‘Servant’ Recap: ‘Cricket’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 105 of ‘Servant’.
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There was a time in the horror genre, where the monster or the villain remained shrouded in mystery. To the point where we would never know why the villain was motivated to commit such heinous acts or why the monster existed in the first place and for a long time, this made for effective storytelling within this genre. Because it preyed upon our fears of the unknown and helped to serve as an allegory for the fact that we really didn’t want to understand evil, but we were willing to accept its existence. But somewhere along the line, that all changed and suddenly we wanted to know more about what made a monster appear in this genre, and its motivations. Or why the villain was so hellbent on hurting people and it is a change that, frankly, helped to improve the genre. 
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For understanding evil added gravity and terror to the story in question since it gave its machinations depth and dimension and sometimes, this change even helps us to sympathize with the evil in question since we come to see that it cannot control its powers, its path and its destiny. And oddly enough, all of these elements wormed their way into the next episode of Servant. For ‘Cricket’ was a Leanne-centric tale, and well… having her take the spotlight for a change revealed quite a few things about this young and mysterious woman. Such as the fact that she will actually take a large amount of abuse from people that she admires. Because the Turner family actually treated her like hot garbage in this particular tale since deceit was used to manipulate her at every turn. 

Dorothy for instance, opted to send her out into the rain to get some fancy cake so she and Sean could have a little intimacy, something that was wholly unnecessary. And while the loving couple were running around town for a better part of this story, Julian set his plans to catch her in the act of something evil, in motion. Because he sent his PI into the house to have him rummage through her things while she was out walking Jericho, and he even went so far as to pay someone to befriend her in the hopes of having them, nudge her toward leaving the household for a better gig. All of which, wore on Leanne as the episode rolled along, and putting her under this kind of pressure definitely allowed for the audience to feel for her and it revealed that perhaps she is a being that is quite misunderstood, in regard to what she can do. 

Because as these pressures continued to bring her to an angry boil, we came to learn that she definitely harbors some kind of power when it comes to controlling the lives of others. Since her ire toward Dorothy and Sean resulted in physical and painful changes to their bodies, and to make matters more impressive, she also exhibited the ability to resurrect the dead when her sorrow and self-loathing managed to bring a cricket back to life and this was… quite the interesting episode when all is said and done. For it seems as though that Leanne may not be as evil as we truly think she is. Instead she may have abilities that she doesn’t understand in the slightest, which makes her equally as dangerous since fury and frustration can lead to trouble if she directs her unique power in a concentrated fashion at someone within the house.

If anything, what makes this episode so unique and so fascinating, is the sheer fact that everything here is handled in a low-key and slow burn manner. Because while we did indeed enjoy some level of reveal and understanding, it was nothing more than a tidbit. For Leanne’s true purpose still remains a mystery, as does Jericho's and that’s okay. Because it is clear that this series is slowly working toward something and all of these side vignettes, where we spend time with the characters, is designed to lay the foundation for the finale. And now that we have reached the halfway point of season one, it would not be surprising to see this story suddenly take a sharp turn toward its conclusion/point and it should be interesting to see what comes out of this particular tale and all of its uncomfortable and chilling discoveries. Until next time.   

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