After being intrigued by Servant's first season, the second slate of episodes let me down a bit-to the point where I dropped off and didn't watch these S3 episodes when originally aired. After hearing good things about the third go-round, however, I decided to give it another shot. What I found was a definite improvement in plot/character focus, if still featuring the head-scratching weirdness of a Shyamalan project.
For a very basic overview, S3 really focuses on nanny Leanne (Nell Tiger Free) and her struggles acclimating to normal society (always looking over her shoulder for former cult influences). At the same time, fresh off her S2 campaign to retrieve baby Jericho, Dorothy (Lauren Ambrose) begins to suspect that something isn't quite right, having not yet faced Jericho's strange history/reality. She blames Leanne, and the actions of Sean (Toby Kebbell) & Julian (Rupert Grint)-even if trying to psychologically protect Dorothy from more trauma-only persuade her further that nefarious action is afoot.
The focus on Leanne is a godsend for S3, as it prevents the all-over-the-place fracturing of most of the S2 installments. There is a clear arc here of Leanne coming to terms with her past and trying to create a future, and Servant is a show that thrives when its general weirdness is used to support such arcs, not stand separate from them.
That being said, Servant is still a show in which seemingly "momentous" things happen (attributed much dramatic weight) but can't really be described or given all that much meaning after the fact. For example, a plot arc involving homeless young people living in the park across from the Turner residence is present all season long, yet I can't explain to you here its exact significance. The same could go for a sub-plot involving Dorothy's coworker "frenemy" Isabelle (Molly Griggs) in which she is given a seemingly very dramatic arc-yet, once again, I don't think I can put my finger on exactly why it is significant. For these types of reasons, my star ranking for S3 won't go above 8/10.
Servant is also still extremely helped from-if not sometimes outrightly buoyed by-the 25-30 minute episode runtimes. If this was a 40-50 minute episode show, there's no way I'd still be watching. But these quick-hitting episodes are the perfect timeframe in which to showcase Shyamalan's oddness interspersed with the plot/character drama.
Overall, S3 brought me back into the Servant camp, if you will, and has me intrigued again about what a forthcoming fourth (and final) season will bring. The show is a bit too visually and symbolically open-ended to ever vault to all-time favorite status for me, but I'm again invested enough in the characters to want to know how everything turns out.
For a very basic overview, S3 really focuses on nanny Leanne (Nell Tiger Free) and her struggles acclimating to normal society (always looking over her shoulder for former cult influences). At the same time, fresh off her S2 campaign to retrieve baby Jericho, Dorothy (Lauren Ambrose) begins to suspect that something isn't quite right, having not yet faced Jericho's strange history/reality. She blames Leanne, and the actions of Sean (Toby Kebbell) & Julian (Rupert Grint)-even if trying to psychologically protect Dorothy from more trauma-only persuade her further that nefarious action is afoot.
The focus on Leanne is a godsend for S3, as it prevents the all-over-the-place fracturing of most of the S2 installments. There is a clear arc here of Leanne coming to terms with her past and trying to create a future, and Servant is a show that thrives when its general weirdness is used to support such arcs, not stand separate from them.
That being said, Servant is still a show in which seemingly "momentous" things happen (attributed much dramatic weight) but can't really be described or given all that much meaning after the fact. For example, a plot arc involving homeless young people living in the park across from the Turner residence is present all season long, yet I can't explain to you here its exact significance. The same could go for a sub-plot involving Dorothy's coworker "frenemy" Isabelle (Molly Griggs) in which she is given a seemingly very dramatic arc-yet, once again, I don't think I can put my finger on exactly why it is significant. For these types of reasons, my star ranking for S3 won't go above 8/10.
Servant is also still extremely helped from-if not sometimes outrightly buoyed by-the 25-30 minute episode runtimes. If this was a 40-50 minute episode show, there's no way I'd still be watching. But these quick-hitting episodes are the perfect timeframe in which to showcase Shyamalan's oddness interspersed with the plot/character drama.
Overall, S3 brought me back into the Servant camp, if you will, and has me intrigued again about what a forthcoming fourth (and final) season will bring. The show is a bit too visually and symbolically open-ended to ever vault to all-time favorite status for me, but I'm again invested enough in the characters to want to know how everything turns out.
