'Surface' Season 2's Great Cast Suffers From a One-Note Mystery

Two and a half years ago, the season finale of Apple TV+'s Surface had its amnesiac protagonist, Sophie Ellis (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), instigate a massive cliffhanger and then knock off to London, escaping a lot of mess she created in San Francisco. It wasn’t until December 2022 that Apple TV+ renewed the series; now we finally get to see what’s become of Sophie, her abandoned husband, James (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), and her intended pursuit of regaining her memories about her family and youth growing up in England. 

While Mbatha-Raw made Sophie’s memory search compelling to watch in Season 1, along with the supporting cast, there were too many “telegraphed twists and turns” to keep us on the edge of our seats. On the positive, this season, the series' creator/showrunner, Veronica West, and her writers have streamlined some of the busyness that plagued Season 1. But they’ve made Sophie’s search almost too simple, so the audience is woefully ahead of the story by the middle of the season. 

However, the move to England for production and the abundance of beautifully shot and lit London locations have elevated the show to an attractive fantasy on steroids. If looking at super beautiful people in silk kimonos and couture clothing ticks your TV viewing boxes, Surface Season 2 is absolutely here for you. If you’re a mystery fiend hoping for Surface to rise to its potential, be ready for some disappointment as it falls short again. 

Picking up a few weeks after Sophie faked her death in San Francisco and disappeared to London by using a passport sporting her face with the name Tess Caldwell, she has fully assumed that moniker that she left behind a decade ago. Mbatha-Raw is still radiant and an incredibly capable lead for the series, so you want to follow her lead in this new chapter. Living off her untraceable bitcoin millions stolen from James, Sophie quickly gets herself back into the same social circles of the infamous, old-money Huntley family. 

As a reminder, Sophie had hazy memories of her childhood friend, Eliza Huntley (Millie Brady), whom she knew as a teen when she worked at the Huntley family stables. Disturbingly, the memories include Eliza’s bloody face, seemingly pleading to her after an accident, which Sophie feels was a critical moment in her life, so she’s determined to figure out why. She’s also surprised to discover that her pre-amnesia self six months ago had connected with local investigative journalist Callum (Gavin Drea), who’s been chasing some controversies surrounding the Huntley family. 

He recorded that conversation, which reveals Tess had been investigating the murder of her mother, who died when she was six years old. That leads her to uncover her vast stash of research materials about the Huntley family, who owns an incredible, highly secure Mayfair apartment that holds within a single photo of her mum and a beautiful music box. 

From there, Tess/Sophie (yes, it’s all a bit confusing) ingratiates herself more with Eliza, her brother Quinn (Phil Dunster) and his fiance Grace (Freida Pinto), and their parents, Henry (Rupert Graves) and Olivia (Joely Richardson) Huntley. In truth, she sort of darts around the family but actively engages Eliza for meetings where the two stare at each other deeply until Eliza gets mad and confronts Tess about abandoning her after that accident and disappearing. 

Tess doesn’t want to play the minuscule cards she’s amassed as she continues investigating her history, so she remains maddeningly ambiguous with Eliza. After a while, you wonder if this was some sapphic dalliance, as Eliza is a gay adult, or if there’s something else going on. Finding that out takes far too long and doesn’t allow Eliza to exist outside these frustrating meetings. She just drinks a lot and looks pensive, a waste of Brady’s talents. 

Phil Dunster fares much better as Quinn, a new-generation Huntley who ends up in the crosshairs of Callum’s complex investigation of his family. It turns out Quinn and Callum have their own history, which makes their cat and mouse far more interesting as the season progresses. Pinto doesn’t get much to do either, but she gets some solid character moments in the last few episodes. 

Then there’s the James of it all, who, of course, comes looking for Sophie (to him) in London. After a first season of complexity between Sophie and James, this season is undercooked for James. He’s got some initial revenge boiling his blood, but then he’s never given the same sinister weight (or even husbandly rapport) that Season 1 afforded him. He serves the story in whatever way Sophie needs him to based on the investigation into her past; however, the writers avoid the kind of significant confrontation these messy marrieds deserve and should have after everything they’ve done together. 

Unfortunately, the less fleshed-out character arcs are more pronounced because the central mystery about Tess/Sophie’s mum and her father and how it’s all connected to the Huntley is pretty much what you expect. The unexpected twists are few, and the hindrances to the ultimate truth are pretty limp. What could have been a twistier exploration of old money versus new money or legacy sins versus better angels in the family today isn’t explored. 

There are some glaring questions left unanswered about generational racial prejudices in the past that don’t seem to apply to today, with no explanation. It all coalesces into a ho-hum finale that doesn’t provide satisfying comeuppances or confrontations. There is a thread tipped up for a potential Season 3, but if that were to happen, Surface really needs to go beyond its name and get in there with some meaty stories.

Surface premieres globally on Friday, February 21, 2025, with two episodes on Apple TV+. The series continues with new episodes releasing weekly on Fridays through April.