SurrealEstate Review: Baba O’Reilly (Season 1 Episode 8)
It’s time for a peek at the team as 16-year-olds on SurrealEstate Season 1 Episode 8, “Baba O’Reilly.”
This episode takes haunted houses to the extreme with a premise that puts the house front and center. The idea of a home that keeps its occupants captive and in prime teenage years is terrifying.
Nellie Neal is the first victim we meet, and her first words are pleading with the house to let her out makes it even more terrifying. There’s no explanation as to if the house is killing her or if this is a glamor.
“Baba O’Reilly” does a great job at pacing out the delivery of information to the audience. We see people enter the house, lose their memory, and then slowly put the pieces together. It’s terrifying, but it is also cunning.
The MVP of the whole scenario is Zoey, who picks up on the house’s schtick and is the first to call it on its game. She constantly continues to push against the house until it ejects her tossing her onto the lawn.
The way she proceeds to follow Phil’s train of thought by throwing a rock through the glass is another star moment. It’s also a great comedic moment next to Phil’s thought process about how they could remove the glass.
It’s very “tell me you married a contractor without telling me you married a contractor.”
The house itself and its story take a backseat to Luke’s inner turmoil following the news story that could sink the business. Luke is a prime candidate for this house, he’s tired, and he wants to lighten his load.
It’s a relatable concept that the house plays into well. The way it culminates in teenage Luke meeting the Luke we know today heightens that internal conflict.
Hearing Luke turn down the option of staying and saying he wants more, and he wants to talk back to the voices is the kind of moment the episode needed.
When young Luke says he wants to talk back, we have an idea of how the home’s glamour works. It made them forget their adult lives, but they are still who they were at sixteen. This matters in the context of where adult Luke is right now.
Yes, not everyone fulfills their teenage dreams but what Luke was drawn to then is key to who Luke is now.
If Luke wanted to be on the path he is on now at sixteen, then there’s no need for him to change his brokerage. The Roman Agency exists because he couldn’t imagine doing anything else, and the glamored house is an inventive way to have him realize it.
Even if it is a little corny.
Elsewhere, Meghan’s roadie is making a home. This piece of the story feels like filler. It’s resolved really quickly, but as we’ve known all season, the Donovan house has more to share.
The fight between Susan and the roadie is the most gratifying moment, but confusing considering the nature of Susan’s powers. It’s never really clear that Susan has telekinetic powers in addition to her pyrokinesis until this moment.
As a result, it feels like the show doesn’t know what to do with Susan’s supernatural powers and likes to remember she has them when it suits the story.
The real benefit from the Donovan House thread is that we finally get to see some of the spirits walking through the home.
The slightly terrifying tag gives us plenty to look forward to going into the final two episodes of the season.
What did you think of this episode of SurrealEstate? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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SurrealEstate airs Fridays at 10/9c on Syfy.
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Lauren Busser
Lauren Busser is an Associate Editor at Tell-Tale TV. She is a writer of fiction and nonfiction whose work has appeared in Bitch Media, Popshot Quarterly, Brain Mill Press Voices, and The Hartford Courant.