‘Surface’s Long-Awaited Reunion Just Complicated Everything

Editor’s Notice: Spoilers forward for Floor, Season 2, Episode 3

The Season 1 finale of the Apple TV+ sequence Floor ended with a considerably sinister promise that James (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) would finally discover Sophie, also called Tess (Gugu Mbatha-Uncooked), after she left San Francisco, drained his financial institution accounts, and faked her suicide.

By the cliffhanger of Season 2, Episode 2, “Converse of the Satan,” it turned clear that James stored his promise and tracked his estranged spouse to a Huntley household get together. This long-awaited reunion couldn’t have come at a worse time for Tess, who’s already deep into her mission to get nearer to the Huntleys — Eliza (Millie Brady) and Quinn (Phil Dunster) — whereas working with reporter Callum Walsh (Gavin Drea) to uncover the reality about her mom’s mysterious demise and the Huntleys’ potential involvement. Because it seems, we lastly see how James tracked Tess down, utilizing his connections and allure to get precisely the place he wanted to be — and proper in her path.

James Lastly Tracks Down Tess in London in ‘Floor’

The episode begins with a quick flashback to every week earlier in San Francisco, the place James is clearly dejected and nonetheless reeling from the occasions of Season 1. Utilizing his connections, he tracks how Tess moved his cash to maintain it hidden. Although he is annoyed by his incapability to search out her, the hacker he employed gives a breakthrough — Tess is in Mayfair, London. This revelation reignites his willpower to search out her, and Jackson-Cohen does a gorgeous job, subtly shifting his face from defeated to resolute.

The episode doesn’t dwell an excessive amount of on James’s journey, briefly displaying him watching Tess from a distance earlier than deciding to strategy her at Quinn and Grace’s (Freida Pinto) engagement get together. Utilizing his allure, he performs the a part of a rich, smug man to bypass safety and mingle with one other wealthy visitor. This brings us to the second they locked eyes on the finish of “Converse of the Satan” earlier than diving into the guts of the episode. When Episode 3, “Burning Bridges,” picks up the story, Tess repeatedly tries to contact James, telling him to go dwelling and warning him that he is fortunate she hasn’t referred to as the police in San Francisco about his involvement in Thomas Baden’s homicide (Stephan James).

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The stress between Tess and James has been one of many present’s strongest parts, and this episode amplifies it, hinting at much more drama to come back. James’ resolution to remain distant and refuse Tess’s calls speaks volumes in regards to the harm he’s feeling. He toys along with her all episode in the identical means he is felt toyed with by her, and in a means is making her seek for him the best way he is been searching for her. When he leaves his telephone on the bridge in the identical bag that Tess did when she faked her suicide final season, it’s a calculated transfer to torment her, underscoring simply how deeply he’s been harm by her.

Whereas Tess actually didn’t want James complicating issues additional, she will need to have recognized this confrontation was inevitable — although she might have underestimated the toll issues took on him. Tess believes he is solely after the cash, however his motives run a lot deeper. Deeply damaged by her betrayal, James is keen to danger all the pieces, and he makes this clear after they lastly reunite in direction of the tip of the episode in one of many strongest and emotional scenes of the season to date.

Gugu Mbatha-Uncooked and Oliver Jackson-Cohen Ship Highly effective Performances in ‘Floor’

James and Tess lastly meet head to head for the primary time within the episode, and this season — and it is some of the prickly reunions but. James confesses that it harm extra to be taught Tess was alive than to grieve her demise as a result of it meant she had chosen to not be with him. This uncooked second is a standout for each Gugu Mbatha-Uncooked and Oliver Jackson-Cohen as their performances brilliantly convey the depth of their characters’ ache. James admits that each one he desires from her is an evidence of why she did what she did, typically calling her Sophie, the title he is gotten used to calling his spouse. He calls her out for nonetheless taking part in a component, though he stays unaware of all the pieces she’s been concerned in, particularly her work with Callum.

Tess pushes again, reminding him that he doesn’t know the entire story, after which asks a troublesome query that digs into the failings of their marriage: Why didn’t she ever reveal who she really was or the place she got here from? That query has haunted her and is likely one of the driving forces behind her searching for solutions in London. She believes that these round her, particularly those she’s harm, deserve to know why she is the best way she is. Regardless of her heartfelt clarification, it fails to interrupt via the emotional partitions James has constructed from the ache she’s precipitated. He leaves with a cryptic warning: she is going to quickly be taught the complete extent of the harm she’s accomplished to him.

Because the episode ends, audiences are left with the looming query of how James’ ache will manifest transferring ahead. Will he search revenge, or is it doable that he may turn out to be an unlikely ally to Tess within the combat towards the Huntleys and uncover the reality about her mom’s demise? On the very finish of the episode, she accepts an invite from Eliza to go to their nation dwelling and journey once more, which is able to probably trigger a bunch of recollections to flood the floor for Tess. With the looming menace of James, this reunion marks the start of an exciting new chapter in Floor Season 2, the place unresolved feelings and hidden motives promise to create much more compelling drama.

New episodes of Floor Season 2 drop each Friday on AppleTV+.

Floor

Launch Date

July 28, 2022

Community

Apple TV+

Administrators

Kevin Rodney Sullivan, Jennifer Morrison

Writers

Leigh Ann Biety, Erica L. Anderson, Raven Jackson, Martín Zimmerman, Tony Saltzman, Dan Lee West