‘Surface’ Episode 4: Recap And Ending, Explained – How Does Sophie Uncover Her Husband’s Crimes?

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Episode 4 of “Surface” adds more shades to the character of protagonist Sophie that are perhaps more unsatisfactory than pleasurable. The last episode had already established Sophie picking the side of undercover police officer Baden, as she had also learned of the suspected charge of embezzlement against her husband, James. In “Surface” Episode 4, she attempts to find out more about the man’s crimes while she herself tries to discover more about herself and her lost past.

Spoilers Ahead


‘Surface’ Episode 4: Recap And Ending: What Happens In The Episode?

Tired of the conventional and unhelpful psychiatric help that she has been receiving from her therapist Hannah, Sophie is seen searching for information about the matter on the internet, which has led her to a private clinic called Encounter Wellness Solutions that makes bold claims of helping people deal with their trauma and also recover their forgotten memories. Sophie seems immediately drawn to this experimental form of therapy and decides to get herself enrolled in the procedure. However, she would need money for this, which is a major difficulty in her current case as she is under James’ conservatorship, and she knows that her husband will not allow her any experimental therapy because she is convinced he has been hiding something major about her past. Instead, he would approve of it only if Sophie’s official therapist, Hannah, prescribes it, and so the woman goes to her therapist asking for her help in this regard. Hannah, though, does not approve of this, saying that her client is still too fragile to go through any experimental treatments of the kind, and that the only way Sophie can get her memory back is through the sessions she conducts for her. Sophie frustratedly states that these sessions with Hannah have not helped her at all and leaves the place, and instead decides to take things into her own hands. She goes through the rich collection of jewelry at her house, which she evidently collected before her accident, and now takes a few of these away to sell for cash. With a fat sum of $15,000 that she gets, Sophie visits the Encounter clinic, where she signs up to be a member for the treatment, and describes the nature of her long-term memory loss to the doctor. As part of the first session, she is made to enter a quiet room with dim lighting and made to lie down in shallow water, staring up at the lights. This treatment does seem to work, as Sophie suddenly starts to remember scenes with the stranger woman who she had also earlier seen in her dreamy memories. The woman who had, and still does, called Sophie by the name of Tess, is now revealed to have been Sophie’s lover as well, as the two share a romantic kiss, and the woman also seems gravely injured in Sophie’s haphazard unconnected memory.

Undercover police officer Thomas Baden keeps in touch with Sophie, and the two frequently meet, many times to make love. Baden tells Sophie that a friend of his in the Financial Crimes Unit has told him how they are preparing an embezzlement case against her husband James, and the two think of this case as an opportunity to pin James and then investigate him further for the attempted murder of Sophie. The only thing keeping the FCU away from the case is that they do not know exactly how much money has been misplaced, as that information is still kept inside the firm that is trying to deal with it internally. Sophie tries to make herself useful in any way in trying to disclose this figure, but Baden asks her to stay out of any trouble, professing his love for her. His new angle, as he tells her, is to try and work with someone inside the firm, and sometime later, he is seen inside a bar. Here, he pretends to be a drug dealer and sells his goods to the firm’s IT handler, Todd, who Baden has clearly stalked before this. Although Todd wants to buy significantly smaller amounts of drugs, Baden’s quick-witted negotiation skills convince him to buy some more, which makes Todd guilty of buying enough drugs to sell on his own, therefore making his actions severely illegal. Baden obviously makes use of this angle later on that night, when Todd returns home to find the police officer inside his apartment. Baden now reveals his real identity, the charges he can bring against Todd, and then convinces the man to give him inside information about the case going on at his firm, claiming that he is trying very hard to protect someone very important to him.

On the other hand, James is still seen as very shaken by the internal investigation that has been going on in his firm. His plight seems to increase when his close friend, Harrison, the only person he had admitted to that he was the one to take the money, gives him an ultimatum to return the money within 48 hours, or he himself would tell authorities of James’ confession. James insists that all will be well if he manages to return the money quickly and says that he will soon be contacting someone he knows who will certainly help his situation. This someone is found out to be Caroline, who also happens to be supremely rich, along with being James’ lover (at least for some time), and his wife Sophie’s best friend. James asks for $9 million from her, but Caroline only promises him $4 million. She also tries to convince James to come clean to Sophie about her past, as it is increasingly evident that the two have hidden something of her past from the woman, but James tells her that it would perhaps be better to let the past be in this case than to stir it up. The next day, James once again avoids sitting down with the investigator looking into the embezzlement case in his firm, and instead orders Todd to somehow keep her off till the next day, when he promises he will fix everything. James now returns home to find that Sophie had prepared a romantic evening for them to celebrate their anniversary, which had passed when Sophie was still sick. The couple return to the fancy hotel where they had gotten married, and Sophie innocently asks her husband to describe the event and the place on that day. James eventually leads his wife to the hotel’s swimming pool, where he says the two had secretly come to on the night of their wedding, and the man now seems to show grief over his wife’s condition. Almost as if waiting for this exact moment, Sophie asserts how she is always by his side, and the couple spends a romantic, intimate time in their room. Right after this, Sophie makes James talk about the troubles in his office, and the man reveals that the total amount of money missing is $11 million. What remains totally unknown to James is the fact that all his words were recorded on a sound recorder that Sophie had hidden on the side of their bed.

