‘Servant’ Recap: ‘Goose’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 209 of ‘Servant’.
​
When it comes to the AppleTV+ series, Servant, we’ve spent a great deal of time examining how this show does an incredible job of presenting the audience with all the negative and unhealthy behaviors that people shouldn’t embrace when trying to recover from grief and loss and trauma, and with good reason. Because time and time again, this show continues to find new ways to put such matters on display. In order to hammer home the tough fact that not everyone recovers from dark moments. Which in turn, poses the possibility that the Turners may never recover from the loss of Jericho thanks to how much they embrace the darkness that can come about from losing someone we love and really, this is relevant to our discussion today, simply because the next episode in this phenomenal series… once again made this particularly sour part of the human condition the focus of its storytelling.

For ‘Goose’ saw Dorothy and Julian opt to embrace some genuinely unhealthy behaviors, such as doing everything within one’s power to try and suppress any semblance of healing so one can stew in powerful negative emotions that have become habit, and that was handled by way of Julian’s journey. Because his open and intimate evening with Leanne really impacted him in a manner he could not reconcile, since it forced all kinds of painful memories to the surface of his mind. Which should have been his clue to finally deal with them and resolve them. But instead, Julian was snorting coke and drinking heavily at the Christmas Eve family dinner that took place in this tale, to repress his feelings. But they were so powerful and so overwhelming that he used more cocaine and booze, in an effort to accomplish his numbing goals... and slid into cardiac arrest.

Which more or less made it seem as though tragedy was once again going fill the halls of this haunted home. But Leanne was quick to act in this matter and use her incredible powers to bring Julian back from the beyond, something that clearly left Julian rattled and with good reason. For he more or less confirmed that an afterlife exists, by mentioning the fact that he saw Jericho in whatever place awaits us when we die, and that the little guy was doing just fine back there and well, it is definitely safe to say that we desperately want to know more about what exactly Julian saw and what kind of lasting impact such sights will have upon him. But that will have to wait for another time. For he was hauled off to the hospital to get proper medical treatment and there was still one more sour story to explore within the confines of the Turner home, one that involved dear Dorothy.

For her journey in this tale, revolved around a painful and tense wait. One that should have brought her baby Jericho. But as the day wore on, it became clear that she wasn’t going to be reunited with her little one in the slightest and well, how she would handle that was a concern of Sean’s and he was justified in worrying about such matters. For Dorothy embodied the worst-case scenario in this tale, since sometimes people that lose loved ones truly believe that there is nothing left in this world for them with that person gone, and that their only alternative to handle the pain… is to end everything. And sadly, the noose she set up in the basement, made it clear how ready Dorothy was to fulfill that grim destiny. But believe it or not, there was a bright spot in this tale in regard to Jericho. Since another stranger appeared at the end of this tale to offer her help in bringing the baby back into the fold and that’s where this particular story ends, with the possibility of Jericho's return, hanging over the Turner family once again.

If anything, it is definitely safe to say that this was the darkest episode of this series to date and that’s saying something, since we’ve seen it go to some incredibly dark places before. But seeing the self-destructive behaviors and suicidal tendencies that can potentially accompany grief on full display in this tale, really does make this a sobering and unsettling affair. One that really gives us an idea of how far Dorothy has fallen without her baby in her arms and really, her journey leaves some incredibly ugly questions hanging over this tale. Because despite the hope present at the end of this episode, Leanne’s cohorts have used Jericho as nothing more than a bargaining chip, and for that matter… Leanne isn’t keen on bringing him back, either. Leaving us to wonder if by chance the season two finale of this series is going to end in heartbreak and devastation and death and well, that is going to make the wait for next week’s finale a painful one for certain. As we wait to see if Dorothy Turner can ever be redeemed or ever heal from that fateful day... when her life changed for the worse. Until next time.

---