With Leanne having temporarily disposed of Sean and Julian, the Turner house is more tense than it’s ever been.  Dorothy tries to figure a way for her and Jericho, while a stunning realization turns her world upside down.  All this and more on the penultimate episode of Servant!

(Spoilers Ahead – You’ve Been Warned)

Captivity
Opening minutes after Sean and Julian were taken by paramedics, Dorothy is desperately trying to get ahold of them at the hospital to make sure they’re okay.  Gone is all the pretense of ceremony and politeness, replaced with a Dorothy who knows how direly daunting her dilemma truly is.  Fearing for her and Jericho’s lives, she has to play along, all while trying to plot her escape.

Leanne is at the creepiest she’s ever been precisely because of how quiet and mild mannered she seems now.  In her mind, she’s already won, and is surprisingly nonchalant about a great many things.  She even calls Sean at the hospital herself just to brag to him that he has to start a new life since she intends to never let him back in the house (which she ends up going back on).

All the while, the apocalyptic storm keeps raging, to the point that there would definitely be some major flooding with this hurricane level amount of precipitation.  As far as penultimate episodes go, Leanne isn’t given a whole lot to do in this one.  Last episode was very much her solidifying her role as supervillain, and here, it’s more about the other characters and how they respond to everything.

Dark Truths
Where this episode truly shines is in the trio of performances by Lauren Ambrose, Toby Kebbell, and Rupert Grint.  Following a note left by Sean, Dorothy sneaks outside while Leanne gives Jericho a bath and finds her husband and brother waiting in a car for her.  Looking surprisingly well considering how badly they were injured the night before, Sean and Julian tell Dorothy the truth about what happened to the real Jericho.

All series long, there have been moments where characters hinted at the infamous event that happened “last August” when Dorothy tragically left baby Jericho in a hot car, leading to his death.  But up until now, she had honestly blocked the entire thing out.  Even as Sean and Julian weave her into the story with details, she’s still in denial, until their words bring about a flashback and bring everything violently back up to the surface.

Major props to actress Lauren Ambrose for the way she portrayed PTSD manifesting through a traumatic flashback.  The way that she denies it at first, but it slowly starts to make sense, until the moment that it all comes back and she just absolutely loses control is equally chilling and tragic.  She screams, kicks, and even knocks her injured self down the ground in the pouring rain, because she’s just so overwhelmed with sadness, grief, guilt, and disbelief that she didn’t remember it until now.

It’s a moment that the show has spent 4 entire seasons building towards, and it’s handled particularly well.  Normally when we discuss this series, it’s in relation to its dark and sometimes unintended (or intended depending on subtext) sense of humor.  This next to last episode of the series has very little humor and it’s as dark, depressing, and disturbing as it needed to be given the subject matter.

Impossible Choice
Which of course leaves us with one episode left, and another cliffhanger that could honestly go either way.  Following Dorothy’s meltdown and collapse on the sidewalk, Sean and Julian bring her back inside the house.

And despite saying she wouldn’t allow it, Leanne doesn’t do anything to stop them and even presents Dorothy with a choice: either leave with Sean and Julian or stay with Leanne and Jericho can always be hers.  At this point, Dorothy knows that Leanne is the one who brought Jericho “back to life” and says that she can continue to do so and they can live happily ever after.

Of course this plan doesn’t include Sean or Julian, and it’s weird that at this point, they’re still doubtful that there’s anything supernatural going on.  Either that’s the characters being stubborn, or the series thinking the audience is still undecided.

But what’s interesting is that their plan just included saving Dorothy, and they’re willing to leave “Jericho” behind since they believe it’s not really their own child.  That being said, it may be harder for Dorothy to make that choice, and given that next week is the series finale, anything could happen at this point!

What did you think of the next to last episode of Servant?  What do you think will happen in next week’s series finale?  Let us know in the comments!

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