Chadzilla ROARS!!! (The Official Blog of Chadwick H. Saxelid, Writer)

Surface, Episode 15, February 6, 2006

"It is a new world."

Rich (Jay R. Ferguson) is captured at the Iderdex facility and placed in confinement, while everyone else evacuates.  Lara (Lake Bell) arrives in North Carolina and begins searching for Rich.  Miles (Carter Jenkins) and his family flee the tsunami.  A desperate Caitlin tries to find Miles, but falls victim to a looter instead.  Lara discovers that the Iderdex facility has a monorail that goes underground...deep underground.  Miles and Caitlin catch a snippet of cable news revealing that full grown creatures are swimming inland and attacking people.  Rich and Lara literally run into the fleeing Miles, Nimrod, and Caitlin and, as the giant waves crashes inland, the group races to the highest ground they can find.  They survive the first wave, but another is right behind it and there's something in the water...

Whether it gets renewed or not, Surface's freshman season ends on a very strong note.  (Despite the incredibly contrived way that Lara arrives on the scene.)  The world cannot deny the creatures exist (not when a news reporter is swallowed whole, live and on camera) and the threat that they pose.  As Lara states at the episode's end, it is a new world.  Hopefully the show will get the chance to explore it.  Even if it isn't renewed for a full season, at least have it brought back as a limited run event that will allow the Pate Brothers to tie up most of the dangling threads.

I do have some serious issues with the conspiracy aspect of the show.  It was old by the midpoint of The X-Files second season.  In a post Katrina USA, it is impossible for me to believe that this kind of thing could be handled to this kind of level.  In fact, a bungled response to the creature's devastating first attack would make for a far more compelling second season than any of the labyrinthine plans the evil Gardener and his crony Dr. Lee might have up their sleeves.  This episode only proves what I have been saying repeatedly about Surface, that the show would be far more suspenseful and surprising if it focused solely on the growing threat of the creatures rather than the mystifying conspiracy behind them.  (Which looks to be: Evil Corporation is bringing about an unexpected world change and is reinventing it in its preferred image, I think.)  Yes, the creatures do have to be explained (maybe), but what they are capable of doing (and have done) is far more fascinating than a tired plot device seen on countless other genre TV shows.  When (or if) Surface returns, its best course would be to focus on the desperate battle to survive, understand, and eventually overcome these strange creatures and the world they are creating.  That would would make for some real "must see TV."

Surface, Episode 14, January 30, 2006

Rich Connelly (Jay R. Ferguson) and Laura Daughtery (Lake Bell) capture Dr. Lee (Ian Anthony Dale).  When they share what they have discovered about his background, Dr. Lee is shocked.  Miles (Carter Jenkins) returns home, but his bond with Nimrod is now public knowledge and makes him even more of an outcast.  Laura sees no reason to go further, but Rich wants to press onwards.  The team breaks up.  But Laura's attempt to return to her old life is ruined when her ex-husband turns her in to the federal agency run by Dr. Lee.  A confrontation at school turns violent and Miles lashes out  in self-defense, seriously injuring a fellow student.  When the police come to arrest him, an angry mob forms around the house.  Rich breaks into one of the corporations facilities and discovers something that resembles an ark.  Dr. Lee, realizing the futility of silencing Daughtery through murder, fakes her death and lets her go.

Oh, and the creatures create a mega-tsunami that will flood the eastern coastline of the United States...

Whether the show is picked up for a second season or not (the teaser for episode fifteen calls that episode the season finale, a very good sign that it will) the last two episodes of Surface have made wading through some of the less than stellar stuff that led up to it worth sitting through.  I really appreciated the twist revolving around Dr. Lee not knowing that he was a clone.  His realization that he is just a manufactured tool of the Gardener (who is looking more and more like Dr. Blum, after all) was the kind of refreshing jolt the show needed.  The ark aspect is certainly interesting, but it raises more questions than it does answers.  (Those answers will no doubt be forthcoming in season two.)  The nightmare sequence at the beginning of the episode hints at the emotional toll all this is having on Rich.  It also recalls his early visions about the vortex.  Perhaps the big creatures will be making an appearance?

