WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 1 of Apple TV's Servant.
Apple TV's Servant is M. Night Shyamalan's first return to horror TV since Wayward Pines and finds the director once more weaving a psychological terror-filled tale revolving around a mysterious baby appearing to a couple.
Shyamalan directed the first episode, "Reborn," before handing off the reins to Daniel Sackheim for the other two episodes released thereafter, but as executive producer, you can see his imprint all over the series on the whole. However, as much as Servant focuses on a sinister baby coming into the lives of the distraught couple, the biggest mystery involves a live-in nanny who seems to have a dark past we never anticipated.
THE FAMILY SECRET
Sean (Toby Kebbell) is a live-at-home cook, with his news reporter wife Dorothy (Lauren Ambrose), pushing for the hiring of Leanne (Nell Tiger Free), someone recommended by a vague source after the couple searched months on end for a baby-sitter. Leanne's been the perfect hire after a few days on the job but the big twist in Shyamalan's debut episode is the baby Jericho she's tending to for the duration of the premiere is actually a reborn doll used by the bereaved wife after her son died at 13 weeks old.
Sean's been playing along on the advice of a psychiatrist to immerse his wife into an atmosphere where she thinks the kid's alive, hoping it'll trigger her memory and snap her out of her denial. It's pretty demented and, honestly, doesn't make much sense, but Shyamalan does a great job in unveiling the tension and suspense surrounding Sean as he grows wary over how much Leanne's into the role-playing, never breaking character even when Dorothy's at work.
She's taking 'Jericho' out to parks, etc. which makes the big reveal at the end of the premiere all the more shocking. Sean hears cries on a baby monitor and he finds a real-life baby there instead of the doll. Somehow, it's not even a red flag for the ladies as they simply continue playing along because to them, Jericho was always alive so there was never really a doll at all in their minds.
LEANNE'S DEADLY PAST
Sean spends the next two episodes with Dorothy's brother, Julian (Rupert Grint), trying to figure out what the heck's up with this 18-year old nanny. Her resume is obscure, apart from her growing up in Wisconsin and Dorothy just can't track down who recommended her to submit to work, not that she cares as life is finally looking up for her. No one else knew the baby died apart from Julian and their dad so it's tough to really pinpoint who may have put the family onto Leanne.
But as the show progresses, it can't be anyone with good intentions. Sean keeps finding straw-crucifixes around the house as Leanne, devoutly religious, keeps praying to what we first assumed was God with a bible. Dorothy actually welcomes this and insists they let more light into their lives but Julian is ever-suspicious of Leanne. The sitter faints after seeing Sean skinning eels but as part of a seduction later on, she kills them herself while romancing Sean's understudy cook. Julian interrupts and she then tries to get intimate with him, mimicking sexual acts she saw Dorothy using on Sean to rekindle their flame, which leaves Julian pensive as to what's going on in her mind as it seems to be a split personality. One theory is there's someone or something occupying Leanne's body, with fans even speculating she might even be a witch who's now out stepped out in society.
She does have an aura fit for the occult and it gets even shadier when Julian tracks Leanne's family down in Wisconsin thanks to a private investigator. At their house, though, there's no sign of life as it's abandoned and burnt in places. Sean sees another straw-crucifix on the wall from a video his brother-in-law sent and with Julian actually finding headstones at a local cemetery for Leanne and her parents, we're left wondering who or what this person really is in Sean's home. It's now a search for clues a la The Omen where the heroes tried to trace baby Damian's origin, and from what we've seen so far, Servant is positioned in the same manner to reveal Leanne as the servant of a higher and darker power.
Created by Tony Basgallop and directed and executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan, Servant stars Toby Kebbell, Lauren Ambrose, Nell Tiger Free and Rupert Grint. Season 1 is currently airing on Apple TV.