‘Servant’ Recap: ‘Rain’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 106 of ‘Servant’.
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The other day when we settled in to discuss the fifth episode of the AppleTV+ series, Servant, we took a moment to ponder upon whether or not the series was going to potentially kick its storytelling into overdrive in the back half of season one. After all, the first half of said season spent a lot of time establishing our main characters and what makes them tick and what has brought them to this difficult point in their lives. And while that is important to the overall quality of the story, at some point, the plot needs to get moving in the right direction and wrap up the mysteries of the Turner household and thankfully it would seem that the show is finally ready to make that happen, since an unexpected visitor at the Turner household changed the tone of this season.

As it turns out, this visitor was a blast from Leanne's past, and they arrived in Philadelphia in 'Rain', in the creepiest way imaginable. For she received a postcard in the mail that contained two chilling words; ‘Found You!’, and it wasn’t long before the person that sent that greeting showed up at her doorstep. And this mysterious man was clearly someone that was important to Leanne, since she was quick to acquiesce to his wishes and invite him inside, and even show him Jericho after he requested to see the baby and well, this definitely added an air of tension and danger to this tale. Because the audience didn’t have a clue who this man was, and that tension only intensified the instant that Dorothy came home from work.

Because this mystery man’s shoes were still inside the house. Implicating that he was still inside the house as well, and that’s when things got really interesting. For when Dorothy came face to face with the man, he identified himself as Leanne’s uncle, George, and dear George just so happened to be in town for the day and wanted to see his darling niece and bring her back home for other work. A statement that mortified Dorothy to no end since she wanted her darling nanny to stay far longer. And in order to keep Leanne under this roof, she went to extremes. Which means she asked George to stick around for dinner so everyone could talk this out. A decision that didn’t settle well with Sean, who was out for the night cooking for the Eagles, and he immediately called Julian to rush in and save the day, and it is a good thing that he did.

For Uncle George made things weird and uncomfortable at dinner and he even went so far as to disrespect baby Jericho in the middle of the night after Dorothy asked him to stay and rest, by putting the kid on the floor and sleeping in his crib. But thankfully Julian was there to keep an eye upon the grown man that sleeps in a baby’s bed, and the rest of the night ended without incident. But while all of that strange behavior should be cause for panic or worry, Dorothy saw it as nothing more than an opportunity to win over a stranger that she needed on her side in order to keep Leanne around, and eventually she got her wish, despite George’s misgivings about Leanne not coming home to help the ‘family.’ Which makes it sounds as though this creepy tale wraps up in a happy fashion, but alas… that closing shot, wherein George is just standing outside of Leanne’s window, waiting for heaven knows what, speaks volumes to the fact that trouble is waiting just around the corner.

Yet while this made for one creepy and unsettling tale, many viewers likely noticed that this particular tale didn’t offer up all that much in the way of direct answers or a hard push, in regard to what exactly is happening on this show or the plot and that is a correct observation. But what matters more here, is that something happened outside of general discussions about Leanne and sneaking about to uncover her secrets. Which is a step in the right direction, and the fact that it came about by way of someone who knows Leanne and is clearly disturbed, should only add to the intensity and eerie nature of this story. In the end however, this was a solid tale for certain. Because it plunged us into some genuinely uncomfortable and haunting moments and it resurrected a sense of terror, and now that the scares are back and Uncle George is in town, it should be interesting to see what other surprises await us as we close in on the season one finale. Until next time.  

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