Awhile back I wrote about how I grew disappointed in shows that did not dare to evolve with their characters and story lines.  How they would just reboot and return to the status quo, something that killed my interest in The X-Files when, at the start of season four, I saw that it had no interest whatsoever in resolving or expanding on any of its mythology, so I stopped watching.  Surface seems to be doing the exact opposite.  Each revelation is followed through and the stuff that works grows while the stuff that doesn't (the conspiracy) is allowed to wither and die.  These final episodes have me convinced that the show will dare to move forward into its fantastical universe rather than remain on the edge and just tease the viewer with "maybe next week something BIG will happen...maybe."  So far, whenever Surface promises something will happen, it delivers.  And it is that which keeps me excited enough to watch the show each week, despite some lazy writing narrative stumbles.

Surface, Episode 13, January 23, 2006

"I was trying to save the world, instead..."

While Daughtery (Lake Bell) is away, Rich (Jay R. Ferguson) returns home to find that he no longer has one.  Daughtery's mysterious connection (Martha Plimpton) reveals how she came to work for the corporation that manufactured the creature.  While Miles struggles to understand his frightening change, the local authorities organize a hunt for the creatures.  It backfires and the hunters quickly become the hunted.  Rich and Daughtery's hunt for information about the corporation responsible for the creatures leads to the discovery that there are more than just sea monsters to contend with.  They also learn something rather startlingly about Dr. Lee (Ian Anthony Dale).

As the final two episodes of the season (or series, the show has yet to be renewed for another) approach, Surface begins pulling out the big reveals and startling payoffs to keep/get viewers interested in watching.  It's working.  What do the characters know now?  That the creatures are engineered and those that have engineered them have benefited from them in a most interesting way.  Also, Miles may or may not be the bridge between the two species, but the bond is obviously getting stronger.  I also like the fact that Miles doesn't seem to appreciate the change all that much.

The best part of the episode had to be when the tide turned on the hunting party.  It is nice to see the show actually delivering on its promise of monster mayhem.  I also loved how the teaser for the next two episodes hints that a far larger visitor from the sea might be paying a visit to Miles' area.  Couple that tease with the nifty Jaws homage that started the episode, and this monster fan couldn't be happier with the direction the show appears to be headed.

As far as the longevity thing, at least that gives a somewhat plausible excuse for the still lame conspiracy sub-plot.  I just wish that the Evil Corporation run by a board of corrupt and greedy Eternals hadn't been done so often.  But if the The Gardener's name turns out to be either Dr. Richard Malcolm or Dr. Malcolm Richards, I will at least give the writers praise for sly and good humored honesty in their genre pillaging.  I'll say it again, the show would be so much better without the conspiracy garbage cluttering up its narrative lawn.  The creatures and the changes they are bringing about are fascinating enough, and don't need genre melodrama to liven it up.

Surface, Episode 12, January 9, 2006

Dr. Lee (Ian Anthony Dale) sends his agents to "collect" Daughtery (Lake Bell) and Rich Connelly (Jay R. Ferguson), but the couple manages to escape.  Miles (Carter Jenkins) begins to suspect that he is undergoing a physical change, and it isn't the onset of puberty.  A mysterious "friend" contacts Rich and Daughtery, coercing them into sharing their discoveries.  The creatures claim another victim and Nimrod begins to show a mean streak, as does Miles.  Daughtery gets her ex-husband to reacquire the tissue samples she gathered.

And the secret behind the origin of the creatures is revealed...

As season one begins to wind down, the pace quickens, the set-ups for the season (or series, if Surface isn't renewed) cliffhanger are beginning to be laid out, along with some reveals that manage to raise more questions than they do answers.  Despite that, or because of it, I found episode twelve to be one of the season's very best.  The secret of the creatures origin, as well as the reason why they came into being, isn't all that surprising.  But it is intriguing.  I am thankful that Daughtery's new found "friend" is not the Evil Fedora Man, that would have been one cliche too many for me.  Though I fully expect Evil Fedora Man to be part of New Found Friend's conspiracy of Scientists That Dared To Tamper In God's Domain.

The events on the Miles side of Surface tease with upcoming developments more than anything else.  The show also seems to be committing itself to a Miles-As-Atlantian subplot, at least in the foreseeable episodes.  Being TV, if the direction of the story proves too problematic (i.e. too expensive or upending the apple cart of show's narrative chemistry) then the condition will no doubt prove to be reversible.

There are only three episodes left in season one.  Which probably means that episode thirteen will air two weeks from tonight (next week is the Golden Globes, yawn) and then, most likely, a "two hour Surface event."

One more big reveal that isn't all that shocking.  Surface is coming to DVD later this year.

