Surface

Next on the summer viewing list: Surface: The Complete Series. This short lived TV show from 2005 about sea monsters was an enjoyable re-watch. Only fifteen episodes long, very few of the questions set forth in the show are answered, yet the ending makes you okay with that.

The show follows two main story lines. The first story follows fourteen-year-old Miles, an average private school student in North Carolina with a perfectionist sister and a goofy best friend. After a close encounter with something in the water late one night, he returns to the spot and finds a cluster of eggs.  Taking one home with him, it soon hatches into a baby sea monster. While this causes him endless trouble, he and the creature-which he names Nim- are soon bonded and he does anything to keep it safe even as it grows larger and more uncontrollable. Carter Jenkins, who plays Miles, is cute and likable, at times not the best actor, but overall he’s engaging. Considering most of his important scenes are with computer animated Nim, I think he does a great job with the interaction and emotion required.

The second story line follows Laura Daughtery and Rich Connelly after their own encounters with the creatures lead them to each other. Laura is an oceanographer from California, intent on documenting what she believes is a new species, while Rich is a Louisiana Insurance agent who lost his brother to one of the creatures in a diving accident. Together they form an unlikely team as they try to reveal the creatures to the world for their own reasons. Their efforts attract the notice of government officials bent on keeping the creatures a secret, and their origin an even deeper secret.

This show really has it all, bad government, evil scientists, adventure, and adorable baby sea monsters. It’s an exciting show with plenty of tense moments, but also some laughs thrown in. In a world where the majority of shows seem to be same old same old, I think Surface stands out. We really need more sea monsters on TV. As I said, there are a lot of loose ends, but at least you know that going into this show.  Word on the internet is that the show was originally planned as a mini-series, which I think probably would have been better, because then the story would have been tighter. Overall though, I’ll watch it again.