Season 2 of the AppleTV+ psychological thriller series Surface starts to pick up pace this week, as it is confirmed that the estranged husband of Sophie, James Ellis, is indeed back on the scene. While most of the episode is centered around Sophie being haunted by James, for he does not reveal his intentions for the longest time, it also features her continued dealings with the investigative journalist, Callum Walsh, and we are also led to an unexpected revelation. Ultimately, by the end of Surface season 2 episode 3, new situations are promised to pan out for the protagonist in the near future, suggesting that the series will finally take us to the Huntley estate house very soon.
Spoiler Alert
How did James find Sophie?
The beginning of Surface season 2 episode 3 takes us to San Francisco a week before the events in London, where James Ellis was still desperately trying to find some meaning in the strange incidents that had turned his life upside down. While we have always seen things from the perspective of Sophie, this is the first time, at least in a long time, that James’ point of view is used to look at events. The man, no matter how questionable his morals and ethics are, had been left shocked and aggrieved when he was told that his wife had committed suicide in the same manner in which she had attempted to earlier but failed. To have helped her recover from the effects of the first attempt, although in an extremely toxic and manipulative manner, seemingly orchestrated the murder of a man she had been cheating on him with, and then to be told that she had taken her own life in a similar fashion, simply stunned James. For weeks, based on what he says later on, he could not live his life normally, for thoughts of her came rushing to his mind at every instance.
However, James also kept an eye on his bank accounts, possibly because he could not bring himself to believe that Sophie could kill herself, and therefore he decided to track Sophie’s money, since he also had access to it from the time of her accident. To do this, James got in touch with a shady hacker with a lot of expertise in cryptocurrency and decided to meet him for an explanation about the movement of cash in the account. As revealed earlier this season, Sophie had been converting the money into various different cryptocurrencies, most probably to make it untraceable, but she had had to initially use the money directly, and this is what gave up her position to the hacker. In exchange for a significant amount of money, the young man told James about all this before suggesting that he talk with his ex-wife once and sort the matter out. It is clear that James had told him that his wife had run off with his money after they separated, which is why the hacker came up with such a suggestion.
James had no option but to admit, with visible sorrow on his face, that he was not in touch with her and even had no idea where she was. It was at this moment that the hacker decided to help James one last time by telling him where exactly his estranged wife had spent the money he had been hired to track. Thus, James got to know that Sophie was in London and also the address of the apartment that she had bought a few months earlier, although the hacker assumed that she had done it with his money. Once James found out that his wife was very much alive and in London, he decided to travel to the UK himself and confront her. After reaching the fancy apartment in Mayfair, London, James soon managed to spot Sophie from a distance, and thus began his twisted hunt towards finding out the truth about her escape to London.
Why does James’ presence complicate Sophie’s dealings with Callum?
Having spotted Sophie outside her apartment, James held himself back from confronting her right away, an action that clearly suited his passive-aggressive personality. Thus, he started to follow Sophie from a distance in order to find out what she was up to, and saw her speaking to Eliza during her practice session. This was the very instance when Eliza invited Sophie to her brother’s private engagement ceremony, and so it only made sense that James would finally emerge at this party, as seen at the end of last week’s episode. He followed his estranged wife throughout the day and the next, which led him to the hotel where the party was apparently being held, as Sophie visited the place. He then saw her being taken away in a van and reached the penthouse where the event was actually taking place, but James had to find a way to get into the building first.
He used his quick thinking and confidence, along with his wallet full of cash, to get hold of a fancy suit to look appropriate for the event and then make his way into the place. When the guards offered to bring him his car from the building’s garage, which was also the only way to get to the private party, James brashly reminded them that they would have to pay for the expenses to fix his new luxury car if any accidental damage was done to it. This arrogant retort was enough to make the guards believe that he was indeed a resident of the building and allow him entry. Next, he latched on to a group of invitees, pretending to be their friend, and managed to get into the elevator and into Quinn’s engagement ceremony as well. Considering the amount of security protocols that had been put in place to keep out any uninvited people, James’ easy entry seems almost farcical, but Surface has never really been keen on being realistic.
It was at this party that Sophie first spotted her estranged husband and realized, just like us viewers, that James was not left behind in the past (meaning season 1), like the USA had been. Following this, she repeatedly tries to get in touch with him and calls him numerous times, even leaving him voicemails, but without receiving any reply. She mentions that James has no idea about the dangerous situation that she is currently in and advises him to stay away at all costs. But with no reply from the other side, Sophie knows that James is still following her around, and so she makes her way to the hotel to meet with Callum Walsh rather nervously, always keeping an eye open. James makes his presence felt very soon, though, after seeing Sophie and Callum head to a private room, and he feels that she is having an affair once again. Hence, he sends some wine to the room and also leaves a note for Sophie, mockingly telling her to take a video of themselves while she’s at it.