Surface, Episode 11, January 2, 2006

Rich and Laura are taken to the hospital and treated for hypothermia.  Dr. Lee sends a team to pick them up, but the two manage to escape capture, with their recording of the creature safely in hand.  Miles returns to the aquarium and is reunited with Nimrod, who surprises everyone by coming "back" to life.  Rich and Laura get their tape on the evening news, but not quite in the way they had intended.  Miles begins exhibiting some curious symptoms from the after effects of his own nasty run in with a non-Nimrod creature.

All that hard work, only to become a joke on the evening news.  Didn't see that coming a mile away.  I do hope that Laura's news reporter "friend" likes a lot of ketchup on her crow, because in a short while both she and all the other people that treated Laura's discovery as a joke will have a lot to apologize for.  I also want to say that I am laying some good money on Dr. Blum (Stephen Michael Ayers) turning out to really be "The Gardener."  (Or who I called, Evil Fedora Man.)

I was happy to see that the show continued to keep its silly and utterly pointless conspiracy theory in the background.  Even though the next week teaser hinted at some kind of plot pay off as to why the show took such a tired and formulaic route, I remain unconvinced that it was even needed.  Why even bother to take the road more travelled when there are so many excellent story possibilities that revolve around the creature's impact both on our planet and its inhabitants?  Possibilities that are far more interesting than whatever dark motivations are driving "The Gardener" and his evil henchman, Dr. Lee.  The Gardener?  Come on, his moniker is every bit as bland as his motivations may turn out to be.  Please note that I called the "Rich and Laura get a mysterious helper" plot line back when I talked about Episode 7 on November 7th, 2005.  When your audience can call a plot twist three months before it happens, it is time for the writers to either get fired or really try some new ideas.

Now what's happening to Miles?  That's interesting.  I can only hope that Surface dares to be different and actually lets that plot line develop rather than have it collapse into some Dr. Blum/Lee/Gardening-Evil-Fedora-Man abducting and/or killing Miles in a "shocking season finale cliffhanger."  Been there, done that.  I see the potential of Surface, but so far it has evaded becoming something truly unique and special.  Nonetheless, each episode leaves me hoping that the next one will cross that line, and it is that hope that keeps me watching Surface.

Surface, Episode 10, November 28, 2005

Rich and Daughtery are stranded at sea in a leaking raft, but they are far from alone.  Jackson is missing.  Miles's wound becomes infected and he is hospitalized, placed in intensive care.  When Savannah attempts to show Nimrod to Miles's Doctor, the creature escapes and a horrible tragedy occurs.

Surface needs more episodes like number ten.  With no illogical conspiracy story threads tangling things up, the episode is free to explore the mystery of the creatures unhampered by needless plot twists and to generate suspense in a rather straight forward monster movie manner.  The events in this episode show the series at its strongest (with the exception of Miles and Savannah's parents taking yet another trip out of town, an insane plot double dip that destroys the ability to suspend disbelief), while anything concerning the Evil Fedora Man and his vile assistant Dr. Lee is Surface at its very weakest.  The show works best when its focuses on the creatures and the characters who have discovered and are investigating them.  Now that they have begun to attack humans, and more and more people know about the creatures (A big one popped out at a Coast Guard helicopter!), why should the writers bother with an overused, and quite pointless, conspiracy plot?  I vote that it be booted off the show before it ruins it, if it hasn't already.  If the Doctor at the aquarium turns out to be Evil Fedora Man, I might have to give up on the show.

Savannah's decision to tell about Nimrod, the creature's sad fate because of it, and Jackson's mysterious disappearance give fans of the series something to mull over while the show takes a December break.  First run episodes will return in January, as will my summaries and first thoughts.

Until then, stay away from the ocean.  There's something in the water...

Surface, Episode 9, November 21, 2005

"We are looking at the new top of the food chain."

Dr. Lee finds the hideaway where Rich, Laura and Jackson studied Cirko's findings and built the submersible.  A swarm of creatures begins attacking humans in the waters near the aquarium where Miles is performing his community service.  While trapped on the sea floor, Rich thinks he sees a man walking outside.  Evil Fedora Man gives Dr. Lee a cryptic hint as to the nature of the creatures.  Miles gets a harsh lesson in just how vicious the creatures can be.  When Nimrod gets caught up in a fishing net, he learns the cruelty people are capable of.

