What if the concept of being reborn actually came true in front of your eyes while you’re grieving over the death of someone close to you? That’s pretty much the concept of the Psychological Thriller Drama titled Servant. Created by Tony Basgallop, Servant is an American psychological horror streaming series available on Apple TV+ that made its way into the entertainment industry in November 2019. It is currently airing its second season, whose episodes are dropped every week. Season 2 has so far delivered 3 episodes, and we’re here to provide you a brief recap if somehow your busy schedule didn’t let you catch up with the show.
Servant: Season 1 Recap
The show begins by introducing us to the Turners, namely Dorthy and Sean. The couple hires a nanny for their son Jericho, who isn’t actually a living baby but a reborn doll. Leanne seems young and weird, and the fact that her behavior seems unusual is soon noticed by Sean. The way Leanne handles the reborn doll just as one would do for a living baby begins bothering him and his brother-in-law, Julian. We’re then partially made aware of the fact that the couple has lost their baby, but we’re kept in the dark about how they lost him. Bringing the reborn doll to their house was just a way to help Dorthy cope up with the loss she has suffered in the past. He lets Leanne know this, but she pays no heed. She keeps caressing the doll-like an infant.
The difference in her behavioral conduct and her being a theist to a greater extent and putting crosses everywhere begin to prick him. Sean and Julian soon discover that the reborn doll has been replaced by a real living baby, and they suspect Leanne of having criminal instincts. They try to interrogate her and make her spill the truth out, but she refuses to give any reactions and gives a blunt reply that it’s their child Jericho. Julian feels that it might be partially correct to raise the baby as their own because they can’t keep Dorthy in a dilemma that her son is alive using a reborn doll all their lives. Sean shoves the cross sign down the garbage disposal, and as he walks down to his living room, he gets a sharp splinter on his foot. Later that night, his wife helps him remove more splinters that he somehow may have accumulated.
The next day Julian comes home to celebrate his birthday, and Dorthy prepares dinner for everyone. Sean complains of not being able to taste anything her wife has prepared, including the wine. He leaves the table and extracts a sharp wooden piece from his throat, thinking it might be a broken piece of the wooden spatula, Dorthy used while cooking. We soon begin seeing Leanne being hurt by the couple’s small acts. She came to serve Dorthy as a nanny because years ago, she had interviewed her during a children’s beauty pageant contest, and since then, she has been following her interviews and her news channel. But the image she has of Dorthy in her mind soon begins to fade. One day she sees Sean, who is a chef, preparing eel at home by pinning it on a board, ripping off its skin, and cutting it into pieces. Seeing her being strange all the time, Sean and Julian make a plan to investigate Leanne’s past life. Julian reaches her hometown and finds a gravestone engraved with Leanne’s name. He tells him that Leanne and her entire family had lost their lives in a fire outbreak.
Sean feels that the nanny has impersonated herself after a dead girl’s name, and maybe she’s here for something. Later that morning, he wakes to find a splinter on his back of his neck and prepares some lobster ice-cream, though his ability to taste still eludes him. While no one is at home, he installs a camera in Leanne’s room to keep an eye on her activities. Julian and Sean check the latest camera footage and find Leanne bringing the baby into her room at night, while everyone is asleep. Sean is confused as to why a nanny would overstep like that, to feels Julian says that maybe in reality, Leanne is the biological mother of the child and wants to give him a better life by means of the couple. A few days later, Dorthy sends Leanne out of the house to pick up some coffee sponge cake.
Later, she discovers that it was just a pretext to send her away, while the couple could have some time alone. Disturbed by Dorthy’s manipulation, she goes into her room and writes her name next to a bible verse before she prays. The next morning Dorthy finds a prominent cold sore above her lip. Julian and Sean are now up with a plan to both Leanne by leaving a bunch of crickets in her room and replacing her soup with dog food. Soon, George, Leanne’s uncle, arrives at Turner’s residence uninvited because he wants to take Leanne back. Dorthy doesn’t find the news overwhelming, and after a bit of convincing, Leanne refuses to go back.
We’re then made aware of the tragedy that took place months ago.
Flashback to how Jericho died
Flashback to weeks ago, we see Dorthy giving birth to a baby boy at their home after 11 hours of prolonged labor. After several weeks, Sean leaves for a work trip, and it gets hard for Dorthy to look after the household chores, take care of the baby, and manage her work-all together. One morning, on a scorching day, she goes for some grocery shopping and returns with the trunk of groceries and her baby in the back seat. She spends her entire day battling the scorching heat, and after hours of silence on her baby monitoring device, she goes upstairs to check the baby and finds the crib empty. The baby dies of the hot car that was a result of Dorthy’s negligence. She keeps the baby for four days, and if he is alive, and once Sean arrives, he, with Julian’s help, covers up the entire tragedy. Sean tells this entire thing to Leanne, and she gets disgusted by Dorthy even more and titles her a sinner.
