SurrealEstate 3×10 Review: “The Elephant in the Room”

SurrealEstate season 3 concluded with episode 10, titled ‘The Elephant in the Room’, as Luke and his team took the fight to Tyler.

With Tyler trying to take control of Luke’s body by making our lead emotionally vulnerable, we saw Tyler decide to attack Victoria in the previous episode. I thought Tyler would kidnap her or something to force Luke to willingly allow Tyler into his mind in exchange for Victoria’s life. But nopes. The writers don’t raise the stakes that high in the freaking finale.

Instead, it’s revealed Tyler (more or less) said some nasty things to Victoria about her abandoning Luke as a child, causing Victoria to fall unconciousncess. She’s taken to the hospital, where Megan reassured Luke that Victoria will make a full recovery.

Not only did Tyler not kill or gravely injure Victoria to get to Luke, which seemed weird because he was ready to kill Susan in episode 7, but he also gave away his identity. Of course, Victoria was going to tell Luke about Tyler being possessed by the evil demon from Luke’s childhood.

Wanting to figure out a way to deal with the surprise return of Elvis the Elephant plushie, we got an entire scene where Luke told Susan, Lomax, and August about his off-screen conversation with Phil. According to Phil, the plushie had been possessed by a demon that wanted to control good people and make them do bad things. Decades ago, it had tried to encourage a kid Luke to murder his father Carl by making young Luke think Carl was the reason Victoria left them. 

I liked how the creative team actually showed that particular development via flashback instead of having adult Luke narrate what happened. I don’t know why Carl didn’t burn the plushie instead of locking it up in a tin box and throwing it away in a lake. But oh well, I guess the writers needed an excuse to bring Elvis back. 

Anyway, the only way to defeat the demon was to identify and say aloud its actual name. A list of demonic names could be found in a book at a local church that Phil was very familiar with. The team had to act quickly because the demon had the ability to spread.

Though I appreciated Phil playing a role in the finale, the scene also made me roll my eyes. The information could have been shared through a video call from Phil while he continued to work for the Vatican in Rome. Not having Phil show up once this season, even for a small cameo, while his name kept being brought up as he assisted the team off-screen, just felt off. I mean, if not Phil, then his husband Anthony could have dropped by for a visit at the Roman Ireland Agency, especially to deliver something that could have been used against Tyler during the finale.

If SurrealEstate gets renewed for a fourth season, I hope Phil, August, and their daughter can be part of the storyline. I missed them, especially Phil, because again, how the heck are you going to introduce a demon with ties to Luke’s childhood and not have the agency’s resident priest be part of the battle? Sigh!

At least, the writing team brought back Zooey. When she couldn’t persuade the priest at the local church to provide access to the book, she came up with a plan with Susan and Lomax to retrieve the tome. Susan and Lomax disguising themselves as nuns to infiltrate the chruch made for a fun sequence. However, it also highlighted how certain men-dominated places (whether religious or not) paid no mind to the women also present in the establishment. Not a single man was suspicious of Susan and Lomax being there because, to them, they didn’t really matter. All of the nuns looked the same to them, I guess.

With Luke knowing how to beat Tyler, the final battle was going to take place at the bar Luke and his friends frequented throughout the season. Luke had decided to buy the place. He also wanted to make another huge announcement in front of a crowd, including Tyler, about proposing marriage to Megan (yay!).

I liked how Tyler’s murderous side popped back up when he planned to poison the guests in front of Luke. His plan was foiled by the good guys, of course, but still, I would have liked to have seen more of Tyler’s dark side. He was being built up as a massive threat to Luke, a nightmare from his past, but in the end, it all amounted to nothing. Instead of the final battle involving emotional manipulation and mind games, it featured Luke laughing at Tyler (very Pennywise vibes), Zooey saying out his real name, and August serving the finishing blow with an upgraded version of one of his weapons.

Luke winning against Tyler wasn’t a surprise. I just think the writers could have made the final confrontation a lot better.

With the Roman Ireland Agency having survived Tyler (the actual human Tyler was going to be okay after the demon got expelled), our cast received an unexpected gut punch as the episode neared its runtime. Due to Death being a major part of the narrative, she showed up again, but this time to take… August!

Like Death said, it’s never the perfect time for living beings to go.

August’s funeral was handled nicely, with the cast sharing their favorite literary quotes and such, similar to how August used to quote intellectual stuff during their conversations. And of course, no Phil. Sigh!

The cliffhanger involved Luke wanting to, but realizing he couldn’t use his powers to speak to August because August was the type of man who would have moved on after dying. However, the final few seconds had Luke hear August’s voice call out to him, asking Luke to turn around and see something.

I mean, I don’t know how I feel about August possibly lingering as a ghost. Similar to Luke, I also think August would have moved on. August would have understood his time on Earth had come to an end and that he needed to face the next chapter in his life.

If it’s indeed August calling out to Luke to turn around, I hope it’s simply so August can deliver a warning to Luke about the demonic Tyler being part of a group. Seven was present at Luke’s gathering, and she was not amused by Tyler. Luke’s abilities were also noticed by Death. So, yeah, things will continue to grow dangerous for him (if the show returns).

What did you think of SurrealEstate season 3 episode 10 ‘The Elephant in the Room’?

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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