Each week Terry and Joe review the latest episode of Apple TV’s Servant S4, alternating between our respective sites.
Spoilers follow for Episode 4.09 “Awake”
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Episode 4.09 “Awake”: Sean and Julian open up about a secret.
JOE
I’ll admit that crying over the penultimate episode of Servant wasn’t on my bucket list, but here we are, Terry.
After 39 episodes, Dorothy Turner (Lauren Ambrose) finally learns the truth about what happened to baby Jericho that fateful August day. It’s a moment that the series has danced around multiple times over its run (to the point that you and I have actually gotten angry and frustrated with how close Servant has come before walking it back). In hindsight, though, the delays, however frustrating, were absolutely worth it because the payoff in “Awake” – particularly Ambrose’s performance and M. Night Shyamalan’s direction – is nothing short of exquisite.
I wanted an Emmy moment for my girl and goddamn if I didn’t get it.
What I love about “Awake” is just how quintessentially Servant it is. Nearly the whole episode takes place in tight, enclosed areas (either the Brownstone or the car). The show’s trademark strings fill the soundtrack. Extreme close-ups of hands and feet feature prominently as Dorothy tries to sneak around the house. The camera favours both slow, rhythmic pans between characters and lightning fast tracking down hallways. It’s all on display in an episode that is alternately filled with tension and atmosphere, as well as character revelations. All that and then we get one hell of a delicious cliffhanger in advance of the finale.
As I predicted, most of the action centers on the interplay between Dorothy and Leanne (Nell Tiger Free). The first half of the episode is from Dorothy’s perspective as she tries to cope with the reality that not only are Sean (Toby Kebbell) and Julian (Rupert Grint) badly injured, but that she’s now trapped alone at home with Leanne. Naturally the increasingly unhinged young woman can’t resist hovering over Dorothy in vaguely threatening ways, insisting she spend the night in Dorothy’s room and insinuating that she knows Dorothy will try to trick her.
The cat and mouse games escalate when Sean leaves Dorothy a care package (purportedly from Tobe) which contains a message asking her to sneak out. Suddenly we’re deep into thriller territory as Dorothy must first fake taking a sleeping pill, then make an escape out of the house and into the storm…all without raising Leanne’s suspicions as she bathes Jericho upstairs.
It’s a high-wire moment, Terry, particularly as M. Night trains his camera on the aggressively squeaky walker that Dorothy relies on or on the bannister she white-knuckle grips because she can’t use the chair assist. It’s reminiscent of so many exciting and tense moments from women-in-peril films, which is to say that it’s fucking great.
It takes AGES, but Dorothy finally makes her way through the backyard, gale force winds and sheets of rain, and into the car where Sean and Julian dance around the revelation that’s been four years in the making. Even then, however, M. Night and his daughter Ishana (who has really propped this fourth season up between her writing and directorial efforts) refuse to take pity on viewers. Instead the confession is drawn out by agonizingly slow pans back and forth between Sean and Julian as they say everything *except* what needs to be said as Dorothy becomes more and more confused.
I swear that I was fine until Rupert Grint begins to cry, then I just kinda lost it. The close quarters of the car means that it’s both incredibly intimate, but also rigid and constricted (Julian is often obscured by the driver’s seat, for example). But goddamn is it ever impactful when M.Night sloooooowly pushes in for the first of the episode’s two long takes that rest on Ambrose’s face. Initially her mouth is slightly agape, but by the end it has dropped open in sheer, abject horror as she realizes what her husband and brother are saying.
It is so fucking good, Terry. But it’s not the end! Because there’s still Leanne to contend with and her silver serpent’s tongue.
Over to you: were you satisfied with how the revelation finally came out? Did you wince at the damage Dorothy wreaked as she struggled to get out of the car? How much did you love the framing of that final scene as M. Night once again just left the camera trained on Ambrose’s face as Leanne and Sean vied for her (and Jericho’s) soul? And what about that faustian bargain cliffhanger?
TERRY
Just like when I saw that last week’s episode was directed by Nimrod Antal, I knew this would be a powerful and impressive penultimate episode when I saw it was written by Ishana and directed by her father M. Night. Servant knows when to bring out the big guns and when to work with each of its director’s strengths. “Awake” feels like the perfect companion episode to “Tunnels”, Joe, because while the last episode was full of brimstone and fire and action, episode 9 lives in the quiet, reveling in the slow-building tension of the almost silent house and the cat and mouse stuck inside.
I picked up on all of the visual cues you mentioned above, Joe, smiling at the way in which “Awake” framed Dorothy’s painful sojourn to the truth. I also was completely enamored with the way in which her physical pain to find the truth mirrors her mental anguish in discovering said truth.