Coming back to the present, Dorthy throws a baptism for her child, and another guest comes invited- Leanne’s aunt May who feels that whatever pain Dorthy has been through, it was all that she deserved, and God wanted her to suffer this way. Dorthy, on a face-to-face encounter with her, feels that she is familiar, and soon, Aunt May warns her that the next morning she wakes up, her son will be gone. Suddenly Dorthy remembers and watches some of her old new reports, where she reported about the church of the lesser saints, and the leader of the cult was May Markham. What she found more surprising was the fact she has already died. She runs into Leanne’s room but finds that she has already left. She checks the crib but finds that the baby has been replaced by a reborn doll. Meanwhile, Sean loses his ability to feel anything and tries to burn his hand over a stove in order to feel a sensation but clearly fails at it. This brings us to the end of Season 1.
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Season 2: Recap
The sequel picks up from the same place the previous season ended at. Dorthy, on discovering the reborn doll, soon begins to recollect the events that happened in her life. She aims to turn Leanne in by providing evidence from the hidden camera that was planted in her room. Sean discovers a bible in Leanne’s room where she has written his name next to a verse titled ‘The Test Of Leprosy.’ One of the primary symptoms of Leprosy is nerve damage that results in the loss of feeling and senses, exactly what happened to him. This essentially confirms that Leanne had cursed him by means of his prayer and rigid his belief that the church of lesser saints is truly in touch with something supernatural. Now the trio is aiming to find Leanne, and while the couple is digging at deeper information they can fetch, Julian is approaching all the addresses the two have sent him. In Dorthy’s absence, Sean tells Julian that she is gradually returning to her normal self and accepting whatever has happened to her in the past. It’s difficult to tell if Julian and Sean are actually investigating, or they’re just trying just to pacify Dorthy.
Season 2 Episode 3
Their will to investigate and find Leanne intensifies in this episode. The trio has suspected that Leanne is inside a wealthy property, but they aren’t sure how to get inside it. They think that the best way of getting a chance to go inside is by pretending to be a pizza delivering service. While Sean cooks pizzas for their plan, Julian and Dorthy create fake flyers to tempt the neighborhood. Soon, the fake pizza delivery service turns into an actual business run by Sean and his assistant chef Toby. Eventually, they get the order from the right place, and Toby goes out to deliver the pizza, unaware of the actual plan that lies behind it. While he’s out for delivery, he keeps the couple updated. There are loads of excited children, and as directed by them, he needs to go upstairs to get his payment. He sees Leanne and follows her to a room where he finds an old lady in bed, totally relying on medical assistance.
Nothing reinvigorates the spirit like a glimmer of hope. #Servant https://t.co/FN5LDIl61X pic.twitter.com/AXvNRuO5Kz
— Servant (@Servant) January 29, 2021
This incident makes Dorthy anxious, and is calmed by Sean as they need to be cautious at every step. Soon they get more orders from the same address, and this time it’s Leanne ordering them. When Toby goes to deliver the food, Leanne says that she had to leave the Turner’s resistance because of Dorthy. He finds her selfish, mean, careless, and cruel in all aspects. The episode comes to an end in total contradiction of what we thought Dorthy actually was. Sean feels that Dorthy might be hurt hearing out Leanne’s bashful comments. While on the video call with Toby, Leanne collapses and gets unconscious. Toby accuses her of drugging a girl by means of food, and Dorthy instructs him to lift her up, put her in the car’s backseat and bring her home. When he feels hesitant to do anything of this sort, Dorthy blackmails him of calling 911 if he doesn’t comply with her instructions. Dorthy then begins eating Pizza and pretending as if nothing is happening. Seeing a totally different Dorthy, Julian and Sean are left in shock. This brings us to the end of the episode’s recap.
The fourth episode of the series will air on 5 February 2021 on Apple TV+. Servant stars Lauren Ambrose as Dorothy Turner, Toby Kebbell as Sean Turner, Nell Tiger Free as Leanne Grayson, Rupert Grint as Julian Pearce in lead roles alongside Phillip James Brannon, Tony Revolori, S.J. Son, Molly Griggs, Boris McGiver, Jerrika Hinton, and Todd Waring in recurring roles.