The next morning, Sophie jubilantly takes this recorder to Baden and proudly tells him of it. Baden does not tell her of his meeting with Todd, though, and instead looks excited that James can finally be brought to justice. Sophie visits her therapist Hannah once again, and this time the latter reveals that she had called up James to inform him of Sophie’s erratic wish to undergo experimental therapy to recover her memories. James had asked Hannah to call the clinic, which she did, and found out that Sophie had indeed had a session there. She had now threatened the clinic with legal proceedings if they continued to treat Sophie, as that sort of treatment is extremely dangerous for Sophie. When Sophie asks for clarification, Hannah reveals that Sophie possibly has a genetic psychotic disorder, as her mother had the same condition. Confused by this new information and also hurt and disrespected that Hannah had told her husband about everything, Sophie storms out of the therapist’s office, claiming that Hannah has no idea about who her husband actually is.


How Does Sophie’s Character Gradually Change In Episode 4?

With “Surface” Episode 4, the character of Sophie shifts from one of a confused and dazed woman stumbling to find her way through the new life that she found herself in, to one of a woman still confused and unclear about her past, but who now seems to take her own agency. Episode 4 starkly shows Sophie taking a much more active role in her life’s happenings, as she gradually starts to build confidence in herself and her beliefs. When she wants to get herself enrolled in the experimental therapy, she cleverly comes up with a way to get her money, and also, through this, she learns of her and James’ anniversary date. This, in turn, leads her to another major plan of hers, which is to manipulate her husband into revealing the exact amount that his firm is missing. Sophie goes about this plan with enough confidence and aplomb as well, as she successfully gets James to say everything significant on record. She is then finally confident enough to have a confrontation with her therapist, and dismisses her apparent thoughts of concern for her. When Sophie had seen the stranger kiss her in her memories, she had quickly picked up on that aspect of her past life as well, and at present, she pays an escort at the hotel money to kiss her. When the two briefly kiss, memories of her kiss with the stranger lover of hers come back again, and Sophie grows even more convinced that the experimental therapy has helped her recover a small bit of her memory.

However, where “Surface” gradually seems to be lacking depth, is in the very way that Sophie’s character is being established. Despite being the intelligent and careful woman that she has been shown to be, her extreme faith in just one side, that of Baden, without ever questioning Baden’s words, is quite unsettling. Had a similar situation happened in reality, would one not trust the ones they have known longer than those who have randomly appeared in their life? Instead, Sophie’s character development seems too convenient to the script and the plot, and this might lead to grave disappointment. Even more disappointing is perhaps that the other characters remain with no development at all.


What To Expect Next In ‘Surface’ Episode 5?

With the happenings in “Surface” Episode 4, it seems very unlikely that Sophie will return to Hannah to be treated, and whether she secretly returns to Encounter or looks at some other options will probably be explored, as Sophie will definitely continue to try and recover her lost memories. Although it might still be too soon to expect to get to know Sophie’s exact past, more revelations should definitely drop next week, especially with regards to the stranger woman who happened to be Sophie’s lover. The fate of James will also be something to look forward to, as he is still struggling to get hold of the $11 million that he needs to return to his firm to avoid embezzlement charges. Lastly, what exactly is the secret that James and Caroline have been hiding from Sophie? That might also be something that might be explored next.


See More: ‘Surface’ Episode 5: Recap And Ending, Explained: Why Had James Actually Stolen The $13 Million From His Firm?


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Sourya Sur Roy
Sourya Sur Roy
Sourya keeps an avid interest in all sorts of films, history, sports, videogames and everything related to New Media. Holding a Master of Arts degree in Film Studies, he is currently working as a teacher of Film Studies at a private school and also remotely as a Research Assistant and Translator on a postdoctoral project at UdK Berlin.

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