SurrealEstate: Better Ghosts and Gardens

Luke Roman (Tim Rozon) runs a unique real estate business, he specializes in the hard to sell homes. Hard to sell for a specific reason, they have some sort of paranormal occurrences that give the property a bad name.  His team is comprised of ex-Catholic Priest, Phil Orley (Adam Korson); August Ripley (Maurice Dean Wint), a technology specialist who designs special gadgets and studies how the properties’ architecture affects the supernatural aspects; the goth front desk manager, Zooey L’Enfant (Savannah Basley); and newcomer Susan Ireland (Sarah Levy) as the more upbeat people person sales agent, who also has a special gift. Each week the team must figure out what is causing the disturbance and fix it if they can while also dealing with their own personal demons.

SURREALESTATE — “Pilot” Episode 101 — Pictured: Tim Rozon as Luke Roman — (Photo by: Blue Ice Pictures/SYFY)

SurrealEstate is a Canadian production that premiered on CTV Sci-Fi Channel in July of 2021, and in the United States shows on the SyFy channel. The first season ran for 10 episodes with season two airing on October 4^th, 2023. I have only watched the pilot episode and found that it had a high production value with great use of the limited special effects and some creative visuals both utilizing light and shadow and interesting camera work.  The script was witty and well written combining humor in the absurdity of what is happening with some dramatic character development which serves as a bases for future storylines. The introduction of a new team member in the pilot, allowed the writers to give us needed information, without it feeling insincere. The plot moved at a good pace, but the subplot did feel a bit rushed.  Although, it was a clever way of allowing the audience to gather vital information about a character, without it feeling forced.

Overall, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the show, as I was expecting it to be a lot more hokey or campy, but it has the feel of other beloved SyFy channel series, like Eureka and Warehouse 13, very episodical, but also allowing continuity within the characters growth and personal storylines.  I enjoyed the actors’ performances and thought it was well cast and was able to connect well with the two leading characters, Luke and Susan, although I would like to have seen more of August, Phil and Zooey, but I am sure they get their due time on screen in future episodes.  Tim Rozon’s Luke has a connection with the house in the pilot adding to his character’s mysterious vibe.  I found his character both humorous and charismatic.  At first, I wasn’t really fond of Sarah Levy’s character, Susan, she was a bit too upbeat, but as the episode progressed her character moved from over-the-top bubbly to a more realistic person who knows how to deal with people, but at the same time has an inner strength and can be stern when needed, but also tender and emotional. There is a quirkiness to the show that I really enjoy and I love paranormal horror comedy mysteries, which is a niche genre I feel this show falls into.