The Lions on the Garden Wall
SURREALESTATE – Season 2 Episode 1 – SPOILERS
Megan Donovan (Tennille Read) and the new owner of the Donovan House William Larson (Charlie Tomlinson)
The Donovan House, where a lot happened last season, has been sold to William Larson (Charlie Tomlinson). He’s the novelist from “For Sale By Owner” (Ep. 1.3) who always gets Susan’s name wrong and buys a new haunted house from the Roman Agency every time he needs inspiration for a book. Former owner and med student Megan Donovan (Tennille Read) plans to leave in “a day or two” to begin her residency. Exactly where she is going has not been specified.
Frances and Joe Molloy – Molloy is also the name of the main character in a 1951 novel by Samuel Beckett. Beckett’s Molloy is (like Luke) obsessed with discovering the truth about his mother.
Susan (Sarah Levy) has been in charge of things since Luke (Tim Rozon) had a supernatural altercation with the ghost of his unborn sister and lost his ability to speak with the dead. As the episode begins, Susan is helping Joe and Frances Molloy (played by Nicole Underhay and Michael Peers) rid themselves of the ghost of a murderous plumber. (Modified scrabble tiles designed by Augie are used to communicate with the spirits involved.)
Father Phil (Adam Korson) thinks he has located Luke’s mom in a nearby town, but wants to make sure. Luke’s reaction to this is oddly unemotional.
The Cantervilles
After a two month absence, Luke returns to find the Agency has been restructured to fit Susan’s managerial style. He reacts defensively to this, and without sufficient investigation, gets involved in ending a haunting at the home of Deb Canterville (Amelia Manuel) and her husband Randall (Mark Power). Both the owners’ names and their situation bear superficial similarity to Oscar Wilde’s story The Canterville Ghost.
Susan has recommended some renovations, and after a workman (Andrew Halliday) begins to knock down a kitchen wall, a young boy’s voice is heard singing this rhyme (which was written by Showrunner George Olson:
“There was a little pony, his name was Happy Dan.
He loved to run in the sunshine, just frolicking in the sand.
He’d kick his heels up with frisky fun. He’d toss his tail and his mane.
But if he enters the woods at night, he won’t be happy again.
’Cause bad things live in the forest. They wait for ponies at night.
If Happy Dan runs too slowly. They’ll gather ’round and bite.
They’ll nip his ears off; they’ll eat his eyes;
They’ll break his legs if they can.
Goodbye to Happy Dan. Goodbye to Happy Dan”
This weeek’s quote from Augie (Maurice Dean Wint) is from Ashley Montagu: “The idea is to die young as late as possible.”
Then the workman sticks his hand in the hole he made in the wall, and his middle finger is bitten off.
It develops that a trophy cache hidden by a serial killer named Edgar Cornell was concealed behind that wall. Cornell had an unusually high-pitched voice and lured his victims by pretending to be a young boy in trouble. (Bob Winsor plays Cornell, and his voice is provided by Charlie Zeltzer.) Susan uses her pyrokenetic abilities to destroy Cornell’s cache and he goes up in flames with it. Another of Augie’s communication devices (voiced by Emily PIggford) contributes to the ghost’s demise.
Susan has developed an acromym for her system of dealing with spooky houses. She explains: “So, it’s a step-by-step process I call ECHIDNA: Engage, Coordinate, Handhold, Investigate, De-terminate, Neutralize, Assess.”
Stressed by Luke’s return, Susan visit her mother (Alison Woolridge) who tells her: “I never believed you’d be truly happy unless you work someplace with your name on the door” making one wonder if Susan might be thinking of setting up her own agency. Susan recalls pleasant memories of listening to her late father play piano when was a child, and tells her mother she has found a “beautiful house that brings it all back.”
That would be the Ensom House, a bank repo that someone named Julie Chen (possibly not the celebrity) is looking into buying. The Ensom House is equipped with artificial intelligence and it knows Susan’s name. At first she assumes it got that information from the bank, but things get more suspicious when the house provides piano music without being asked. Nevertheless, Susan remains enthralled by the property. She calls Ms. Chen and gives her a discouraging report, likely so she can buy the place herself. In both Norwegian and Danish, “ensom” means lonely.
Miscellaneous Info
The Creator of SurrealEstate – George Olson
Tara Bennett of SyFy asked Danishka Esterhazy, who directed this episode, how we should interpret the warm and wistful hug that Megan gave Luke before she walked away. “We’ve set up some things,” replied Esterhazy, “and we certainly hope to see Megan in Season 3.”
As the workman prepares to knock down the Canterville’s kitchen wall, a radio program becomes audible in the background. “You’re on a crusade about the radiation,” says someone inquisitively. Then another voice says something about “gamma rays on vegetables”.
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