SurrealEstate 3×2 Review: Night Terrors”

SurrealEstate season 3 episode 2, ‘Night Terrors,’ focused on how far a parent might be willing to go to save their child’s life. Also, a possessed Tyler got to meet Luke.

Major developments occurred in the two season-long storylines as ‘Night Terrors’ also found the time to develop the monster-of-the-week plot. But I’ll get to them in a bit. Let’s first talk about the ordeal being faced by a single father and his teenage son.

The episode opened with Mitch Valmy sitting down to have dinner with his son Jaylen. They’re getting ready to move to another location, and Jaylen brought up how he would like to go to a sleepover at his friend’s house. It’s a farewell party kind of thing. However, Mitch instantly refused. They had rules for a reason due to Jaylen sleepwalking and that’s why sleepovers were out of the question even if Jaylen’s friend was going to keep an eye on him.

You could tell something far more serious was going on. The tension intensified when we got a look at the door to Jaylen’s room. Not only did it have a bunch of locks on it, but Mitch also had to board it up after hugging his son goodnight. My initial thought was Jaylen transforming into some kind of were-beast at night. But nopes. The truth revealed a completely different threat. Jaylen’s terrifying voice yelling words in a different language was definitely not werewolf-like. 

Susan was brought in to sell the property. Mitch wanted the deal done ASAP. Of course, Susan realized she had walked into another supernatural situation after she sneaked into Jaylen’s room. Even the windows had iron bars. 

Due to Jaylen attacking his best friend (after pulling apart a couple of iron bars to escape his room at night) and Luke sensing something off at the property, I liked how the episode didn’t wait too long for Mitch to confess. It’s revealed that after his mother’s death, Jaylen was diagnosed with cancer. Not wanting his son to die, Mitch tracked down a man in northern Iraq selling “immortality”. Mitch used the mysterious potion on Jaylen and his cancer miraculously went away.

However, Jaylen soon began sleepwalking. The condition worsened until Mitch couldn’t ignore that Jaylen was indeed possessed by a demon. What got Mitch the most as a father was seeing what Jaylen would do during the sleepwalking episodes. It was as if the demon wanted to escape Jaylen’s body, making him scratch his eyes and skin and even throwing himself at walls. Of course, all of the injuries would be healed before Jaylen woke up only for the torture to begin again the following night with Mitch feeling helpless. Of course, Jaylen remembered nothing after waking up.

Points to the creative team for showing Mitch buying the potion from the man in Iraq. The episode would have stayed the same without adding such a scene, but I appreciated it nonetheless. I like TV series adhering to ‘show-don’t-tell’ when they can.

With the current case featuring demonic possession, I continued to feel Father Phil’s absence. He would have been incredibly helpful when facing such a threat. Luke did mention emailing Phil about the situation. But an email response doesn’t make up for Phil not being there in person at all. Heck! I’ll even take a quick video call. Anything!

August stepped in to help Susan and Luke by handing them a device meant to keep a soldier’s heart going for seven days if the required medical assistance was unavailable. August modified the electrical pulse to ensure only the demon got burned out of Jaylen’s body. The only risk was not touching Jaylen during the process because it could prove fatal.

Due to how such things go, Mitch hugged Jaylen’s body through the ordeal to keep his demonic son from running away. Frankly, I would have killed off Mitch but I think the creative team wanted to give the Valmy family a win. So, I understand the episode not going too dark.

The father/son dynamic made for a nice moment, during their conversation with Susan and Luke, about how Micth needed to let Jaylen make his own decisions. Even if the cancer resurfaced after expelling the demon, Jaylen still deserved to have a life, no matter how short it might be.

Seeing Susan use her telekinesis to try and hold Jaylen was nice. We didn’t get to see Susan use her telekinesis and pyrokinesis a lot during the first two seasons. So, I’m here for the third outing allowing her to tap more into her supernatural abilities, especially considering her line of work.

As for Zooey’s replacement, we got introduced to Audrey (Daniella Dela Peña). She came across as quite competent and willing to learn while working as the Roman Ireland Agency’s receptionist. The way she fainted at the situation Jaylen was in during the finale made me laugh. I liked Audrey and that’s why I was disappointed to see her leave the agency after her first paranormal adventure. Is the agency going to keep losing new receptionists every episode? Is it going to be some kind of gag? I guess we will find out once the third episode rolls in.

Talking about August, I think he’s going to return to working for the Roman Ireland Agency soon enough. With Rochelle being promoted over at ASDRA, August couldn’t continue sharing his tech his Luke. I liked how he came clean to Rochelle about having stolen a device to help save Jaylen’s life. I also liked how Rochelle, being his boss, fired him. It made sense for her to do so. August wasn’t going to stop assisting Luke with his technological genius. It’s just the type of man he was.

I’m interested in seeing how August and Rochelle’s relationship will be impacted after being fired. I wouldn’t mind the two staying a couple. They seem mature enough to work through such a setback. But let’s see.

Coming to Tyler and Luke, he invited Luke over to sell his property. Luke was very happy about the agency being asked to put such prime real estate on the market. Tyler and Luke’s meeting made for a nice intense moment because we knew Tyler wanted to kill an oblivious Luke. Though our lead was saved by the bell, I’m kind of side-eyeing how Luke wasn’t able to detect the evil spirit inside Tyler’s body. Tyler’s not done with Luke. So, fingers crossed Luke picks up on something.

The backstory we got dealt with the spirit stating it was called Elvis the Elephant. Luke and his father Carl had locked Elvis up in a container and thrown him into a lake about 35 years ago. Elvis didn’t appreciate being treated in such a manner and now wanted revenge.

If I were to theorize, I think young Luke’s powers to communicate with spirits helped him realize his Elvis the Elephant stuffed toy was evil. So, he and Carl had to throw the toy away. More layers could be added to the backstory by having young Luke being manipulated by Elvis to do something bad (possibly kill someone) and Carl stepping in to save his life.

What did you think of SurrealEstate season 3 episode 2 ‘Night Terrors’?

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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