‘Servant’ Recap: ‘Wood’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 102 of ‘Servant’.

When we last settled in to discuss the wondrous and unsettling AppleTV+ series, Servant, we talked at length about how this show was quick to examine the darker side of human behavior in regard to loss and trauma. Because the series premiere of this saga did a phenomenal job of showing us how people who cannot deal with loss and trauma more of less fall into a darkness that few of us will ever understand and how those that love them will go the extra mile, regardless of absurdity and consequence, to bring them back from the brink. But the big question hanging over the end of said premiere, was whether or not that kind of exploration can continue long term on the series, since the arrival of this mysterious baby made it seem as though we were shifting into more supernatural territory storytelling wise. 

But thankfully, the next episode in this fascinating series, took the time to answer that question by informing the audience that this show is going to try and balance both elements as time goes on. Because ‘Wood’ offered the perfect balance of supernatural elements and an exploration on the human condition and the latter of those elements was handled by Sean Turner in this tale. For while his wife was on cloud nine since her life was seemingly back to normal these days, Sean was struggling mightily with the fact that a living and breathing baby was inside the house when in fact there shouldn’t be. And rather than rise to the occasion and immediately question what the hell was going on, and search for the truth in a bold manner, Sean instead continued to offer up some unhealthy and unsavory habits in regard to this incredible surprise.   

Such as turning to Dorothy’s brother Julian as a confidant and second brain to rely upon. Which doesn’t sound like a bad thing initially. But when one considers that Julian helped in getting the fake doll into the household in the first place and agreed with Sean to keep this on the down low in the hopes of keeping Dorothy functional; it quickly became apparent that both men were handling this in the wrong manner. Because by not addressing the real origin of how this baby is suddenly living in the house, they are further enabling Dorothy to not address the issues she needs to address. They are just letting this strangeness persist without giving it any thought, and of course, they are also enabling Leanne further to just… do as she pleases and continue to nurture a baby that could in fact, be someone else’s and that’s just unsettling for certain.

But at the same time, it is also quite brilliant to take the plot in this subtle and frustrating route. Because it helps to establish the fact that Sean Turner is just as broken as his wife and will do whatever it takes to avoid dealing with the raw and painful fact that his son has indeed passed away. Since this enabling behavior is his own way of trying to hold onto what he lost as well, and the fact that he won’t confront or handle this mess only lends credence to that and it should be interesting to see if Sean will eventually step up and try and to take control of his household, marriage and future, quite frankly. Or if he is going to let this madness persist and grow to its breaking point. But while this made for a fascinating and subtle character study, there was mention of elements of the supernatural being present in this story, and that was handled in equally low-key fashion as well.

Because at no point was there any sort of smoking gun that something from beyond was responsible for this incredible family surprise. But it was definitely inferred. After all, the mysterious cross hanging over Jericho’s crib speaks volumes to something strange going on. As did the odd appearance of wood slivers in Sean’s body and that only raises more questions about Leanne and her purpose here and it is good to know that such matters will be revealed to us in a slow burn manner as time goes on. In the end however, this really was quite the fascinating episode. Simply because it was unconventional in how it told its story. Because the follow-up story to a big-time cliffhanger should be epic and sweeping in nature. But instead this was an intimate affair, one that taught us a lot about Sean and Julian and that low-key approach leaves one hungry for more. For it is obvious now that this series is going to build slowly to something quite big and the only way to know what exactly… is to continue this uncomfortable and twisted journey. Until next time.

---