SurrealEstate 2×10 Review: “Letting Go”

SurrealEstate season 2 episode 10, titled ‘Letting Go’, offered an action-packed finale as Luke and his team tried to rescue Susan. It also opened a new door for the Roman Agency’s future.

With Susan showing up during the closing moments of the previous episode, I was looking forward to seeing how the Roman Agency would react. It’s clear that they all knew that there was something not right with the version of Susan in front of them. However, it took them a bit of time to come together and plan a rescue mission. The delay allowed Sarah Levy to tap into Susan’s dark side as she was forced to hurt her friends due to being under the evil AI’s mind control.

I knew nothing too serious would happen to August and Phil when they were alone with Susan. But the creative team was still able to maintain the intensity of those scenes. Also, the place Susan took August, where she wanted to push him off the cliff, was beautiful.

With dark Susan messing things up for the Roman Agency, the original Susan did put up a fight. Luke was able to hear her plea when he decided to pay dark Susan a visit at the possessed house. Original Susan also mouthed the words ‘Help me’ to Phil after dark Susan forced him to spill what the team was planning to do by threatening to drive the car over the side of the cliff. There was also a nice little scene where dark Susan had a conversation with the original Susan (who was trapped in one of the mirrors) about never letting her go. Levy did a good job of handling the dual nature of such a role.

In order to help Susan, the Roman Agency had to learn about the house’s backstory. We got that during the finale. Turns out, a woman named Hela hired a guy named Rabbitfoot to build the house for her. However, she was very involved in every detail because she wanted the house to be her forever home. Tragedy struck Hela after a storm flung her and a bunch of others off an oil rig. She had only lived in her new house for a week. The unfortunate event led to the house gaining some kind of consciousness as it tried to find a replacement for Hela. Other people tried to live in there over the years but the house rejected them all. That changed when Susan appeared because her appearance and drive reminded the house of Hela.

In my opinion, it’s a satisfactory explanation. However, I was expecting something a lot darker, especially with the house being powered by AI, having the power to trap people inside the walls, and being capable of mind-controlling them. I wanted more death, restless spirits, and chaos.

Anyway, with the house wanting a replacement, Lomax and Luke decided to offer the house to Elsa, the seemingly immortal woman from episode 7. I wasn’t comfortable with Elsa being sent to live in a house that was uber-obsessive, but I guess the Roman Agency wanted to kill two birds with one stone.

The action sequences were during Luke’s plan to save Susan from the house. August reached out to Rochelle to use a machine (meant for extracting inorganic salts, or something along those lines) to extract the house’s grasp from Susan’s body. It was the first time August was met with a situation where an organic being (Susan) was being possessed by something inorganic (the house). Phil was ready to exorcise the house from Susan. Zooey served as a distraction. And Luke sent out a call to Hela so the house could have a proper goodbye.

It was fun to see Susan being allowed to go all out against her attackers. She used her pyrokinesis to stick Zooey’s shoes to the kitchen floor. She also used a powerful stream of fire from her hands to counter the energy beam coming from Rochelle’s device, ultimately burning it. And Susan used her telekinesis to strangle Phil. So good!

The emotional impact of Hela’s dead spirit making the trip to the house and hugging dark Susan is what forced the house to release Susan. The house realized that it was wrong and it had to let Hela go, connecting to the title of this particular episode.

The theme of letting go continued as Luke looked toward the future of the Roman Agency. His team was like family to him. However, he realized the importance of allowing them to do what they wanted. August decided to take Rochelle’s offer and return to working for ASDRA. Zooey was going to begin her academic journey of becoming a lawyer. And Phil was moving to Rome (which I’ll talk more about in a bit).

The upcoming changes and everything the team had gone through with Susan had allowed Luke to put his ego aside and announce Susan as his partner. The Roman Agency was now going to be called the Roman Ireland Agency. The entire season had been working towards Luke accepting Susan as his equal, and I’m glad that he took the step to do so in the finale.

Having said that, I would have liked to see Luke apologize to Susan before getting his powers back. But oh well. It is what it is. I mentioned my opinion because I think Luke apologizing to Susan after regaining his sense of confidence via his powers was different than him checking his attitude toward her before getting his powers back. Like, would Luke have found it in himself to make Susan partner if he was still powerless and feeling lost? Hmm.

Looking forward to the future, Luke, Susan, and Lomax were ready to find new hires for the agency. So, I take it that if the show returned for a third season, we might get introduced to new characters with certain abilities or skills.

The episode closed with Luke saying his final goodbye to his father Carl. Having his father move on to the other side was inevitable. Carl had been around to support Luke for quite a bit now. It was time for him to leave, especially with Luke having managed to reconnect with his mother. Carl’s job was done. I liked how the emotional vibe of their goodbye was handled. While hard, it was something both men had to make peace with.

Serving as a teaser for a third season, Megan called Luke to discuss something paranormal. Apparently, there’s something up with certain people not staying dead. I’m here for Megan returning for the show’s third outing. I missed her chemistry with Luke during the second season.

Coming to Phil, he got contacted by a priest who wanted Phil to move to Rome. Turns out, there’s been an increase in the number of kids experiencing demonic possession. Phil’s mentor, along with Phil, had researched such demonic possessions before the mentor’s death. Now the Vatican wanted Phil to continue his research to help the kids. He would be given access to any archive he required.

With Phil deciding to move to Rome, I would liked to see him having an actual discussion with Anthony about such a big move. Phil’s past with the Church served as a huge emotional source for his character across the show. That’s why being offered a job in Rome with the Vatican seemingly being okay with his husband and adopted daughter coming along deserved to be handled in a better manner instead of being addressed offscreen. Reconciling with the Chruch (more or less) in such a manner was a major change for Phil’s entire character and I wanted to spend more time with his thoughts about the entire thing.

All in all, while satisfying, the finale of SurrealEstate season 2 also felt like a series finale. I understand the creative team’s decision to take such a route. A third season’s not guaranteed and I appreciate the creative team not ending on a cliffhanger. They did their best to leave the audience on a positive note that stressed that if season three was indeed greenlit, there were still more stories to tell. And if, unfortunately not, then the characters we have become fans of were going to be just okay.

Some other thoughts and questions:

• Lomax felt wasted to me during the finale. I was expecting her to do something during the rescue mission. Or the very least, I wanted her lie-detecting ability to kick in when interacting with dark Susan. Give her something to do!
• Due to Rochelle seeing Susan use telekinesis and pyrokinesis, is she going to search for other superpowered people? She’s a scientist after all. While Rochell’s intentions might be good at the beginning, I think her wanting to research such superpowered people could lead to an interesting arc in the third season.
• I was a bit disappointed about the mirrors not playing any role in Susan’s rescue. Why mention mirrors having the ability to trap a person’s soul if you aren’t going to do anything about it?
• The scene with August and Rochelle in bed together made me side-eye the show a bit. We have never seen Phil and Anthony being intimate with each other in such a manner. So, what’s up with that SurrealEstate? Hmm.  
• Yes, to Zooey always believing in Susan.
• Both seasons of SurrealEstate are now available to be streamed on Hulu. If you’re in Canada, you can watch it on the Crave streaming service. Go binge-watch it!

What did you think of SurrealEstate season 2 episode 10 ‘Letting Go’? Are you hoping for a season 3?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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