‘SurrealEstate’: Elena Juatco Talks Lomax’s Clients & That Ending With Susan
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for SurrealEstate Season 2 Episode 9 “Dearly Departed.”]
At the end of the penultimate episode of SurrealEstate Season 2, the Roman Agency was about to go off to rescue Susan (Sarah Levy) from her house (you know, the one that swallowed her with its walls) … only for her to walk off the elevator?!
Something strange has to be going on, which is fitting for the agency. And it’s just another supernatural happening in a string of them for the newest member, Lomax. Below, Elena Juatco opens up about her character, teases what’s coming in the finale, and proposes a new team bonding experience.
Lomax has very much been introduced to the level of weird the agency handles, and it feels like she’s almost taking it in stride, much like she seems to everything else. Is she settled at the Roman Agency at this point?
Elena Juatco: Definitely. I actually like that you noticed that she takes things in stride because I did make the choice that she hasn’t witnessed any weird s**t, but she always, especially growing up in a funeral home with dead people, would get the creepy, icky feeling, like this weird sixth sense, not as developed as Roman’s [Tim Rozon] kind of sixth sense, but she always felt like this was a real thing. And so I think it’s partly validating for her that she’s like, “I knew there was weird stuff happening with dead people, but also, what the f**k?” I think the first episode when [her client] stabs herself in the chest, it’s like a hazing ritual or something, like some sort of weird rite of passage into this weird world. This is what you’re going to see. She needs to take a few deep breaths, but then she’s more than prepared for whatever gets thrown her way next. So I think she’s just game for whatever is to come. So she’s excited. She loves being part of the Roman Agency.
What’s been the strangest experience for her thus far? Because any of her clients are contenders.
I think there was something about the werewolves that really grossed her out. She can handle gore and knives and blood — “I’ve covered up nastier wounds than this. That’s fine.” — but there’s something about dead animals that just is disgusting. A dead body, a dead human is fine. She’s around them all the time. But a carcass of an animal is just like, no, get that away from me. So that one was probably the one that … no.
Duncan de Young/Blue Ice Pictures/SYFY
That lunch scene.
Especially the lunch scene, because I think Lomax is vegetarian. I just don’t think you could work at a funeral parlor and eat a burger. And so I think that was my thought. I was like, “I don’t think people who work at funeral homes or on dead bodies, I don’t see them eating a burger.” So the raw meat in front of her definitely grossed her out.
What does she think of each of her coworkers so far?
I think she gets along with them. She’s still guarded. I think she’s still a little guarded and kind of sussing people out. There’s something about each of them that she likes, and I think she respects everyone, but it takes a lot for her walls to come down. I don’t think she would have joined any agency without Luke Roman, though. She definitely has the most respect for him, and I love their banter when they first met. There’s definitely a camaraderie and respect among them. That’s something I want to see more of and explore more of, what the specific dynamics are with everyone in hopefully a third season.
The stuff with Zooey (Savannah Basley) is great — the phone call, then Lomax is like, “I like her.”
I know. “I like her.” She’s still considering. “Yeah, I can work with her.” And I love that our only scene was just shaking hands and so much was said just by shaking her hand. It was brilliant. So yeah, I would love to see a scene with the three women actually and see what that dynamic is especially since you haven’t seen Lomax with Susan, and how those two would work together. That would be interesting.
This episode ends with everyone planning to go get Susan back, only for her to just walk off the elevator.
And then she’s like, what?
Blue Ice Pictures/SYFY
What can you tease about what’s next in the finale there?
I want to reassure all of the fans who are on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and all the things that she is not forgotten, that we are looking for her and that we got our girl. We’ve got her. A lot of people are panicking. It’s literally every time I see something, it’s just like, “Who is going to look for Susan? Why are we not looking for Susan?” And I’m going to promise you all that it’s going to be a very exciting, terrifying, satisfying, and phenomenal ending to that storyline.
What is Lomax’s impression of Susan? Because all she has to go off of at this point is what she’s heard.
Yeah. It’s funny because when she walks off the elevator, she doesn’t even know if that’s her or not. She’s never met her. That’s why she’s like, “Was that the girl we’re supposed to go save?” Apparently she’s in this house and she hears that this is a thing. And she goes, Okay. But then she’s back and then she thinks, “Well, she’s back. So is this still an issue? I’ve got houses to sell.” Her priority is in selling the houses. She doesn’t know why people are up in arms about Susan because she’s back, and she seems fine. She doesn’t know the difference.
What will we see from Lomax and Susan in the finale? What’s that first meeting like?
Lomax has this great instinct about people or this sixth sense of something not being right, and her nose itches when someone’s lying. When she meets Susan for the first time, it’s not quite [that], but it’s definitely a little something is not right spine tingle. “I don’t know this woman, I’ve only heard about her, but there’s something weird about her.” I think she does have a little bit of that sixth sense, not as pronounced as Luke Roman, who actually talks to other spirits, but she does have that little tingle at the back of her neck when she’s in the funeral home and working on dead bodies. She knows that there’s another world, and she does have a little bit of a sense. So that first meeting is definitely one that does not fit right with her.
Something I like is the letter of resignation she writes every week and how she calls it cathartic. Considering she was bitten and still burned it, can you think of anything at this point that would make her hand one of those over to Luke?
Ooh, she could really blackmail Luke with that one. She’s pretty much game for anything at this point. I think she’s really interested in this supernatural other world. Something that would make her resign, though? It’s a hard question. At this point, no. I feel like she’s game for everything, but it would have to be something that’s personal to her, some sort of backstory thing that we haven’t divulged yet. There’s so much about her that we still don’t know. I think she’s been around a lot of grief and loss and pain in her own life that we don’t know about, but there is something personal that I feel if you did cross a boundary with her emotionally or personally, she’d probably bite you.
It’s not something that would scare her off of the job.
Yeah, it would have to be something very, very personal — something which is why she builds these walls up about her, why she appears guarded at first. It wouldn’t be anything of the supernatural stuff because she’s game. And it’s like she always knew these things were true and she wants to see how far the rabbit hole goes. She’s curious.
I want to see Lomax, Susan, and Zooey in scenes together.
Yeah, definitely.
I feel like they would solve mysteries really fast, just the three of them working together.
I would love to see the three of them do an escape room.
Oh, that would be fun.
They would solve it so fast. You’d think they would, but I think they would work very efficiently together in doing an escape room.
Seeing them face off against Luke, Phil (Adam Korson), and August (Maurice Dean Wint)…
August would probably solve the escape room in record time on his own. You’re supposed to work as this team, but he just probably would in one minute be like, “Oh, the exit is here.”
SurrealEstate, Wednesdays, 10/9c, Syfy