This whole fiasco immediately spooks Sophie, for she cannot tell the journalist about James, since that would expose her scandalous past in America, which would obviously make her seem more suspicious. But Callum already grows suspicious of her, both because of the wine that is suddenly delivered to their room and also because he tails her afterwards and sees her pick up a bag randomly from a spot on a bridge. After leaving the hotel in a hurry, Sophie suddenly gets a message from James sharing his location with her, and once she heads to the spot, she finds the same backpack, with her American IDs, that she had left behind on the pier in San Francisco a few weeks ago. This is a clear reminder to Sophie about how heartlessly she had carved her escape from America, but it creates more trouble for her at present, for Callum sees her pick up the bag. He immediately realizes that the woman is hiding something from him, and although he wants to get to the bottom of the matter, which is his instinctive reaction to any situation, it is an immensely difficult task.
Callum even tells his assistant, Claire, about his suspicions, and she is quick to suggest that it might be the Huntleys who have sent her to the journalist simply to distract him from the real investigation. She believes that Sophie might have been hired by the Huntley family to feed Callum misinformation so that he writes his article based on this information, and it is then immediately exposed as fake news, which would tarnish his reputation as a journalist terribly, and even end his career. Callum himself does not think much about this theory, and he tries to find out more about James from the bartender at the hotel’s lounge.
Although the bartender, who has grown quite friendly with Sophie by now, does not budge from his principles of not leaking information about patrons, even in exchange for bribes, Callum leaves his number with him, if he ever changes his mind, and something like this might happen later in the season. James’ presence definitely creates unnecessary trouble for Sophie, but she continues to work with Callum as safely as she can so that he is not roped into the problems of her personal life. She sends more clues to the journalist about her mother’s disappearance and alleged murder, and this surely makes Callum trust her more, at least for the time being.
Did Quinn really get Phoebe Davis killed?
News of Phoebe Davis’ death had been announced back in Surface season 2 episode 2, after the woman had mysteriously fallen off the balcony of her hotel room in Paris during a vacation that seemed more like she had fled the country. Phoebe was the same woman who had agreed to reveal more information about the Huntley family to Callum, but she had gone away to France without informing him about this trip. It was quite evident that the young woman had realized that the aristocratic family she was trying to expose had gotten a whiff of her plan, and so she left the UK sensing danger. When she is then found dead, that too under such mysterious circumstances, it is even more obvious that the Huntley family must have had a hand in the matter.
In season 2 episode 3, the exact information that Phoebe had taken to Callum is revealed, which had to do with her closeness to Quinn Huntley, despite the latter now being engaged to Grace. Quinn was seen still checking Phoebe’s social media and even messaging her, clearly distraught by her disappearance. In fact, during one of his interactions with the woman, a sex worker by profession, Quinn had drunkenly revealed to her that the accusations against his grandfather and his family are very real and had perhaps given details about the incidents as well. This is what Phoebe had told Callum before her disappearance, and her death therefore seemed like Quinn’s way of ensuring that his family would not face legal trouble.
However, later in the episode, it is actually confirmed that Quinn, or his lawyer, had nothing to do with the woman’s death, and she had either really committed suicide, like the French police were claiming, or there was some other secret behind it. It could be that Quinn’s father, Henry Huntley, might have had something to do with the death, as he seems quite intrusive about her children’s friends, obviously out of fear that his family secrets would get revealed. Or, Phoebe might have died due to some other unrelated cause, and this might actually indirectly bring legal trouble to the Huntley family. Furthermore, Grace also finds Phoebe’s profile open on her fiancé’s phone, which will surely create problems in Quinn’s personal life very soon as well.
What experiences is Sophie going to have in the near future?
Towards the end of the episode, James finally meets Sophie and confronts her about what she had done, which is obviously the main reason behind him coming to London. He believes that Sophie is having an affair with either Callum or Eliza, since he had spied on her speaking to both of them and knows that she is making use of the other’s position or wealth. Although Sophie does not really try hard to explain the situation either, James remains adamant with his ideas, and he is not a man to listen and understand calmly anyway. At the end of their conversation, James describes how horrible he felt upon learning that his wife had faked her death, which was obviously much worse than accepting that his wife had died.
Interestingly, he says that Sophie is about to experience similar pain before walking away from the meeting. If this statement of James is to be taken seriously, then it seemingly points at the possibility that Sophie’s mother, whose death she is adamantly trying to solve, might actually be alive. It is only in this case, if Emma had actually faked her death and abandoned her daughter for some reason, that Sophie can feel the same pain and despair as James.
Right at the end of Surface season 2 episode 3, Sophie returns home only to find Eliza in front of her building, which is quite a surprise for her, since the latter had only recently ordered her to stay away from her life. Earlier in the episode, Eliza’s girlfriend had told her to have a direct word with Sophie and iron out all the differences from their past so that she could finally make peace with the way she had been abandoned. It is for this very reason that Eliza gets back in touch with Sophie and invites her to the Huntley estate house, where their romance had taken place many years ago, and the protagonist obviously agrees, since she can find out more about William Huntley’s alleged crimes there. Thus, we can expect to see the Huntley estate house very soon in Surface season 2, while Sophie continues to tread the fine line between being Eliza’s friend and an investigator searching for the truth.
