Servant - Seasons 1 and 2
I was so impressed with Nell Tiger Free’s performance in The First Omen that I sought out some of her other work. Servant is a suspense/thriller series on Apple TV+, and also boasts the involvement of M. Night Shyamalan, who I still have a soft spot for, despite the roller-coaster ride that his reputation has (not undeservedly) gone through over the years.
The show has four seasons, and I think it’s worth giving my impressions about halfway through. The premise alone is a great source of suspense: a couple welcomes a nanny, Leanne, to their home to care for their infant, but we find out that the baby is a doll, and that the actual baby had died sometime before. Substituting the child with a lifelike doll was the only way for the mother to cope with the loss, but her delusion is so deep that she went ahead with her plans to hire a nanny. When Leanne comes onboard, strange things start happening around the house, not least of which is the doll’s transformation into—gasp!—a real, live baby!
Leanne (played by Free) carries herself in a creepy, detached way. Her performance is one of the highlights of the show for me. She has the kind of face where the smallest change in expression can switch her vibe from innocence to malice, from fear to aggression, in a split second.
Most of the show takes place inside the house, leading to a claustrophobic feel, but it manages to avoid visual monotony because of the careers of the parents. The father, Sean, is a consulting chef—i.e. he creates recipes in his home kitchen to sell to restaurants—meaning that the camera has plenty of opportunities for close-up food porn shots. The mother, Dorothy, is a news reporter, and they show her program on the TVs in the house. This becomes a source of wry humour as the show progresses; the style of local news is easily parodiable, as they report on trivial events like a new local swimming pool or a farmer’s market in the neighbourhood.
In general, I felt like the second season amped up the comedy—e.g., a pizza delivery shop called “Cheezus Crust”—and I appreciated the injection of lightness into the generally dark proceedings. On the one hand, you have pizza puns, while on the other, you have the flashback episode which depicts the cause of the original baby’s death. None of the creepy supernatural stuff reaches the level of horror that I felt from seeing the absolute worst thing that can happen to a parent.
I’m continuing to enjoy this show into season 3, as it adds more layers to the supernatural mystery. I don’t think it’s for everyone, as it’s pretty weird, and the pacing can be quite slow, especially in the first season. I was happy to watch one episode at a time, without the compulsion to binge. Looking ahead, I have to say that the one resolution that I really need to see is the most human one… I don’t care if the supernatural mysteries don’t fully pay off, as long as they get this right: at one point, Dorothy must confront the truth about the inciting tragedy. I have a feeling that the show is going to delay this for as long as possible, and I hope that it’s worth the wait.