Okay, my interest in the show is rising again, but not nearly as fast as Rich and Laura did at the end of tonight's episode.  (Wouldn't the pair need a decompression chamber when they reached the surface?)  While the ludicrous conspiracy continues along its nonsensical course, it is kept in the narrative background, intruding only long enough to let the viewer know that it is still there.  Like an unwanted guest, I wish it would just go away.  Maybe Nimrod could eat it, he's looking mighty feisty right about now.

At least the episode delivered on its promise of monster mayhem, starting off with a surprisingly graphic attack.  I also liked the little homage to Jaws that was worked in, when a research scientist at the aquarium performs an autopsy on an alligator thought to be the animal responsible for the fatal attack.

Rich's "there is a plan, I just sense/know/feel it" shtick has gotten quite old, with little to no pay off for all his trouble.  Was the figure he saw strolling around the sea bed really his brother, or just a hallucination?  The fact that only Rich saw it made it less of a reveal and more of a tease at a potential direction the story might take.  That is, if Rich didn't hallucinate the whole thing.  I'm really hoping he did, because the idea of the creatures harvesting "select people" for life under the sea, while eating those that don't pass the keeper test seems rather goofy.  Unless the creatures are like the ants in Them and would be doing so to create slave labor.  I just haven't forgotten Rich's little trip to the cryptozoology conference and the "How long were you in the Underwater Kingdom" comment made by someone who had also seen the creatures.  Neither have the writers, it seems.

Surface, Episode 8, November 14, 2005

"It's not a flower.  It's the future."

Rich, Laura and Jackson build a diving bell, so that Rich and Laura can get a close look at the creatures where they seem to be congregating.  Miles gets community service, but when his sister Savannah (Leighton Meester) shares the whole truth with their parents, things at home change...for the better.  Dr. Lee (Ian Anthony Dale) tracks down Laura's son Jesse and puts pressure on her ex-husband.  Miles community service is switched to the local aquarium, which has discovered some egg sacks that Miles is quite familiar with.  Laura and Rich make the dive, and contact, but have to pay a hefty price for doing so.

Here I was, ready to write Surface off and it gives me ample reasons to keep watching.  I did have a problem with just how easily Miles gets out of the trouble he is in, not to mention the change in his contentious relationship with his sister.  But Surface is a monster series, not a drama, so I cut it a little slack in that department.  Rich and Laura are put into a situation that requires a miracle to survive, which makes for one hell of an episode cliffhanger.

The teaser for next week makes it look like the conspiracy plot will be put on hold.  Earlier episodes hinted that the creatures would be quite willing to eat humans if food got too scarce.  Well, it looks like food has gotten scarce and humanity's position at the top of the food chain has been taken.  It also looks like Surface has managed to pull itself out of its conspiracy rut.  The show works best when it focuses on the investigation and discoveries.  Hopefully it will continue down this route and avoid returning to the overused conspiracy plot within the next episode or two.

Surface, Episode 7, November 7, 2005

On the run and with no place to hide, Laura asks Jackson (Austin Nichols) to help her and Rich.  Miles and Phil's attempt to runaway with Nimrod is short lived, but the creature manages to elude capture, unlike the two boys.  Dr. Lee (Ian Anthony Dale), Cirko's duplicitous assistant, tells the government that the scientist's death was an accident and that no threat from the creature has been discovered, so the research funding is cut and the project shelved.  This gives the new mystery character Dr. Lee seems to answer to the eight months of freedom he desires.  Freedom for what?  According to the late Dr. Cirko's research hypothesis it will be only one year before the entire world is changed forever by this new invasive species.

Two weeks ago I lamented that Surface seemed to be taking the narrative road more traveled.  After teasing and promising big things and big reveals, the show has settled into considerably smaller things and smaller reveals.  All of which will be quite familiar to anybody that has watched a B-monster movie or an episode of The X-Files.  We all know what familiarity breeds, right?  I kept expecting to see cigarette smoke swirling around this new mystery man's head as he spoke to Dr. Lee in conspiratorial tones.  That fact that his features are kept obscured probably means that there will be some kind of "big reveal" of his super secret identity after befriending either Miles or Laura and Rich.  The show doesn't need a character like this, what it needs is to take its concept in a fresh direction that will lead to more interesting storylines.  Episode seven is a lot of running and chasing with the only big reveal being that the government isn't the bad guy, it's "some guy" from Cirko's past.  Been there, done that.

