‘Surface’ Apple TV Plus Series Review
Surface is a brand-new, eight-episode psychological thriller from Apple TV Plus starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Loki, The Morning Show) and Oliver Jackson-Cohen (The Haunting of Hill House, The Invisible Man).
Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays Sophie, a woman who has suffered a traumatic head injury that has left her with extreme memory loss, believed to be a result of a suicide attempt. As she starts to recover from the psychological trauma that waking up in a hospital bed with no memory of what her life is like was for her, she starts to put the pieces together of what she was going through before the accident. One question remains — why did she jump?
From conversations with her husband, played by Jackson-Cohen, and her best friend, played by Ari Graynor, she starts to recall what her life was, though the plot quickly starts to thicken when she starts to be suspicious of them. A mysterious man, played by Stephan James (If Beale Street Could Talk), starts to complicate the situation even more for her — Sophie quickly realizes she was in a love triangle between her husband and James’ character, whom she was having an affair with.
At its best, Surface is a thriller filled with twists and turns capable of keeping you on the edge of your seat for extended periods of time. Episode 5 is definitely the best of the bunch, with outstanding editing and direction that will keep the audience guessing throughout its entire runtime. The show quickly establishes that nobody is who they say they are and that most people are lying through their teeth, which leaves the audience as confused as the main character is. We are quick to empathize with Sophie because, as the series starts, we know as much about her life before the accident as she does. She starts to find things out at the same time we do, which makes for a very compelling argument.
Stephan James’ character gives Sophie a lot of comfort throughout the series, as she sees him as a reliable source of information about what her life was like. But, and without giving anything away, Surface gets especially interesting when Sophie even starts to doubt him as well. The second half of the series, starting with an outstanding fifth episode, definitely improved upon the first four and gave a rather thrilling conclusion to the series.
This does mean, however, that the first four episodes are a bit slow at times, but that’s only because the series takes its time to establish every character and subplot. In addition to Sophie trying to get her memory and life back, her husband is going through some trouble at work, something that will inevitably affect Sophie as well. The series explores the complexities and many layers of marriage, while also making it very clear that Jackson-Cohen’s at-times controlling behavior is not to be tolerated. At some point in the series, their backstory is explored, and we get to see how the two of them formed a team before they grew apart after they settled in. Here’s the catch, though — everyone is an unreliable narrator in the show, because all of them have their personal agenda and own interests to protect, which makes everyone untrustworthy (and the show’s resolution all the more satisfying).
While I still hold The Morning Show as Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s best performance, Surface gave her all the time she didn’t have in TMS to dive deep into a character and explore her many sides. She is confused yet determined, and is definitely one of the highlights of the show. Stephan James and Oliver Jackson-Cohen also had very strong moments throughout the show, but I would have loved to see more of Ari Graynor. She practically stole every scene she was in, and while the character was present throughout the series, I feel like she was more of a background player, instead of one of the leads.
Surface was created by Veronica West (High Fidelity) and directed by Sam Miller (I May Destroy You). Reese Witherspoon, who was in The Morning Show with Gugu Mbatha-Raw, is an executive producer via her Hello Sunshine banner. The first three episodes will premiere on Apple TV Plus on July 29.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
