Imagine if you woke up and couldn't remember who you were — but everything around you still smelled of money. A man, a rooftop terrace, a wardrobe like a Net-a-Porter dream and a past that clings to you like a wet bedsheet. That's the premise of Surface, Apple TV+'s silky psychological thriller with Gugu Mbatha-Raw at its center and San Francisco as the backdrop. But what does a woman do when even her own memories seem staged?
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Disclaimer: Apropos Magazine received access or a review copy. As always, we share our own impressions — unfiltered.
Six stars
The perfect surface:
It is no coincidence that the series is called Surfaces. Everything in this tale is about surfaces: mirrors, glass facades, smooth declarations of love and the perfection of a man who never wrinkles his shirt. Sophie -- the main character -- tries to piece together the pieces after a suicide attempt (or was that it?) , and we see it all through her fragmented memory. But one quickly comes to the conclusion that it's not just Sophie manipulating reality. So does the series.
Form rather than contemplation:
Apple TV+ masters the aesthetic. The series is beautiful. The soundside is wrapped in atmospheric minimalist music, every scene is a visual perfume ad, and the camera caresses faces as if they could be broken by the truth. But underneath it all rumbles the question: why should we really feel anything for Sophie? She is neither entirely a victim nor entirely guilty. And perhaps that is why she is not fully present.
There's something about the series that feels more interested in mood than in substance. As if Surfaces would rather look like a thriller -- but don't really dare be one.
Psychological, but not existential:
The themes are otherwise interesting. What happens when your past is gone but your privileges remain? Is identity something you create yourself — or something others project onto you? The series flirts with the big questions, but often lets them lie in favour of yet another slow-motion sequence of Sophie in a trench coat gazing to the horizon.
Acting and supporting roles:
Gugu Mbatha-Raw is doing what she can. She's alluring, as she always is -- but the script makes it hard for her to fully unfold the character. The supporting cast, notably Stephan James as her former lover and Ari Graynor as her friend, add some much-needed edge to the narrative. But they remain satellites around Sophie's nebulous midpoint.
And so what?
Surfaces would like to say something about women's identity, control and trauma in a world where all mirrors distort. It succeeds in part. The series is neither bad nor indifferent -- but it lacks courage. Instead of diving into the deep, it swims around in its own glistening pool.
You see it finished, but you don't feel changed.