I'm going to continue to watch Surface, but if the show doesn't get out of this creative rut, I don't know who else will.

Surface, Episode 6, October 24, 2005

Dr. Cirko discovers the origins of the creature, but the government brutally silences him before he can share the information.  Singh (Shishir Kurup), Cirko's right hand man, manages to smuggle the information out, but he dies on Daughtery's doorstep.  Nimrod's return home is short lived.  It gets loose and causes even more destructive mischief, forcing Miles to run away from home.  Daughtery and Connelly face the difficult decision of whether to gather the material that Singh was trying to give them, or just give up and let the government have what it is willing to kill to hide.  Rich Connelly also has another vision.

Surface's sixth episode ends with its three main characters on the run, the series now switching over to Fugitive mode.  The series unapologetic embracing of B-Movie styled storytelling devices is a bit too strong for its own good this time around.  Cirko's assassination is terribly clumsy (a hit and run, come on), as is the manner with which Daughtery finds out about it.  Singh's escape from the Research Facility is nothing short of miraculous.  I mean, don't they have guards outside?  Maybe they're in Iraq or Afghanistan.  Miles denial of Nimrod's dangerous nature, especially after its showdown with animal control, breaks any and all sympathy I had for the kid.  He's being incredibly foolish.

Something else I noticed is how this episode pulled back on the special effects and location shoots to lower its production costs.  I figured that to be inevitable, the show couldn't have giant monsters and intricate Nimrod scenes every week.  Understanding that, I expect to see even more closed sets in future episodes as the story settles into its chase thriller section.  Hopefully the series won't drag it out too long and push the show into trite ludicrousness.

On the positive side, I really liked the dialog between Miles and his father.  Especially when he tells Miles, "Without honesty, we're strangers," it really struck a cord.  I also liked how Daughtery really struggled with the decision of whether or not to give up on her quest for the truth, wondering if the cost was really worth it.  Connelly, possessing all the passion of a zealot, and having already abandoned his family, not once refuses to give up on the hunt.  Daughtery seems to decide to continue the hunt more out of self-preservation than anything else.  The truth has to be revealed.

Now that the characters have each chosen their life altering paths, it is time to see where those paths take them.  If they take them anywhere at all, that is.

Surface, Episode 5, October 17, 2005

The government notices the GPS signal from the creature that Laura Daughtery tagged and begins tracing it.  Rich Connelly decides to go to California and see if Laura is also having visions.  He arrives just in time to assist Laura on a chase as the creature swims up the Russian River, leading to a spectacular mass sighting.  Animal control comes looking for Miles' dog eating
pet, but Nimrod gets loose and wreaks havoc at a local Piggly Wiggly market, injuring itself in the process.  Dr. Cirko asks Daughtery to join the government team, a proposition that she is reluctant to accept, considering all the trouble that she has been put through, her suspicion is justified.  Nimrod reveals how smart he is becoming.

Now this is what I'm talking about.  Episode five had my heart pounding during its entire running time, waiting for the big payoff, and it certainly delivered.  The opening dropped a new subplot into the mix, while the remainder of the show made good on its promise of gradually upping the stakes for all the characters involved.  Laura faces a difficult decision, Cirko takes a stand against the D.O.D. security agent in charge of protecting his investigation of the creatures, Rich's marriage looks to be breaking apart, and Miles looses his beloved pet - for a little while.  I was impressed with how the episode handled the mass sighting, the creature itself erasing all evidence in an inspired manner that does not contradict a single rule the series as set to date.  The government got lucky this time around, but things will certainly be changing in upcoming episodes, and I think that luck is going to run out well before the season's end.

Surface, Episode 4, October 10, 2005

Daughtery coaxes a friend into taking her out to sea to track what she says are abnormal whale migrations, but she's actually looking for the creatures.  Rich's obsession with his visions finally drives his family away.  Miles' pet Nimrod's appetite is growing, and an attempt to show him off to an interested girl ends in disaster.  Dr. Cirko briefs a skeptical United States government, but the changes in the weather and the oceans are growing bad to the point of cataclysm.

