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Dorothy finally knows the truth. But what’s she going to do about it now?
After last week’s wild penultimate episode of Servant, Dorothy was awakened from her delusion and trauma when Sean and Julian forced her to remember what had happened to the real Jericho. But when the supernaturally gifted Leanne offers her the ultimate Faustian bargain — she’ll bring Jericho back to life for real this time if she can stay with them — Dorothy is stunned to silence.
At the top of Friday’s series finale, Dorothy asks for a moment alone with Leanne. She asks the nanny: “What are you?” Leanne responds: “It doesn’t matter. I’m yours.” (I would like to argue that after four slow-burning seasons, IT SO DOES MATTER. But OK.)
Leanne heads to the roof and considers throwing herself off the building, but Dorothy stops her. “It was the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me,” Dorothy says through tears. “I would’ve given anything to have had him for one more minute, and you gave me months with him. But this pain that I feel now. That’s part of my love for him too. I need to feel it.”
Leanne asks Dorothy if she’s evil, but Dorothy assures her she isn’t. Leanne counters, admitting that when the fire burned down her childhood home, she heard her parents screaming, but she didn’t do anything to help them. “For the first time in my life I was happy because I wanted them to die,” she says. Then, Uncle George brought her back, even though “I didn’t deserve it.”
Dorothy tells her that she would’ve been so proud to have a daughter like Leanne, as the storm around them worsens. The whole time they’re talking, three cult members lurk outside in the rain.
As the Turners prep to escape the flooding, they accept Leanne back into their family. But out by the front stoop, Leanne says she has to get something Uncle George left for her. She goes inside and pulls the knife out of the dead George’s eyeball. She douses the place in gasoline, climbs the windy stairs and drops a lit match to the ground floor. The first thing to light up is the doll.
She lays in her bed and calls Tobe, making a date with him she knows will never happen. Her soft smile is absolutely heartbreaking… because we know at this point that Leanne’s never leaving the brownstone. Outside, the cult members tell the Turners that Leanne had to do this on her own. They tried to vanquish her before, but she has chosen “to save us all.”
Inside, Leanne puts on a record and dances before pouring perfume in her eyes (ouch) and slicing her arms open. (Weird song choice here, in my opinion. The tune is “Somewhere in the Wild” by Saleka and I can’t say I’m a fan of its placement here. Especially in such an emotionally pivotal moment.) Leanne swirls around as the fire reaches the top floor. She begins to burn as the floor collapses under her.
The next morning, Dorothy is reunited with the officer who was there the day her son died. Officer Reyes tells her a story about how she died in a car wreck. The cult revived her and gave her the task of watching over one of their sisters… Leanne.
It wouldn’t be an M. Night Shyamalan project without one last WTF moment. Reyes goes to speak with Julian some time in the near future. She reminds him of his overdose from Season 2. She knows Leanne revived him. “When you’re given a second chance, it’s for a purpose,” she says. “We’ll be here when you’re ready to talk. We’re family now.” Julian looks on in horror as cult members all over the street turn his way. When he looks at his reflection in a store window, a pair of wings appear with his reflection. He turns around to see a mural of a bird and a worm painted on a building behind him. Is he, too, a fallen angel now? Will he eventually join the Church of the Lesser Saints? He then utters the series’ final two words: “Oh, s–t.”
Did the ending of Servant answer all of your questions? Grade the finale and last season below, then hit the comments!
Servant was riveting from the first to the last moment. Nell Tiger Free was absolutely compelling as Leanne. All other cast members were magnificent, too.
I think i stopped caring about this show during this last season when i realized i found all of the characters, aside from toby, to be annoying and downright insufferable. The mystery kept me coming back for 3 seasons then i figured i might as well finish this last season since i watched the previous ones. The cinematography was pretty much the best thing about this show.
I was surprised just how emotional this last episode was. In the end it was all about coming to terms with and healing from tragedy. I’d say the fact maybe the fact many of the people in this show, George for one, were kind of unreliable so their exposition came with a grain of salt. But I think that’s why you gotta give a performance shout out this week to Nell Tiger Free, and especially Lauren Ambrose. Seeing them perform this week was to see all the confusion and delusion finally lifted and all that’s left is the harsh truths they both have to face. Terrific acting from both.
This finale was terrible. I feel like literally any other ending would have been better. Still, I really loved the show overall.
The penultimate episode was brilliant, the finale wasn’t.
This is what I understood and am very happy with the episode. Everyone that gets resurrected is an angel. The police woman is one, the people of the cult, the people who loved Leanne. Now JuJu is an angel too. Leanne was an angel that abused her powers and became a fallen one. But no one else is a fallen angel. The ending was very clear and I don’t think it’s open for interpretations :)
What a convoluted, burning pile of crap that finale was!
I’m not sad to see it go. It was an “alright” show. Nothing special to make Servant a “must-see”.
So was toddler never real? What happened to him?
Wrong. The “sister” was Dorothy. She was dead the whole time. If you watch again, look out for the Color orange and keep in mind that it’s trying to tell you something. And the first time we see the cop, is when Dorothy is unconscious, as they try to get a statement from her following Jericho’s death. Dorothy passed giving birth or during her mental break, and the “cult” brought her back. Watch again, look for orange, and change my mind.