It’s kind of mean, in a way, to force Dorothy to pull herself along, thinking she was going to get to freedom and the safety of Sean and Julian’s car. She knows they have something to tell her away from Leanne’s prying ears, but Servant makes her work for the revelation that will rock the very foundation of her understanding of the last year in her life. To couple her obvious mental pain with a physical one is as inspired as it is cruel. For as much as we’ve bemoaned the way Servant has teased this admission for 39 episodes, I never expected it to play out as it did, swinging arms, clawed face, broken glass and all.
The poster for this season has been lingering in my mind since I first saw it, Joe. It’s almost gothic in its feel but also brings to mind the Renaissance period of Christian art, like Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam or da Vinci’s The Last Supper, filtered through a modern lens.
It’s an evocative poster that places Leanne and Jericho on one side, with Dorothy holding onto her outstretched arm, as if she’s Adam reaching for God. Sean is full-body holding onto her, his mouth open in a silent scream or yell while Julian has wrapped his arms around Leanne, holding onto her with all his might. The painting has a lot of symbolic and thematic subtext that I’ve been waiting for Servant to pay off and my goodness did “Awake” deliver.
What I’ve loved about Servant is the way it understands the visual language of horror films and uses it to its advantage. Even when it leans into tropey visual cues, it manages to either subvert those expectations or somehow deepen their language to something that does not feel cringy. So when “Awake” ends with the camera trained completely on Dorothy’s face as Leanne and Sean, her two shoulder voices, slowly poke in from the sides, I was smiling instead of rolling my eyes.
Obviously the way this is framed is to put Leanne on one side, the literal and figurative devil whispering in Dorothy’s ear while Sean takes on the angel, trying to win her back to the “good” side. It’s obviously a trope and one that has been satirized and used in comedies and parodies throughout the history of visual storytelling. Hell, even 30 Rock used it in its first season episode “Black Tie” as a meta joke.
But here it’s no laughing matter.
We’ve talked about Lauren Ambrose’s career best performances throughout the last four seasons of Servant (side note: it’s a crime this show doesn’t get more awards attention because everything from sound design to cinematography to direction and, most importantly, the acting has been top notch), but Nell Tiger Free has been equally carrying this show on her shoulders.
The difference, I think, is that Tiger Free’s performance has been less showy and evocative; more restrained and internal. In this way, she plays a perfect character and actor foil to Ambrose’s Dorothy. Ambrose frequently gets to use her impeccable facial acting and delivers equally impeccable disses and vocal frustrations. But Tiger Free carries most of the drama inside, her face usually a bland or expressionless ocean belying the churning that boils underneath.
Here, Tiger Free uses that to immense payoff, playing the figurative serpent with the silver tongue, just willing Dorothy to give in. The way she calmly talks to the (rightfully) agitated Dorothy, explaining the situation in dulcet tones, mimics the way cinema has used a serpent’s ability to mesmerize its prey to great effect. “I can bring him back for good,” she coos. “You once told me that you would do anything for Jericho. Here’s your chance…
“All you have to do is say ‘yes.’”
It’s the, as you mentioned, Faustian bargain that Leanne has implicitly and explicitly asked for of everyone in the Brownstone house. Sean obviously bought into it and, as a result, has been given everything he’s wanted. Julian, it seems, is more of an interesting pastime for Leanne. You could argue she’s kept him drug-free, but he’s traded one addiction for another in his own Faustian bargain.
But Dorothy has remained the elusive “get” for her; someone who has alternately looked at her with motherly eyes or haughty annoyance. Leanne’s been both part of the family, part of their extended family or estranged throughout four seasons and this is the moment she’s been waiting for. That elusive “yes” that will break down Dorothy’s will and use the thing she wants most as a way of keeping her forever.
Leanne is an intriguing representation of The Devil because while the end of times is seemingly raging all around the Turners, it’s almost a byproduct of Leanne’s desires for a family rather than a Biblical Armageddon. “I’ll give you everything you want. Just say ‘yes’”, she hisses and M. Night’s direction along with series mainstay cinematographer Mike Gioulakis (he’s shot over a dozen of the episodes) frames this final part as an intimate moment between the two. Leanne leans so far in, it looks like she might kiss Dorothy, who turns into the kiss to give her answer before the cliffhanger cut to black.
It’s visually exciting stuff, Joe!
And it made me want to hit play on the finale so badly. To the point that I’m going to turn this over to you. If “Tunnels” was the action-centered climax of the series, the final moments of “Awake” allude to the emotional climax and the question hanging on everyone’s lips: do you think Dorothy is going to say yes or no?
I think Lauren Ambrose’s physical performance has some clues so I’m curious what you think. I talked about the final moments of the episode, but I want to hear your thoughts on the dialogue (“Don’t you want to hold your son?”) between all four of them that preceded it. And while you mentioned breaking when Julian started crying, I wanted to dig into that conversation in the car and Julian and Sean’s admissions…was this how you thought it would go down? Was their admission of guilt enough?
