Apple TV Plus’ new thriller Surface keeps you completely in the dark

Image: Apple

Apple TV Plus is best known for its comfort food comedies and big-budget genre swings, but it has also built up a line of very intense thrillers. The idea of a mystery to its most extreme conclusion is what Surface is about. Questions and misdirection make up the majority of the early episodes. I don't know if the show is even good at this point, but I need to watch it to find out.

Five months removed from an accident that caused near-complete amnesia, the surface is centered on the character ofSophie, who you might remember from the best episode of Black Mirror. She doesn't have a recollection of who she is or the people around her, so she's trying to piece together her life based on clues: old phone messages, medical and financial records, brief flashes of dreams or memories, and her friends and family.

There is a core mystery that has to do withSophie's accident. It is thought to be a suicide attempt, with the person jumping off of a boat in the middle of nowhere. She doubts what happened very quickly. She doesn't understand why her past self would want to leave it all, since her life is pretty idyllic, with some close friends, a big house, and a well-off husband. She starts to become suspicious very quickly. It starts out as small feelings, like friends she doesn't connect with, clothes that don't fit right, and most of all, it's because everyone in her life is lying to her.

As anyone who has seen The Haunting of Bly Manor knows, Jackson-Cohen is very good at playing an obsessive, manipulative creeps. Figuring out who she can trust and what is true is almost impossible because she doesn't have a lot of memory.

There isn't a lot about the show or the concept. There is a scene where she follows the address on a matchbook. Surface tries to make up for its lack of originality by being stylish and fun to look at, and by piling on the mysteries. The first three episodes don't have a lot of answers. When it seems like a mystery is solved, the answer only brings more questions.

I think it has worked for me so far. Both Jackson-Cohen and Mbatha-Raw are good at getting the tension going. If you want to calm your nerves, I would recommend watching Maya Rudolph have fun in Apple TV Plus' Loot, the only show about billionaires. There is no sense of where Surface is at this point, and there is only so long that questions can last a show.

The first three episodes of Surface will be available on Apple TV on July 29th.