As the second episode of SurrealEstate begins, we jump back eight months to 8 Manderley Road. Inside the house, a girl yells for her parents while the windows shut on their own. The windows are shut and locked before the lights are turned off. Then, we hear screaming, thudding, and moaning. Outside of the house, we see a real estate sign with The Roman Agency across the front. It suddenly catches on fire and the intro begins. Tom Quincy checks on his son Jamie (David Kohlsmith) after hearing him talking to someone. Jamie claims he is talking to his friend Rory. When Tom leaves, Cindy (Molly Lewis) tells Jamie she doesn’t like his father. It has been so long since she had someone to play with and Tom wants to take Jamie away from her. Jamie admits they must go because his mom got a new job. Cindy playfully threatens she and Rory will eat him up.

Susan Ireland (Sarah Levy) arrives at work and tries to start a conversation with Zooey (Savannah Basley) who complains about their coffee. Susan bumps into her when she tries to get her food from the microwave before Zooey insists the introduction of a foreign body can throw off your Feng Shui. Susan tries the coffee and realizes Zooey was right about it. Next, Luke Roman (Tim Rozon) tells Susan he’d like to give her a proper orientation now that Rita isn’t breathing down their necks. He warns her she is going to see different things here, but she is adamant she isn’t scared. Susan pulls out the paperwork and talks about Tom, Patty, and their son Jamie. Luke admits it is a nice place and neighborhood, but prospective buyers keep pulling out. One fled the house in the middle of a shower.

Susan talks highly of Megan Donovan (Tennille Read) and her appearance before suggesting Luke is into her, but he denies it. They arrive and talk to tom and Patty about their house. They lived there for years and never experienced anything. Once they put the house on the market, others heard things, but they still haven’t. The inspector claimed he heard a child crying like her heart was breaking. One lady claimed she saw an apparition floating in the hallway. They make it clear they’re Presbyterian and don’t believe in ghosts. Patty is starting her new job in a few weeks and the double mortgage is eating the family alive. When they ask if they can help, Susan says yes and lays out her plan for doing so. They complain about inspectors and real estate agents before Jamie interrupts by saying he can’t find his red jacket.

During Jamie’s introduction, Luke notices something odd about the boy. Jake goes outside and swings. Cindy shows up and asks what is going on, so he explains they’re there to sell the house. She complains she’ll do something to herself if he leaves. She threatens to jump from the roof. Moments later, Luke and Susan meet with Zooey, Phil (Adam Korson), and August (Maurice Dean Wint). They’re surprised Susan is still around since new employees usually don’t stick around that long. Luke begins telling them about 12 Marion Drive in the Haverford neighborhood. Luke tells them that the parents haven’t seen anything, but he thinks Jamie is hiding something. Susan suggests storing all the files in a centralized location so everyone can access them, but the others don’t like that idea.

August will be going there tomorrow, and Susan has a plumber scheduled as well. Susan gives them ideas about scheduling the visits, but Zooey wants to tell her where the shove the spreadsheets. Luke interrupts before she can. Susan is left with Luke and learns that a Harvey is an imaginary friend. As for a lassie, it is a helpful spirit that latches onto a human. He goes on to tell her about the PKT or Psycho-Kinetic Triage which is their initial evaluation that gives them a baseline snapshot of the property’s level of engagement. She believes the locals hate her already, but Luke suggests otherwise and admits they need her. Once everyone is gone, Luke looks at the Donovan property once again. Next, Susan goes to the house to stage it and finds that the boy’s room is like a warzone. She notices the hamster running on the wheel before hearing a thud above her.

She hears crying coming from the closet and decides to take a look. When she opens the door, she finds nothing. She turns around and Cindy is sitting on the bed pleading for help. She cries and complains that she can’t go home unless she has her doll, Betsy. When Susan asks where the doll is, Cindy says she is up there, and she can’t reach her. August calls to tell her he will be there shortly and isn’t surprised she saw the little girl. He insists it is part of the job before recommending she tell Luke. She gets in touch with Luke and tells him. He tells her to alert Phil while she believes they can finish the girl’s unfinished business and get her to leave. After that, Megan runs into Luke and finds him taking selfies of her home. He tells her that the property is different because the house’s exterior attributes change randomly.

