Heatwave
Servant returns this week with its penultimate episode as we gear up for next week’s finale. With more insight into the past and some tense segments involving baby Jericho and the past heatwave, Apple’s horror may not feature that many scares this week, but what it lacks in frights it more than makes up for with some much-needed answers to the past. Episode 9 of Servant begins with a flashback as we see Dorothy giving birth to Jericho and a younger Natalie asking about the placenta, which he and Dorothy decide to keep. With Jericho still very young, Dorothy looks through files for a potential Nanny, including one for Taylor. It’s here we also see that Sean was a food critic judge on TV. Back home, Dorothy goes through the motions with Jericho, trying her hardest to soothe him while continuing to look for a prospective Nanny. While changing him, it’s here we see her pick out the yellow baby-suit that was stashed in the basement in the early episodes. While a heatwave blasts across town, Dorothy returns from a trip outside, oblivious to the front door swinging shut. Heading upstairs to check on Jericho after falling asleep on the couch, she heads into his room and notices him missing. We then cut back to present day as Dorothy awakens, bleeding in bed. Leanne heads down to make her some food, with a little help from Sean, but Dorothy ends up sick. Bagging up her left-over breakfast, Sean throws that in the fridge alongside the bag labelled Jericho – presumably holding his placenta. In the morning, Dorothy hears Jericho crying in his crib and the car alarm wails again. Despite pressing the key against the car, the alarm continues to go off while random pedestrians watch her approach the car, confused and seemingly oblivious to the noise. High above, watching from the apartment, Leanne sets the alarm off while looking after Jericho. Cutting back in time again we see Dorothy talking to Sean on a video-call while the rotting meat sits on the kitchen table. It’s here we see Julian banging on the door, which was one of the early season flashbacks. In the kitchen, Leanne questions Sean over what happened, and it’s here he reveals that she stayed with “him” for 4 days waiting for Sean to return home. The him in the story, we’re left to presume, is Jericho who I’m guessing was left in the car during the heatwave. As the episode closes out, Leanne puts Jericho down in bed, leaving her feeling conflicted as she shuts the door. With a little more clarity around the past and plenty of interesting “show, don’t tell” moments throughout, Servant delivers a decent episode here. It’s one that adds some depth and clarity to the past and also does a good job explaining just why Dorothy is so erratic. The familiar camera angles and decent editing returns again this week and that consistent trend has been a really welcome sight in this horror. With the door left wide open for the finale, Servant has solidified itself as one of the best Apple TV+ originals on the platform and promises quite the dramatic finale to follow.
