SURREALESTATE – Season 2 Episode 3 – SPOILERS

Emmett (Carlos L Sanyer) and Mandy (Ashley Dingwell) are looking for a larger place, so Susan (Sarah Levy) meets them at the Tolliver house (7,000 sq.ft. with 4 bedrooms, #33 on an unspecified street). As soon as they get inside, the ghost of former owner Genevieve Wilson (Ruth Lawrence), clad in a wedding gown, hangs herself from the banister rail. The present owner, Andrew Tolliver (Eric Peterson), belatedly tells Susan that the ghost has done this before, but never with anyone else around. Susan returns later with Luke (Tim Rozon) and one of Augie’s gadgets. “Why,” Susan asks “do all of Augie’s machines look like what people in 1953 thought machines in 1997 would look like?” Luke explains that “Apparently, the other side is way more sensitive to the analog stuff than to the digital.” Then Genevieve appears and, in a shrill voice, asserts that she did not kill herself, but was murdered. (At least she’s pretty sure of that.) Then she shorts out Augie’s walkie-talkie.

Susan goes home to the Ensom house, which is now the Ireland house because she recently bought it. That night she dreams of herself as a ten-year-old listening to her father play piano, but in the dream she never sees her father’s face. She wakes with a start at 8:13 am. (She was supposed to get up at 6:15.) It takes her less than one minute to get dressed and downstairs, but the house (voiced by Patrick Kwok-Choon) must be asked twice to unlock the front door.

Luke locates Genevieve’s diaries, and learns that at the time of her death, four other people were in the house. Genevieve was a writer, and her editor, Marilyn Bates (Alexis Koetting), was there. Genevieve’s son, Nathaniel Hingston (Patrick Garrow), and her newly minted husband Arthur Aldean (George Robertson) were present as well. The fourth person, Judy Renault (Courtney Lancaster), was Genevieve’s personal assistant. It looks like one of them must be the murderer, until Luke asks: “Who took the picture?”

Genevieve wrote four books, all of them about parenting. After she died, her son, who insists on being called Nathaniel, only drinks two percent milk and was described in her diaries as “creepy”, penned a less-than-flattering biography of his mom after her death.

Creepy Nathaniel is the only suspect who agrees to be interviewed. He tries to chat up Susan (we find out that she is an Aries), then asks if he can smell her hair. When she says no, he waits a bit and does so anyway, much to her discomfort.

Possibly the funniest scene in the series so far happens when Susan is persuaded to call Nathaniel back and ask him who that photographer was. (It was the gardener, who is now cleverly disguised as someone else.) We find out that Susan uses a Swedish shampoo called Jordgubbe (strawberry).

It might be the Ireland/Ensom house, or it could be her four-poster bed, but something makes spirits talk to Susan in her sleep. (Those two lights above the front door of the house are strongly reminiscent of the headlights on the evil 1958 Plymouth in Stephen King’s CHRISTINE. Also there is an unexplained framed photo in the front hallway.)

In Susan’s dream the person responsible for Genevieve’s death appears and explains in detail what happened. The next morning, Luke returns with Susan to the Tolliver house and Susan takes over the conversation with the ghost using Augie’s walkie-talkie, demonstrating that she can now use these devices. Luke seems puzzled by this. “Look,” says Susan, “if you could still do what you used to do, we wouldn’t be here.”

All ends well for the spirits involved, the murder is solved, and Genevieve’s long lost love is restored to her. (It was not her husband.) The disposition of the Tolliver house is left in limbo.

Luke is very nice to Zooey (Savannah Basley) when she tells him about getting her real estate license, and he seems to get along well with everyone but Susan. She tells Luke she’ll next see him at the bowling fundraiser he volunteered her to organize; compares him to her previous boss, who was not a nice man; and indicates she might quit. When she returns home, her new house seems quiescent, plays music for her, and lets her know when the water for her herbal tea is ready.

The music this season has been complex and fascinating. Spencer Creaghan, the show’s composer, tweeted on 20 October: “I am thrilled to announce that we’ll be releasing the the soundtrack for #SurrealEstate season 2 in in two volumes! Vol 1 releases November 1st, ft. music from episodes 201-205; Vol 2 releases December 2nd, ft music from episodes 206-210! Both volumes will feature additional music by Chris Reineck and Walker Grimshaw, as well as violin performances by Nelson Moneo, Hurdy Gurdy by Ben Grossman, vocals by Armenia Sarkissian, and fiddle by Claire Whitehead.”

next episode I Put A Spell On You

---

SURREALESTATE can be be streamed on HULU in the US, and Apple TV in Canada.
Season 1 is available on DVD (zone 2) from Amazon UK.