All stories begin with an idea. For Apple TV+’s new limited series, the idea for creator Veronica West (High Fidelity, Ugly Betty) was simple — what if you woke up one morning and didn’t know your own secrets? This is the question that drives Surface, a psychological thriller centered around a woman’s resolve to unearth the truth about her life. The first three episodes of the Reese Witherspoon-produced series dropped today and it looks like we’re in for a suspenseful ride.
Sophie Ellis (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is adjusting to life after experiencing extreme memory loss — a consequence of falling off a ferry into the ocean, an incident that everyone is calling a suicide attempt. Unsure of herself, she relies on her husband, James (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), and her friend, Caroline (Ari Graynor), to fill in the blanks of her previous life — a life that by most standards seemed to be perfect. As she works with her therapist (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), Sophie struggles with why she would choose to end such a perfect life and how she is to move on from something she has so many questions about. But there is more to Sophie’s previous life than she realizes. It was full of secrets and not just her own.
Episode 1 does a great job of setting the tone of the series beginning with a chilling scene of Sophie falling into the water and under the ferry, moving closer and closer toward the propeller. The episode also does a great job of introducing all the major players in one episode in a way that doesn’t feel rushed. We meet James and Caroline, but also Harrison (Francios Arnaud), James’ colleague and best friend, and Thomas Baden (Stephen James), a police officer who is more than concerned for Sophie’s safety and suspects foul play. Very quickly, we understand that no one can be trusted as everyone seems to be hiding something. Fortunately, the series doesn’t drag, and we’re given a lot of information in the first three episodes. Let’s review the hot points.
Sophie and James’ marriage was not good. She had been having an affair with Baden, and James and Caroline slept together. At a company event, Sophie overhears Harrison telling James that he would’ve left a long time ago. (I guess Harrison has not been overly fond of Sophie.) James admits they both made mistakes but sees this as an opportunity to reinvent themselves. During a therapy session, Sophie has a flash of a man standing over the edge of the boat. She runs into the Coast Guards that rescued her who tell her she said a man pushed her off the boat and that her name was “Tess”. The name “Tess” comes up again in a memory Sophie has on a getaway with Caroline where she sees an injured young woman calling out for “Tess”.
Baden suspects James is the cause of Sophie’s fall and acquires some evidence to back up his suspicion. Sophie begins to share this idea as she learns that James lied about where he was on the day of the incident. Sophie has lost all access to their finances because James has conservatorship over her. To make matters worse, James is a venture capitalist that has embezzled millions from his firm and is slowly spiraling out of control. He’s also spending a lot of time trying to unlock Sophie’s iPad.
There is so much that has happened it makes you wonder what else is lying underneath. One thing that is clear is that Sophie’s memory loss is being abused by those closest to her, particularly James. He’s purposely been dishonest. But for what reason? There are so many questions that need answers. Why is James trying so hard to get into that iPad? Why did he steal the money? Is Baden withholding anything else from Sophie about their relationship? Who is standing at the edge of the ferry in Sophie’s memory, and did they try to kill her? Why? And, who is Tess?
We have 5 more episodes to go and I’m hoping every question gets answered as we journey on. Stream the first three episodes of Surface now on Apple TV+.
Rating for episodes 1–3: 4 out of 5 stars
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