SurrealEstate 3×1 Review: “Buckaroo”

SurrealEstate is finally back for a third season. ‘Buckaroo’ served as an enjoyable opening to a new chapter at the Roman Ireland Agency as Luke and Susan try to replace the OG team.

With the season 2 finale aired back in December 2023 and the narrative deciding to make August, Zooey, and Phil part ways from the Roman Ireland Agency, ‘Buckaroo’ had a lot of ground to cover as it brought back viewers to the world of SurrealEstate after a three-year timeskip between the two seasons.

The premiere wasted no time introducing the current outing’s big bad. We got to see a man named Tyler fishing while on vacation. He reeled in a strange box and, of course, decided to open it. Inside the box was a stuffed elephant toy, and it didn’t even take a second for Tyler to be possessed by whatever entity resided in said toy. Apparently, the supernatural being had a score to settle with Luke’s father. But with Carl dead, it pivoted to going after Luke.

I’m looking forward to learning more about the beef the (seemingly) evil spirit has with the Roman family. And if I were to make a guess, the key to defeating the latest enemy likely involves the stuffed elephant toy.

As for the real estate agents, we got a scene where Luke and Susan waited for Lomax to deliver the ashes of a man who burned to death. Apparently, the screaming ghost haunting the house they were preparing to list on the market was the man’s wife. The night marked the couple’s 100th anniversary and bringing the man’s ashes might bring her some peace.

I liked how the entire sequence was handled with Luke and Susan realizing their research was wrong and the ghost haunting the establishment was the housekeeper that fell victim to the man’s dark nature. Poor housekeeper. At least she finally found peace.

It’s revealed that the incorrect research had been conducted by the agency’s recent researcher/receptionist who had just quit. So, yeah, most of ‘Buckaroo’ was about Luke and Susan continuing to fail at finding adequate replacements for August, Phil, and Zooey. It’s been three years of no success for them.

August and Zooey showing up made for a nice surprise. However, I’m disappointed that Phil didn’t pop up. I know he’s fighting the forces of darkness in Rome, but Phil could cameo via video call or something. Again, I have no idea why creator George R. Olson decided to write off Phil, his husband Anthony, and their adopted baby daughter in such a manner in the first place. It’s been three years. Can’t Phil and his family return from Rome already? Sigh!

Considering August, Zooey, and Megan (whom I’ll get to in a bit) were part of the premiere, I have my fingers crossed Phil manages a cameo, too. I highly doubt Anthony will. But beggars can’t be choosers. At least Phil and his family seem to be doing fine in Rome. Yay for small victories.

As for Zooey, she’s been making time from her life as a lawyer to teach the new receptionists being hired at the agency. It’s tough being a lawyer, but Zooey’s happy about feeling like she belongs in the legal world. Also, kudos to Zooey for making Luke finally realize he should look for and nurture potentially talented people instead of trying to replace his old team. He found Lomax. So, he should be able to find other resourceful people.

August was shown having doubts about his position at ASDRA. His sentiments just weren’t gelling with the military-focused research company. I understood why August would think leaving ASDRA again would be a sign of weakness, but I think he might have to take the leap because his employer wasn’t going to back down from creating military weapons and other related tech. Sometimes admitting that you were wrong about something twice does take courage.

August did mention tinkering with something very powerful during his spare time. So, that device might come in handy when it’s time for Luke to face a possessed Tyler down the road.

Talking about Megan, she’s now a doctor and was seeing another doctor. Luke and Megan were still friends and met for drinks, but I guess staying as a romantic couple wasn’t meant to be (at least, not yet). Their conversation gave me clear signs the two still loved each other. So, let’s see what happens.

Luke shared a vulnerable scene with Megan where he shared how he felt everyone was moving on to better things while he was stuck. It made for a nice moment, but I think Luke’s being too hard on himself. Some people find their calling a lot earlier than others. And that’s okay. Luke does good work by not only helping the living handle supernatural occurrences but by also offering ghosts the chance to move on.

Coming to the entity that gave the episode its title, ‘Buckaroo’ had the team deal with a smiling cowboy haunting a young child. The Barnett family had recently moved into a house the agency had sold as a “normal” house, but their son had taken to riding a rocking horse, talking about a friend named Cowboy Rick, and drawing pictures of himself with Cowboy Rick. 

I have to say the entire Cowboy Rick storyline took me by surprise. A show like SurrealEstate makes it clear that not every ghost is evil or wants to harm the living. But still, the way the narrative used Cowboy Rick to deliver a message about living your life the way you want to was unexpected.

We got to find out that the “Buckaroo” that Cowboy Rick was looking for was his son. Rick wanted to tell his son to not waste time doing what was expected of him aka running the family business as an accountant. Rick couldn’t break away from family tradition and that led to him living a somewhat unhappy life. He actually wanted to be a cowboy.

I mean, the writing wasn’t the best and certain moments were a bit clunky, but overall the Cowboy Rick storyline managed to hold impact because of the message. I really liked the line about living your dream instead of dying with them.

I think hearing Cowboy Rick likely added to Luke rethinking his current career choice. I do wonder what type of life Luke wanted to have when growing up. A possessed Tyler might shine some light on the matter soon.

Did you watch SurrealEstate Season 3 Episode 1 ‘Buckaroo’? What did you think of it?

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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