JOE
I felt for both the men, honestly. It doesn’t go as far as I had maybe hoped, but their dialogue is as much of a confession (if we’re sticking with the show’s religious themes) as it is an admission.
As you mentioned, this could all feel so trope-y and tired. Worst, it could feel on the nose; some might see this as the show giving us everything we’ve discussed and hypothesized with blunt force.
But it’s not, because Servant and Ishana’s teleplay implicitly understands the emotional ramifications of this conversation. Had we seen this play out back in S01 or even S02, this would feel heavy handed. Instead hearing Sean admit that he’s never been a natural father, or seeing Julian cry because he chose drugs over his obviously hurting sister, pays off years of investment in these characters’ journeys.
It’s practically cathartic; hell, the car might as well be a confessional booth.
I think the hardest thing to hear, and maybe the element that will tip Dorothy over into saying “yes” in the finale, is Sean’s comment “And just like that, we had Dorothy back.” We see scenes of the aftermath of Dorothy’s fateful August day play out when the devils and angels begin whispering at her, but these are moments we’ve never seen before:
- Dorothy in her orange/sunset jumper, practically stupefied as Officer Reyes (Victoria Cartegena) asks if Jericho is alright or if she remembers what happened as people in hazmat suits carry the infant’s tiny body out in plastic.
- Sean trying to get Dorothy to respond as she stands dazed in the upstairs hallway, completely unresponsive.
We’ve seen glimpses of this before, but Sean’s desperate urgency, his need to have Dorothy back, to erase his and Julian’s guilt, is new. It’s what instigated the doll and the nanny.
Leanne’s dialogue mirrors the same confessional/admission format as Sean and Julian. When she admits “There are things that just can’t be explained. Like the bond between a mother and a child. Like life and death. Like me.” It’s the first time she’s come clean to the family about what she can. There’s no hiding anymore; no sly looks or misunderstandings about who or what is at work. This is Leanne admitting that She.Is.Magic and she has the power to do whatever Dorothy wants.
Sure, Julian and Sean go bye bye in this deal (“It’ll just be us. You, Jericho and me” Leanne explains) but at the end of the day, hasn’t it always been? As much as Sean and Julian are “family”, the show – and this central relationship – has always been about mother, nanny and baby.
Now if this were any other show or creator, there might be more intrigue in the cliffhanger. But it’s important to remember who we’re talking about: this is M.Night Shyamalan, acolyte of family man Steven Spielberg and staunch defender of religious faith (despite his own lack of personal beliefs). I mentioned Knock at the Cabin earlier this season due to its similar familial elements and apocalyptic central decision (hell, just consider the number of times Shyamalan cuts to Leanne surveying the giant sinkhole in the street in front of the house if you doubt the parallels).
That film’s <spoiler> happy-ish resolution for the sake of the greater good <end spoilers> leads me to believe that Dorothy will make the sad, but sacrificial decision to let Jericho go so that she, Sean and Julian can begin to heal. I’d love to think that Dorothy will be tempted…but I can’t see it happening.
Terry, how did you feel about Sean and Julian’s confessions? You mentioned Ambrose’s subtle physical acting pointing to her decision. Unpack that and what you think she’ll choose.
TERRY
A few times this season, I’ve felt that Servant has been a little on the nose in regards to characters speaking their thoughts because it comes off as if the characters are talking directly to the audience as opposed to each other. Or they’ll directly quote the theme that Servant has been tackling more subtly.
I was afraid that the confession moments between Julian, Sean and Dorothy would ring as “on the nose” as the others. But their heart-felt admission had me in the feels, Joe. It was obvious that they’ve been holding this secret on their shoulders for 4 seasons and when the dam finally burst, Rupert Grint, in particular, rose to the challenge. I don’t necessarily think that Toby Kebbell completely sold the sequence (he’s actually felt a little off this season) but regardless it worked for me.
As for Ambrose’s facial features when she’s asked to say yes at the end, there’s a glint in her eye and the way her mouth twists that I think suggests she’s going to say “no.” I’ve seen Dorothy’s face when she’s ready to snarl at someone and I’m fairly certain her mouth is twisting towards a no. Ambrose, Shyamalan and Gioulakis all do a good job staging this as an uncertainty, but I still think she’s going to say no and then lash out at Leanne.
But, oh boy, Joe. The last episode is upon us. It’s sitting in our inbox just ready for us to watch and I’ve been good at keeping it at bay while we write about “Awake.”
I’m curious to see how everything comes together next week. Will the episode end with the Turners walking out of their crumbling home to embrace an uncertain future? Will Leanne survive this encounter? There is the matter of the ceremonial knife, plunged deep into Uncle George’s head that’s still sitting in the tunnels…will that come back one last time?
I’m so excited to see how this funny, dark, tense, and unlike-anything-else-on-TV show will end.
Readers, join us back at Gayly Dreadful next week to say goodbye to one of our favorite shows.
Servant airs Fridays on Apple TV