath the radar. While Brady portrays Eliza like a frayed nerve, Ted Lasso’s Phil Dunster performs troubled Huntley scion Quinn with a sinister edge, ditching the lovable-idiot aura that made him an AFC Richmond fan favourite – and showcasing his vary within the course of.
The Huntleys are getting ready for Quinn’s lavish marriage ceremony, and his relationship with fiancée Grace (Freida Pinto) takes some stunning turns all through the eight episodes. Grace’s uncertainty about turning into a everlasting member of the household stirs up some battle, however Pinto’s time on display screen ebbs and flows and the position finally seems like a wasted alternative. (What transient flashes we see of her complexities are far too fleeting.) Pinto isn’t the one one to get a brief shift story-wise: the fabric for relations performed by Joely Richardson and Tara Fitzgerald is equally meager, however the actors benefit from it. Dunster will get the meatier half, juggling Quinn’s personal follies and people of his father and grandfather.
Giving Sophie a part-ally, part-foil within the type of journalist Callum Walsh (Gavin Drea) brings us nearer to the reality about what occurred to her mom. Sophie’s amnesia means we’re studying all the things on the identical time she is, and very important data is frustratingly withheld till later within the season. You would possibly have the ability to work out the broad brushstrokes from the clues strewn about season 2, but it surely isn’t a completely predictable consequence, luckily – the finale culminates in some surprising twists
Sophie had her therapist to speak in confidence to in season 1, however the keepers of her secrets and techniques are extra fluid this time round. Considering Eliza hasn’t seen Sophie for a decade, it’s hardly stunning that she’s lower than thrilled to see her former buddy. The push-pull between the 2 is explored in some depth, however this thread unravels because the season progresses – disappointingly misplaced amid different, flashier developments just like the fallout of Sophie fleeing San Francisco. Jackson-Cohen is listed as a season common and seems briefly within the season 2 trailer, so it’s no spoiler to say that James ultimately re-enters the image. When he does, the season kicks up a gear, as a result of it isn’t instantly clear whether or not he’ll be buddy or foe to Sophie. The actor has a knack for enjoying a menacing husband with layers, and as soon as once more, he hits totally different notes between vanity and vulnerability.
Having seen the entire season, I can guarantee you that solutions are forthcoming, and there’s far much less withholding and fewer bloated misdirects on the horizon. The second season improves on the primary, and one other tantalizing cliffhanger guarantees there’s nonetheless extra of this story to be informed. There’s extra to Surface than its slick and seductive look, and Mbatha-Raw mines Sophie’s potent mixture of grief and rage to new, satisfying depths in season 2.