They talk about the main reason he returned. Megan jokes she sometimes thinks he should be detained and studied. Luke confirms they’re still working on the case. When Brock (Matt White) steps outside in his underwear, Megan scolds him while reminding him children walk to school this way. He steps inside and Luke tells Megan what they’re going to do before selling the house. Meanwhile, Susan decides to search the attic of the Quincy house. Phil approaches Luke and says he hasn’t been able to find anything connecting the house to a little girl. Susan finds a suit in the corner, and it scares her. Then, she looks around before spotting a raven above her. She falls to the ground. When she looks up, August is standing above her. She quickly asks if he saw anything, but he did not. When Susan returns to the office, Zooey tends to her wounds and she tries to create a portrait of the young girl.

Zooey jokes about the girl looking like Wendy from the restaurant before Luke enters and finds out what is going on. Susan explains the little girl said she left her doll in the attic and she believed her. Then, she lets Luke know a couple is interested in the Quincy house and they’re motivated. Luke tells her about the fire that happened eight months ago and the facMr.t it was out of control before the fire crew arrived. Mr. and Mrs. Travis, their daughter Alexis, and their son Martin passed away as a result. The fire was blamed on a gas leak. Luke explains the family heard a few moans and rattles, but nothing dangerous. They didn’t think it was dangerous anyway. Luke claims he failed them since he believed the thing that told him it just wanted to see how a family worked. He warns her that the things they deal with can hurt her. He encourages her to do things their way until she learns more about them.

When Patty returns home, she is stunned to find Jamie walking along the rooftop. She yells at Tom to help while Jamie says she is going to jump. Tom arrives before they listen to Jamie talking about the little girl who is going to jump from the roof. Instead of jumping, Cindy levitates. Tom meets with Luke and tells him the incident. Jamie has refused to tell them more about the little girl. Luke recommends spending a few days at a motel, but Tom is afraid Jamie’s imaginary friend will encourage him to jump off an even higher roof. Tom asks how they can do their jobs. Moments later, Luke sits with Jamie and tries to get him to open up about the little girl. Jamie admits the little girl’s name is Cindy. He confesses he isn’t supposed to talk about her because Cindy says they can’t be friends anymore if he does. Cindy is threatening to hurt someone if they can’t be friends.

Luke pleads with him not to do anything dangerous no matter what Cindy says. He also says they have to work together to send Cindy where she is supposed to be. Jamie complains he doesn’t have many friends, so Luke says he doesn’t either. However, the friends he has are really goods ones. He believes Jamie will find himself in a similar situation. They go inside for cookies. Moments later, Luke and Susan talk to Anthony (Paul Ewan Wilson) who is going to fix the attic and make it kid-proof. They agree to have no showings until they get this thing figured out. When Luke leaves, Susan recognizes the tune Anthony is whistling. They talk about The Mikado and being in plays when they were young. She gets a call from Mike and promises the house is perfect for him although she cannot show it right now. He says something about cash, so Susan agrees to meet him at 8 AM and tells him not to say anything to anyone.

Next, Cindy scolds Jamie for telling the man about her. She is adamant she should punish him but won’t because she loves him. Instead, she will hurt someone else to teach him a lesson. Jamie watches through the window as his mother goes after his dad with the sheers. His dad turns and pushes the mower toward his wife while Jamie pleads with him to stop. Cindy begins to laugh before Jamie’s parents stop just in time. She grabs his hamster, Josh, and kills him before suggesting Jamie learned something today. Susan shows the house to Lorraine (Michelle Lambert) and Mike Danvers (Stephen Coombs). Lorraine hears something that concerns her and describes it as someone crying, but Susan tries to ignore it. They hear a woman scream and decide to hightail it out of there. Luke arrives and scolds her for not listening to him although Susan insists the Quincy family needs to sell the house.

