Dorothy’s new live-in nurses, Bobbie and Bev, have provided some much-needed hilarity in Servant Season 4 Episode 3, taking the series to dark places. So far, Servant has just stayed on this side of disturbing. Despite all the gruesome things that have happened and the outlandish attacks, there was always a lightness to the series, thanks in large part to shocking humor. This final season feels like the end is here, and while the payoff will be good, it will be very tough. Something is coming and it could mean the end of the world. In addition to a lot of comic gold, there were quite a few key details to collect and several pressing questions.
The pair of nurses introduce themselves to Julian, Leanne and Sean through a Seussian poem. It’s a strange moment in a sea of weirdness that characterizes Servant’s style. The Turner’s ever-expanding house seems to defy conventional geometry as yet another room is unlocked. They will reside in the downstairs space that was renovated in the 1950s, some time after Dorothy’s parents bought the brownstone. The small apartment was intended as tenant income, but was never rented out. Leanne was originally going to stay there, but Dorothy insisted she be closer to the baby.
Fresh off the bed bug incident of 2022, Bev and Bobbie are here to support Dorothy and thwart the petulant Leanne. As determined as Leanne is that they should go, they are determined to help Dorothy. It’s been four months since Dorothy’s accident and she’s tired of being helpless. The “Shining Twins,” as Julian calls them, are here to help her get back on her feet. Leanne’s paranoia is justified, but not necessary, as we learn later. These two answer only to themselves and their patients. They also seem genuinely interested in helping the whole family heal.
They work systematically around the house, updating the decor (including Leanne’s room), providing self-help books on love languages for Sean, organization for Julian and, best of all, teen social skills for Leanne. The gifts do not go unnoticed by Leanne, who snaps when she notices her room has changed and a cloth bunny in Jericho’s bed. She throws the bunny in the trash, but doesn’t get rid of it completely until the bunny reappears in its crib. Is the rabbit magical? Are the nurses? Did anyone clean the stuffed toy before putting it in the crib?
When she yells at the nurses that she knows who they are, they deny it, saying they saw the rabbit in Amish country and thought Jericho would like it. It is still difficult to say whether they are reliable. The pair seem to sense that something terrible needs to be removed from the house, even though they don’t know how much danger they are in. Their new-age approach to healing seems innocent enough, but anything is possible on a show like Servant.
Lauren Ambrose gives her best performance in Servant Season 4 Episode 3 where she exposes her fears and disappointments. She is a terrified mother fighting for her child and her life. Leanne may think she controls the entire household, but Dorothy is a force to be reckoned with, even with her injuries. She is determined to walk again. With the help of the nurse she was able to get up, but taking one step was more than she could handle and she had a nasty fall. Bobbie and Bev encourage her to rest and pressure her that no one gives up.
While trying to walk, Julian searches their apartment and finds more evidence of new-age mysticism and a wooden box full of adult toys. Perhaps good vibrations are the source of their constant happiness and confidence. Meanwhile, Sean desperately tries to win Dorothy back, one shift at a time. Charcuterie boards and truffle pithivier don’t do it, but later blueberry pancakes start to cool her anger. It helps that the family participated in a séance with Bev and Bobbie. The séance is initially a familiar display of cold reading and guesswork. However, things soon go wrong when they talk about a crying baby and a dark shadow haunting the house. Are those both guesses, or are these two really clairvoyant?
Leanne takes the opportunity to rip open Bobbie’s dress to check for the cult’s sign. However, she has no scars on her back and Sean and Dorothy banish her from the room. Absurd humor mingles with horror when Sean tells Leanne she can’t rip everyone’s clothes off who enters the house. It’s funny, but also shows how vulnerable they all are. The sect has proven to be resourceful and dedicated. Servant Season 4 Episode 4 is a perfect example of the balance of tension and release that the series has always done so well.
Something is happening to the entire city that cannot be denied. The news this week brings a story of overrun hospitals. Whatever happens to the Turners, it has leached beyond their walls. Who knows if the nurses are right about the dark force hovering over their house? In the final moments, we see what could be a nightmare from Leanne or Dorothys. A smoke monster lives rent-free in their house. Is that an implanted fear manifesting as a nightmare on the part of one or both women? Do they share the same dream? Does the monster exist?
Are we wrong again? Is Leanne just an angry, abused girl who finds her voice and lashes out the wrong way, or is she a hellish beast hell-bent on ending the world? She seems to really love the Turners, even when she’s mad at them. The series has always been about more than a reborn baby. The relationship between Leanne and Dorothy and the men who love them is at the heart of the series, and Servant Season 4 Episode 3 shows that. On the other hand, Leanne might be an innocent girl looking for the mother she always wanted with the power to come back to life. Is she a demon or an angel? Maybe the road to hell is paved with good intentions? Find all our Servant coverage here.
Stray straw
- I wonder how things could have turned out differently if Leanne had stayed in the downstairs apartment instead of the house. Would it have changed anything if there had been more distance between the family and her?
- Out on the street, it looks like a war zone of sealed and abandoned mattresses wrapped in plastic, dozens of bed bugs lurking in the corners, and a watchful crow warning of impending doom. Never quote the raven again.
- What was in all the Amazon boxes? Did Bev and Bobbie really charge the Turners for all their sex toys?
- One of the nurses has an anteater or a cuddly elephant on the bed. Is that important?
- Dorothy is reading a book on astral projection. Perhaps the smoke monster is Dorothy’s astral projection. This detail is not critical in any way.
- Has the cult gotten smarter with their scars? Is it possible that the nurses are still with the cult? The box of sex toys indicates otherwise, but anything is possible. I’d like to see them take on the cult with the Turners.
- As suspected, Leanne and Julian’s mother died in the house. Was she depressed? Did she die by suicide? Did something prompt her? Is Leanne not the source of the problem but the trigger? What if Leanne does have some power and the monster in the house wants to control her and exploit her power? If so, will Leanne find out and stand against the spreading evil or sacrifice herself for her chosen family? That would be a very fitting ending for Servant.
As editor-in-chief of Signal Horizon, I enjoy watching and writing about genre entertainment. I grew up on old fashioned slashers, but my real passion is television and all weird and ambiguous stuff. My work can be found here and Travel Weird, where I am the editor-in-chief.
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