Editor’s Note: Spoilers ahead for Surface, Season 2, Episode 3
The Season 1 finale of the Apple TV+ series Surface ended with a somewhat sinister promise that James (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) would eventually find Sophie, also known as Tess (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), after she left San Francisco, drained his bank accounts, and faked her suicide.
By the cliffhanger of Season 2, Episode 2, “Speak of the Devil,” it became clear that James kept his promise and tracked his estranged wife to a Huntley family party. This long-awaited reunion couldn’t have come at a worse time for Tess, who is already deep into her mission to get closer to the Huntleys — Eliza (Millie Brady) and Quinn (Phil Dunster) — while working with reporter Callum Walsh (Gavin Drea) to uncover the truth about her mother’s mysterious death and the Huntleys’ potential involvement. As it turns out, we finally see how James tracked Tess down, using his connections and charm to get exactly where he needed to be — and right in her path.
James Finally Tracks Down Tess in London in ‘Surface’
The episode begins with a brief flashback to a week earlier in San Francisco, where James is clearly dejected and still reeling from the events of Season 1. Using his connections, he tracks how Tess moved his money to keep it hidden. Though he’s frustrated by his inability to find her, the hacker he hired provides a breakthrough — Tess is in Mayfair, London. This revelation reignites his determination to find her, and Jackson-Cohen does a beautiful job, subtly shifting his face from defeated to resolute.
The episode doesn’t dwell too much on James’s journey, briefly showing him watching Tess from a distance before deciding to approach her at Quinn and Grace’s (Freida Pinto) engagement party. Using his charm, he plays the part of a wealthy, arrogant man to bypass security and mingle with another rich guest. This brings us to the moment they locked eyes at the end of “Speak of the Devil” before diving into the heart of the episode. When Episode 3, “Burning Bridges,” picks up the story, Tess repeatedly tries to contact James, telling him to go home and warning him that he’s lucky she hasn’t called the police in San Francisco about his involvement in Thomas Baden’s murder (Stephan James).
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Quinn Huntley is the total opposite of Jamie Tartt.
The tension between Tess and James has been one of the show’s strongest elements, and this episode amplifies it, hinting at even more drama to come. James’ decision to stay distant and refuse Tess’s calls speaks volumes about the hurt he’s feeling. He toys with her all episode in the same way he’s felt toyed with by her, and in a way is making her search for him the way he’s been looking for her. When he leaves his phone on the bridge in the same bag that Tess did when she faked her suicide last season, it is a calculated move to torment her, underscoring just how deeply he’s been hurt by her.
While Tess certainly didn’t need James complicating things further, she must have known this confrontation was inevitable — though she may have underestimated the toll things took on him. Tess believes he’s only after the money, but his motives run much deeper. Deeply broken by her betrayal, James is willing to risk everything, and he makes this clear when they finally reunite towards the end of the episode in one of the most powerful and emotional scenes of the season so far.
Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Oliver Jackson-Cohen Deliver Powerful Performances in ‘Surface’
James and Tess finally meet face to face for the first time in the episode, and this season — and it’s one of the most prickly reunions yet. James confesses that it hurt more to learn Tess was alive than to grieve her death because it meant she had chosen not to be with him. This raw moment is a standout for both Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Oliver Jackson-Cohen as their performances brilliantly convey the depth of their characters’ pain. James admits that all he wants from her is an explanation of why she did what she did, often calling her Sophie, the name he’s gotten used to calling his wife. He calls her out for still playing a part, although he remains unaware of everything she’s been involved in, especially her work with Callum.
Tess pushes back, reminding him that he doesn’t know the whole story, and then asks a difficult question that digs into the flaws of their marriage: Why didn’t she ever reveal who she truly was or where she came from? That question has haunted her and is one of the driving forces behind her seeking answers in London. She believes that those around her, especially the ones she’s hurt, deserve to understand why she is the way she is. Despite her heartfelt explanation, it fails to break through the emotional walls James has built from the pain she’s caused. He leaves with a cryptic warning: she will soon learn the full extent of the damage she’s done to him.
As the episode ends, audiences are left with the looming question of how James’ pain will manifest moving forward. Will he seek revenge, or is it possible that he could become an unlikely ally to Tess in the fight against the Huntleys and discover the truth about her mother’s death? At the very end of the episode, she accepts an invitation from Eliza to go to their country home and ride again, which will likely cause a bunch of memories to flood the surface for Tess. With the looming threat of James, this reunion marks the beginning of a thrilling new chapter in Surface Season 2, where unresolved emotions and hidden motives promise to create even more compelling drama.
New episodes of Surface Season 2 drop every Friday on AppleTV+.
Surface
- Release Date
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July 28, 2022
- Network
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Apple TV+
- Directors
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Kevin Rodney Sullivan, Jennifer Morrison
- Writers
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Leigh Ann Biety, Erica L. Anderson, Raven Jackson, Martín Zimmerman, Tony Saltzman, Dan Lee West
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