Servant Review: A Surprising, Creepy Tale of Family Tragedy

Tragedy can be too much to bear, and outside help may be just what’s needed. Servant takes this idea and creates a surprising tale of the corrosive nature of protecting someone to their detriment, and not airing truth when reason is failing.

The Tony Basgallop-created, M. Night Shyamalan-produced series takes that tragedy and stretches it to the breaking point, seeing how far tension and masquerading can last before there is no return. While it may come as questionable for how long these characters can go without running for the door, Servant ties it all into emotion, the need to keep stability when it’s on a razor’s edge, so thin and so malleable.

This is all vague on purpose, because the crux of the story is somewhat of a spoiler itself. “A family with a newborn deal with a tragedy as a new nanny comes into their lives” is as deep a knowledge as you need going into Servant, and it’s plenty. The show unravels its story through its brisk half-hour episodes by maintaining the aforementioned delicate balance, and rewarding patience with deep character growth.

The core four cast members, Lauren Ambrose, Toby Kebbell, Nell Tiger Free, and Rupert Grint, all manage to stand out in key ways, through their shared experience as the walls grow tighter and tighter around them. They are all flawed in their own way, some downright unnerving at times, but they are all a strong force for the show, as they all bring different dynamics that serve the story in a great way.

A secret weapon the show also possesses is its love of food and wine, the characters having a wide-ranging palette and with Sean being a chef. In between the bouts of creepiness are gorgeous moments of pristine shots of cooking and preparing meals, the show lovingly displaying them in all their glory. The amount of wine flowing is downright impressive, and helps show how their imbibing keeps them sane.

The show can feel a little uneven at times, but this is partly through creating a specific sense of unease and uncertainty. Other television can rise and dip, while Servant exists in this strange zone where it’s strange by design, odd on purpose, where it wants you to be uncomfortable, and wants you to feel unsteady.

It’s something Servant does especially well: creating a sense of wonderment with its imagery. The slowly spinning camera revealing more information as we see something over and over, the mesmerizing design of the Philadelphia home the show mostly takes place in, all become welcome and familiar as time goes on, able to tell the story by building on what we’ve seen before.

It’s a slick show, its presentation and filmmaking a sharp and biting manner that ties its playfulness to its characters and creates tension through showing just enough to creep you out, but knowing when to pull back so that it never overstays its welcome. The direction is always careful and methodical, allowing scenes to play out with interesting shots and clever cues.

But for what is essentially a horror series, Servant isn’t interested in scares. It’s far more interested in tension and creating a creepy atmosphere, a more psychological bent than one of terror. Because of its long-form and shorter episodes, this ends up working wonders, as it’s a slow build to something rather powerful, and takes you by surprise when taken as a whole.

While Servant may find some struggling moments in its initial opening episode, the show quickly picks up and becomes a rather big surprise for Apple’s streaming platform. It catches you off guard, and knows how to use that to strike its specific tone. There’s a lot to like here, and it grows the deeper into the season the show gets. There’s something unique here, and it’s well worth digging into.

 

What did you think of this season of Servant? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Servant premieres on Thursday, November 28th, and airs subsequent Fridays on Apple TV+.

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