SurrealEstate 3×3 Review: “Death Does a Refi”

SurrealEstate season 3 episode 3, titled ‘Death Does a Refi’, did a lot to expand the world of SurrealEstate. I’m looking forward to seeing what else the writing team has planned.

One of the things I have wanted more of from SurrealEstate is lore. The monster-of-the-week storytelling style has given us a lot of hints toward the numerous paranormal entities living in such a fictional setting, but the overall narrative doesn’t really dive deep into it. Fortunately, that changed with ‘Death Does a Refi’ because the latest episode not only gave us the personification of Death but also brought up a hierarchy that the main bad Tyler is supposed to be a part of.

Let’s start by talking about Death. SurrealEstate has demons (a whole bunch of them) as well as religious themes, with Father Phil even exorcising demons and currently off fighting the forces of darkness in Rome. But we have never had the narrative talk about the concept of death in such a manner. Until now. ‘Death Does a Refi’ did a very good job of introducing the personification of Death and showing how such a being operated.

Death decided to appear as a tall and striking woman named Madison. We got a couple of scenes with Madison and Luke, but the two didn’t interact with each other as Madison went about doing her job of taking people to the other side. However, it was clear she was interested in Luke. She finally decided to talk to him by popping up at one of the properties being handled by the Roman Ireland Agency.

It didn’t even take Luke a second to realize who Madison really was when he arrived at the property after getting a call from Lomax. Apparently, this was the first time he’s seen Death. Of course, he’s intrigued about what she wants from him. It’s revealed that Death knew about Luke, considering the numerous troubled souls he’s helped leave the plane of the living. This time around, she sought him out to assist the soul of an elderly man named Raymond accept his fate. Raymond was one of Luke’s previous clients. He had specifically asked for Luke after dying and refusing to leave.  

I enjoyed how Luke handled the situation. Death looked on as Luke helped Raymond find his lucky pen (that his grandfather had given to him) and then convinced Raymond to leave with Death while Luke would hand over the pen to one of the nurses who had looked after Raymond, so the legacy of the pen could live on.

While assisting Raymond was an easy favor for Luke to do for Death, things took a serious turn when it was time for Luke to help Death again, but this time the mission involved a young single mother who had been very excited about getting her life on track. Named Isabel, Luke had just handed her keys to her new home. But coming to check on her, he found her unconscious on the floor. Isabel had been rushed to the hospital, but Megan told Luke that Isabel had died. The glare Luke gave Death was understandable, but hey! She’s just doing her job.

The scene between Luke and Death at Luke’s usual bar was one of the most well-written moments in SurrealEstate. With Luke having done a favor for Death by convincing Raymond, I got why Luke pleaded with Death to return the favor by sparing Isabel’s life and taking someone else instead. I knew Death wasn’t going to agree to his terms, but it was still nice to see Luke try. It made him feel human and continued to paint Death for what it’s supposed to be. Death doesn’t care if someone’s old or young. If they were a bad person or a good one. When it’s time for someone to go, it’s their time to go. Death simply appears to take them away. It doesn’t go around actually killing people or birthing life. That’s not what Death’s supposed to be. Luke knew that, but he’s, at the end of the day, an emotional mortal human.

Isabel’s passing hit him hard because it related to how he lost his mother. It was going to be tough for Isabel’s young son, but as Luke put it, the young boy was going to continue loving a mother like Isabel and, in a way, was going to come out stronger down the line.

Death asking Luke to help Isabel was indeed “rude”, but it was “rude” by human standards. Again, Death’s just doing what it’s supposed to do. And though Luke asked Madison to never bother him again, I wouldn’t be surprised if Death showed up later in the season, maybe as a different person. 

I say this because as we got to learn more about Tyler, it’s revealed his goal was to avoid death or something to that effect. While golfing, Tyler’s greeted by a woman named Seven. Their conversation expanded SurrealEstate by bringing up the concept of the spirit possessing Tyler being part of a hierarchy. There’s an empty space in the Higher Plane, and Tyler wanted said position. From what I could understand, though he initially wanted to kill Luke, he’s now interested in possessing Luke and using his ability to communicate with the dead. Apparently, Luke’s abilities will help Tyler and his associates, like Seven, not worry about Death anymore.

The spirit possessing Tyler is named Malec. Luke and his father knew him as Elvis the Elephant, but Malec somehow altered their memories about the dreadful events that led to Luke and his dad locking Elvis up and throwing him in the river more than 30 years ago. Malec did try to possess Luke when he showed up at his house in the previous episode, but Luke was unknowingly resisting Malec. The evil spirit now had to find and exploit a weakness to enter Luke. Seven was supportive of Malec’s plan but also warned him that if he failed, an eternity of agony awaited him.

I’m very interested in learning more about the type of beings Malec and Seven (and the others they mentioned) are supposed to be. Maybe Death will repay Luke by helping him out against such foes? Let’s see.

As for the rest of the cast (yes, SurrealEstate adds a lot in each episode, and I’m here for it), the possessed property in ‘Death Does a Refi’ was a farmland being haunted by Ike and Margaret Gatlin. They weren’t fans of Keith wanting to demolish the farmland for some project. Susan found herself in a whole lot of trouble when she got attacked by Ike and Margaret while checking on Keith. 

Susan’s adventure allowed new character Tag to show his value to the Roman Ireland Agency. Recommended by August, Tag sat for an interview with Luke about operating as the agency’s researcher. Oh yeah, August’s back to working for the agency. His girlfriend’s more or less okay with it. Yes, to the two being mature enough to continue their relationship even after August got fired from ASDRA.

Tag’s quite willing to take Phil’s position, but Luke declined because he wasn’t a fan of Tag not leaving his house. Though Luke was being old-fashioned, I do think he had a point. Not all information has been digitized for Tag to easily access. Furthermore, Phil also talked to parties of interest to dig deeper into a property’s supernatural lore.

Anyway, I do feel the agency needed someone like Tag. He’s a genius hacker (having done some work with ASDRA), and he did come through for Susan when he shared how Ike and Margaret killed a banker who came with an eviction notice decades ago. Tag’s quick response allowed Susan to find the eviction notice (the unfortunate banker had been used as a scarecrow) and burn it to help the murderous farmers move on.

Tag not wanting to leave his room and working for the agency via videocall reminded me of a similar character from the currently airing Found TV series. Now that show continues to feature queer representation through co-lead Dhan Rana and his husband Ethan. I’m just saying, SurrealEstate. I’m just saying.

Due to SurrealEstate having introduced the personification of Death and whatever Malec’s supposed to be, Tag mentioning Durga, Zeus, and Hera did catch my interest. I’m here for the show bringing in Greek Gods and others. Let’s get all American Gods in here!

The episode also had a nice little moment between Susan and Lomax as the two women talked about Susan’s latest failed date and how she still missed her mother. The episode concluded with Susan and Luke bonding over their loss and stating how they have each other’s backs no matter what. Luke’s going to need all the help he can get with Malec closing in.

What did you think of SurrealEstate season 3 episode 3 ‘Death Does a Refi’?

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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