Episode four of NBC's Surface continues to expand its storyline with impressive reveals that both tease as well as payoff on the plot developments that have set them up.  One of my biggest complaints about series television is that too many times it stays in a creative rut, its universe not expanding to hold the ideas and possible changes that grow from the concept as it plays out.  Instead the creators cheat and/or contort the stories back to a status quo, ignoring an opportunity to break new narrative ground.  (Why yes, The X-Files, I am looking at you!)  Surface is not doing that, watching it is like watching an artfully arranged line of dominoes tumbling.  Each week the situation grows grimmer, the ability to deny the creatures' existence, and their impact on the world, harder and harder to do.  It is clear that the world is changing and the focus will flow from "Can we deny these creatures?" to "Can we survive in the world these creatures create?"  While there is no 'big' reveal in this episode, the events are clearly setting up the next multi-episode story arc.  One that has Miles going on the run to protect Nimrod, while Rich and Laura seem to be at an impossible to ignore mass sighting of one of the creatures.

I'm officially hooked.

On a related note, one of the brothers Pate (the creative team responsible for Surface) talked with Cinescape about the show, its direction, tone, and how DVD sales just might help serial television series thrive.

Surface, Episode 3, October 3, 2005

Dr. Laura Daughtery (Lake Bell) pays a heavy price for trying to force her way into the Government's investigation.  Miles (Carter Jenkins) attempts to train his sea monster pet, Nimrod.  He also gets a clear look at the creature's devestating power.  Rich Connelly (Jay R. Ferguson) tries to share with his family his growing fascination with the creatures, but it ends in disaster.  Yet a vision of some sort convinces him that his brother is still alive.  Dr. Cirko (Rade Serbedzija) discovers that the creatures accelerated ability to heal makes them invulnerable.  The creatures are also burrowing down to the Earth's molten core.  Each hole they dig creates a vent that releases heat.  The ocean is getting hotter, dangerously so.

What is the definition of insanity?  Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.  If that is the true definition, then Dr. Laura Daughtery is insane.  Even after being punished by having her professional life ruined, she continues to try and communicate with Dr. Cirko and get in on the investigation.  While Cirko is made to look far more sympathetic than in the premiere episode, the Government he works for is not.  Daughtery may have gone to him one time too many.

If there is one thing that Surface does well on the character level, it is in capturing the geeky awkwardness of teens and the sometimes fierce relationship between siblings.  I wonder exactly how long Miles can keep Nimrod hidden from his parents, or when his snooty sister decides enough is enough and rats him out.

So far the weakest part of Surface is the Rich Connelly arc, because it is simply a retread of the storyline of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, right down to the hypnotic fascination with a particular image.  Jay Ferguson does a good job with what he has, but it is the actress playing his wife that really sells it.  She is simply terrific at the hanging-on-by-her-fingernails-but-just-wanting-to-scream slow burn.  She's going to snap, probably in the next episode or two.

It is clear that 'big things' are beginning to happen, what with the ocean (obviously the Pacific) beginning to boil and ships either getting swallowed by giant sea monsters or swirling vortexes.  There is going to have to be some kind of impossible to ignore incident that changes the status quo, because I do not see a sustainable narrative the way it is going now.  People have to start noticing.  The show feels like it could be on the brink of...something.  I hope that something is a step in the right direction.

Surface - Episodes 1 & 2

There is something in the wather and it doesn't appear to be very friendly, considering how the second episode of NBC's new series Surface ended.

Teenager Miles (Carter Jenkins) is out enjoying some after curfew waterskiing when he spots something in the water.  5,000 feet beneath the surface of the ocean, Dr. Laura Daughtery (Lake Bell) sees what she believes to be an entirely new life form swim out of a crater in the sea bed.  Rich Connolley (Jay R. Ferguson) takes his younger brother spear fishing, but the trip ends tragically when the young man spears something huge that proceeds to drag him down into the depths.  Each of these three people are witnessing and experiencing events that will forever change our world.

The Connolley and Daughtery storylines intersect rather quickly, while Miles the teenager is kept isolated in a pampered yet emotionally distant home.  The teenager does manage to bring an egg home and hatch one of the mysterious sea monsters, thus getting the closest look at our ocean's newest inhabitant.  Yet I don't think that Miles should get too attached to his strange new pet, because humans just might find themselves added to the food chain in future episodes.

Surface has gotten off to a solid start, introducing plot lines and character arcs filled with potential.  I just hope that the show's creative team has the ability to follow through on that potential and not sink the series into a weekly "we almost revealed the monster to the world this time, maybe next time" conspiracy story.  The producers have said that the events to come in the series will be of the "world changing" variety.  If that is the case, then this just might be a world I will look forward to visiting every Monday night at eight o'clock.