He argues she needs to check in with him on everything when dealing with issues like this. Luke goes into the house and tries to convince Cindy to show herself. She does and tells Luke he is different than the others. Cindy complains she doesn’t know where everything went since they went up to the light, but she couldn’t. He doesn’t believe her and suggests she is something old and ugly. When Susan enters, Luke tells her to get out because he is working. Next, Susan talks to her mother about her new job which she isn’t sure about. She thought she was going to get a fresh start and Luke was a decent guy, but he really disappointed her today. She admits the others don’t like her so her mom wonders if she is being a little too tough on them. Susan argues her way isn’t perfect, but it is better than the ideas of others. Her mother encourages her to open her heart instead of lowering her standards.

She wants her daughter to show them who she really is because she thinks they’ll like her. Luke finds out that August has recordings from the Quincy place. August plays back an event the sensors picked up this morning around the time Luke was there. Although August believes they have a doughboy, Luke suggests it is something nastier. When Luke wonders if it is an LRG, August says God help us. Luke asks how long it’ll take to get a 30 angstrom MED. August admits it won’t take long but it’ll only work if the beast is in its true form. August warns Luke it is old and cunning. He says it has an ego and can be easily distracted so Luke can use that to his advantage. Still, the beast only exists to inflict pain and sorrow. Next, Susan arrives with drinks and Zooey is surprised she got hers correct. She uses that as an opportunity to suggest they find a way to coordinate their subcontractor visits.

She wants Zooey to design something and she promises she’ll make sure everyone uses it. Zooey has ideas and thanks Susan for the drink. Then, Susan checks with Phil and tells him they’re his files and his rules so he can send her whatever he wants whenever he wants. The repairman Anthony comes over, sings a song, and kisses Phil. Susan admits she loves Anthony and Phil does as well since he married him. Luke comes in and asks for privacy. He apologizes to Susan and asks her to come with him to the Quincy house. He agrees to be open and transparent with her before revealing the Quincy family fired them last night. Luke says they’re going back because the little boy is in danger. He tells her about the LRG which stands for Little Red’s Granny. He explains August built a device that can destroy it, but he needs to trigger it when the LRG is stressed, angry, distracted, and assumes its true form.

He’ll only have a second and Susan will have the tough job of talking to the parents. Susan talks to the parents while Luke runs up the stairs to deal with the beast. She tells them Luke is a good guy and he will get rid of the thing that lured their son onto the roof. Luke sits down and invites Cindy to come out and play a real game with him. Cindy arrives and pretends she doesn’t know what chess is about. Luke insists otherwise and tells her to drop the act. Luke belittles the ghost by saying it is too stupid to play adult games. Cindy’s voice deepens as Luke continues insulting her. The beast transforms and pushes Luke against the wall causing him to drop the device. He pushes the button and turns on the machine to trap the spirit before it can hurt Jamie.

Back at the office, Susan talks to a possible buyer on the phone and gives them advice for competing against several others. Luke enters and tells her she pulled this one out since Jamie is safe and he is out of jail. He credits everything to her although she admits he played a minor, integral role. Luke tells her she needs to make sure the clients believe in them since they don’t believe a lot of the stuff they’re talking about. He finds out she is going to have dinner with her mom and turns down her invitation. He admits family time is important, but he didn’t realize it until his father died. Next, we see that the Quincy house sold. August hangs out with Zooey while Luke plays miniature golf with his father Carl (Art Hindle). Carl talks about the Cold War and the threat of being minutes away from a Russian nuclear attack. Carl tells Luke the girl he had out there at the batting cages was pretty.

Luke admits she is a colleague. His father says it is a new world and he is glad he didn’t live to see it. Carl says his son is better than him in every way except for with the women. Luke asks his father if he needs to remind him of his track record with women and why the second Sunday in May will always tear his guts out. Luke looks around and his father is already gone.

 

SurrealEstate Review

While far from perfect, SurrealEstate is a good way to kill 45 minutes. For a Syfy show with a quirky premise, it isn’t terrible. Many of the humorous lines don’t hit their mark and I still haven’t developed a rapport with the characters. I give the show credit for trying to do something unique even though it is a remake.

Still, I haven’t gotten bored during either episode so far. I am willing to overlook its flaws and give it a chance for the remainder of the season. I just hope it ties the knots and gets better as the season goes on. The second episode scores a 7 out of 10. All available recaps of SurrealEstate will be available on Reel Mockery here.