Servant – AppleTV+ Season 2 Episode 9 Recap & Review

Goose

Episode 9 of Servant Season 2 begins with Sean furiously plucking a goose. He sits on a stool, pulling the feathers out as one floats lazily upstairs. No, it’s not the opening to Forrest Gump, as we soon see Dorothy hoovering up any similarities this may have had.

Shutting off the vacuum, Dorothy quizzes Leanne about Uncle George’s whereabouts. He’s nowhere to be seen after being hit by a car last episode. However, there’s more important things going on.

It’s Christmas and Dorothy is prepping the place ready for the “perfect Turner Christmas.” Julian shows up with Kourtney with a K and her partner, ready to celebrate.

In the kitchen, Leanne and Sean discuss the possibility of Jericho coming back home. With George gone, it seems the likelihood of this coming to fruition is exactly zero. As they sit together, Leanne quizzes Sean over what Dorothy will do if Jericho doesn’t show up.

Food is cooked and with $300 worth of potatoes on the table, Sean gives an impassioned prayer to bring Jericho back. Julian loses his patience, wondering just what’s going on with him, as he eventually leaves the table to take cocaine in the bathroom. It turns out he’s regretting what he did with Leanne, as guilt starts to wash over him.

Julian continues to snort lines and eventually loses control. In fact, he passes out completely until Kourtney finds him. With paramedics on the way, Julian is not breathing… at least until Leanne kisses him tenderly. Suddenly he bolts upright, staring at her wide-eyed as he claims to have seen “him” in there. Julian tells them all that he seemed okay. This “he” appears to be hinting toward Jericho but that’s not initially clear.

Leanne confronts Dorothy over the noose in the basement she’s made. Apparently this is her contingency plan, as she intends to be with Jericho even if that means dying to do it. A knock at the door interrupts Sean’s thoughts, as a woman arrives wearing a black veil, asking about Jericho.

The Episode Review

Despite some nice atmospheric beats and a couple of amusing moments involving Julian, there’s once again not a long going on here in this episode. In fact, that’s really been the entire message this season as Servant has dragged out its premise with hiccups of intrigue around large swathes of nothingness.

Now, don’t get me wrong the journey is certainly eerie and, at times, suspenseful, but is this really a show you’ll go back and re-watch in the near-future? There’s so much fluff here, and despite a few snippets of intrigue, there’s just not enough going on to justify 10 episodes this season.

Still, the ending seems to hint that we’ll be getting somewhere now so hopefully the finale delivers some answers.