Like we mentioned in our review of the first two episodes of ‘Servant,’ the Apple TV+ show has had an iron grip on how fast the story moves forward. It has mastered the art of maintaining mystery and suspense with the same premise and characters while giving out tiny pieces of revelations with practiced restraint that makes viewers wanting for more.
In the third episode, we got to witness the story moving forward by some explanations roughly sketching out. However, the show still has a lot of questions to answer. The first episode portrayed the show’s premise and tone superbly while the second one depicted the conflicts entering full swing with characters taking charge. In the third episode, we get to see the characters slowly dropping their pretenses and developing into their selves with more clarity.
Servant Episode 3 Recap
With what looks like a recurring theme or symbolism, the third episode. just like the first two ones, started with a car driving towards the Turners’ house. This time, it was Julian in the car at 3 a.m.
With the car parked outside, Julian calls Sean outside to meet him. In the car, Julian introduces Sean to Roscoe, a private detective that he has hired to figure out the curious case of Leanne. Roscoe tells Sean that he could not find any social media records of Leanne, but did find birth information from her town in Wisconsin.
Julian offers to go to Leanne’s hometown to investigate where Leanne comes from. He asks Sean for a photo of Leanne for the investigation. Sean recalls Leanne’s application form that he had checked in the last episode and proceeds to get her photo from there. However, Leanne’s form seems to be missing from the stack of applications. So, Sean sneaks into Leanne’s room and clicks a picture of her on his phone while she is asleep.
The next morning, Sean is prepping for a catering event and has hired a commis chef named Tobe to assist him. Sean complains about his taste buds not functioning once again. Leanne and Dorothy enter the kitchen while Sean is preparing for the meal and Dorothy introduces Leanne to Tobe.
Then, Sean’s delivery arrives and he opens it to reveal living eels that he means to cook. Leanne seems petrified at the sight of the eels. Sean beats the eel to the table and punctures its head with a screw so that it remains fixed to the table. While the eel has died, it continues to wriggle as eels don’t realize death for some time after. Leanne gets even more disturbed by that. When Sean and Tobe deskin the eel, Leanne gets disgusted by seeing its circulatory system still pulsating. Unable to handle the gore, she faints.
Leanne is taken care of by Dorothy who gives her some tea so that she feels better. Then, the two of them decide to go out shopping. When they’re out of the house, Julian video calls Sean from Wisconsin showing him Leanne’s house which was burnt and is currently in a ravaged state. Sean notices a cross similar to the one he found in Leanne’s belongings in Leanne’s house.
After Dorothy and Leanne return, the former convinces Leanne to let her borrow her newly bought shoes by offering the 18-year-old girl the liberty to borrow any of her things. Then, Sean and Dorothy get ready to go out on a date. Leanne sees them making out in the living room and Dorothy caressing Sean’s penis before they leave.
Before leaving however, Sean pays Tobe $100 to look after the house when he is gone. After the two exit the house, Leanne puts on Dorothy’s lipstick and ring and heads downstairs. Then, she asks Tobe if he wants to share a drink with her. She makes him grab one of Sean’s bottles of wine from his cellar. When the two start drinking, Leanne tells Tobe that she is hungry and proceeds to beat an eel to the counter in order to kill it. Tobe prepares the eel for her.
When Tobe and Leanne are eating, Julian rings the doorbell and Tobe goes to open it. Julian enters the house and shuts the door on Tobe’s face as a gesture to leave. In the house, he confronts Leanne and tells her that she will have to go through him first before reaching Dorothy if she intends on doing anything with her. Leanne asks Julian if he was present at the time of Jericho’s death which leaves him stumped. Then, she inches closer to Julian, starts caressing his penis.
Sean and Dorothy return to the house. Julian takes Sean aside. When they have privacy, Julian shows Sean a video from his visit to Wisconsin. The video shows Julian and Roscoe discovering the Leanne’s tombstone. Julian thinks that Leanne has assumed the identity of a dead person and intends to blackmail them. The episode ends with a disturbed Sean holding the mysterious baby and caressing it to sleep.
Servant Episode 3 Review
The third episode of ‘Servant’ had some pretty major revelations that advanced the story well. It differed from the first two episodes as it was more steeped in reality and hardly any supernatural happening was shown. While the plot thickened well, this episode did feel less horrifying and intriguing than the previous two. However, it was definitely a satisfactory one as viewers also got the opportunity to see the characters take more charge instead of waiting around for things to happen.
This episode also felt way more steeped in reality than the previous two ones. There were fewer supernatural happenings to stupefy the characters and it employed a sort of formulaic approach to the genre of mystery. However. formulaic did not translate to clichéd here. Instead, it seemed to lend the show more purpose and its characters with more action in terms of things to do rather than waiting it out.
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