Servant Season 4 Episode 1 Review: Pigeon
As Servant returns for its fourth and final season, it will not go gently into the night. Servant Season 4 Episode 1, “Pigeon,” starts with an unforgettable, heart-pounding episode with Leanne at the center.
She has always been the nucleus of this story but removing the other characters — for most of the episode — helps solidify that she’s both the hero and monster of Servant.
“Pigeon” metaphorically and physically shows her evolution. It starts with a cult member attacking her and ends with her bringing them down using her physical fighting skills and her mysterious powers.
The show begins with Leanne’s fear of her former cult, but as the seasons progress, she defeats them several times. They no longer have power over her… at least that’s what she believes.
As the cult grows in numbers, she grows in strength. “Pigeon” allows Leanne to fight the cult and shows how far the character has come as a young girl and as this powerful entity.
Not only does this episode act as a display of Leanne’s growth (emotionally, physically, and with her powers), but it acts as a way for Servant to remind us that this is a horror TV show after all.
The series draws upon so many universal and horror movie scares. Any Alfred Hitchcock fan will immediately associate the pigeon attack with the movie Birds — but far more gruesome. That guy’s poor eye.
The episode channels the universal fear of the dark by giving it a semi-dark and misty look for the majority of the action. It plays on many common fears, such as kidnapping, carjackings, abuse, demons, cults, etc., to heighten the tension and scare you.
Leanne overcoming all these obstacles shows her powers and strength to defeat anything the cult can throw at her. This makes her a rootable character and a character to fear.
Her continuing to head down a dark path may make her unstoppable, but at what cost to her found family?
In Servant Season 3, we see Leanne do terrible things without remorse, including murder, creating her own cult, manipulation, and possibly crippling Dorothy.
Leanne is more powerful than the cult, but that’s probably not a good thing for the world at large.
Last season, sort of, began a war between Dorothy and Leanne. Despite knowing how dangerous Leanne can become, Dorothy isn’t backing down.
Her continuing to reject Leanne is likely going to push her even more quickly down a destructive path. The ending of “Pigeon” alludes to this with her becoming so emotional that she cracks the foundation.
Servant may be heading in the direction where Leanne must go or the world will end. We’re in for a wild ride for Servant’s final season.
Stray Thoughts
- “Pigeon” has plenty of hilarious moments, including Sean’s new cooking show and Maroon 5 playing on the car system
- Julian fully falling off the wagon feels sad
- I hope more episodes this season are kind of experimental, like this one.
- Somehow the 30-minute episode feels just enough but you still want more
What did you think of this episode of Servant? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Servant streams every Friday on AppleTV+.
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Jerrica Tisdale
Jerrica Tisdale is your favorite neighborhood pop culture junkie. She will annoy you with random TV and film facts, while complaining about whatever is the hottest new book. She has been a TV fan all her life but writing about it for over a decade. You may find her work all over the internet especially reality TV rants. She is a senior writer at Tell-Tale TV.