SurrealEstate Review: White Wedding (Season 1 Episode 9)

It’s time for a wedding on SurrealEstate Season 1 Episode 9, “White Wedding.” The penultimate episode of the freshman season does a good job of layering in the overall mystery of the season with the current case-of-the-week.  However, it also gives us a predictable plot.

Susan is at her best friend Priya’s wedding, and it’s pretty obvious off the bat what could be causing the pre-marital chaos. While the episode does give us more ghosts with some red herrings to deter us, it eventually all comes back to the engagement ring and a curse that goes back years. 

A generational curse is an interesting idea, but to see the team chase the father of the bride’s ghost three-quarters of the episodes until they realize they’re looking at the wrong side feels like a cheat.

Yes, things were happening to Priya at a wedding she had been planning since she was four in her father’s house. However, when it comes to a marriage, it would have been more interesting to incorporate both halves of the couple, especially since Aunt Ruby is the one delivering ominous messages about blood and death. 

And in 2021, that’s the kind of marriage plot we deserve. 

The impromptu wedding scene at the end of the episode is one of the best scenes of the entire plot. It gives Phil and Susan a chance to shine, and the special effects do give us the impression that Johanna is angry. 

Plus, the moment of clarity at the end where Priya realizes her dad is there with her is a heartwarming payoff to the episode. 

While the marriage plot feels a little predictable, it does give the cast some great moments. Listening to August say that he has four daughters and has resisted strangling four best men after mediocre toasts is a moment that only that character can deliver.

Similarly, getting more insight about Susan and her telekinetic powers is also a hightlight. Over the course of Season 1, it’s felt like Susan’s powers were a convenient plot device. When it can be useful it is there otherwise, the writers forget she has them entirely and as a result, so does the audience.

Prior to a visit with her mom we never really got any indication that anyone else knew about her powers. To see Priya and her mom both ask Susan if she could “still do the things” is a touch that the story needs and a perspective that Susan needs on her powers.

Priya is the only person in Season 1 who has shown a positive attitude towards Susan’s powers and saw them as cool. That matters when byou aren’t quite sure how you fit into the world. 

Underneath the wedding is the slow build of what’s really going on at the Donovan house. Meghan has officially moved out, but the house’s spirits are still there. We’ve met Luke’s mom, and we have seen the parade of spirits at the end of SurrealEstate Season 1 Episode 8, “Baba O’Reilly.” However, we never really get an answer as to why they are all there. 

That is, until they are given six houses to investigate. The montage of the team investigating Rita’s six properties is a little bit jarring at first, but when Phil shows how they relate to the Donovan house it all connects. 

It’s not easy to say, but it is possible that the penultimate episode of the first season may have been better served with these six houses being the focus.  Given how the episode ends with August’s panicked text messages to the team, it’s a little concerning the final episode is going to pack too much into the finale. 

Lets be clear, Season 1 was always going to take us back to the Donovan house, and its secrets. The series has been pretty good at letting the audience in bit by bit to the mysteries of the house. However, there are times when I walk a line between thinking there is plenty there and times when I think to myself that we are so disconnected from this house that going back is going to be moot. 

This is largely because Meghan was our way into the house, and we haven’t been following Meghan. She’s been seeing Luke, but when Luke had the confrontation with his mom he decided he didn’t want to spend time in the house anymore. That makes sense for Luke’s character, but it cut the audience off from a crucial plot point. 

“White Wedding” ends with Luke’s return to the house, and his ejection off the front porch. The cliffhanger does serve as an exciting entry point for the finale, but it still makes me worry about the final episode to come. 

Stray Thoughts

• I really want to like the generational curse reveal, but the dark pantomime with the ring feels a little unoriginal. 
• Priya’s mom is right, no one looks good in frosting.
• Anyone else curious about what Phil found out about Luke’s family? Cos I am more interested in that by the end of the episode. 

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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