Servant Season 4 Episode 5 Review: Neighbors

Good luck to Sean and Dorothy…because they need it. Servant Season 4 Episode 5, “Neighbors,” proves that Sean and Dorothy are not outwitting and outplaying Leanne any time soon.

She is too powerful for them to defeat. Additionally, they really have no clue what they are doing. Dorothy and Sean should really be glad that her need for a family keeps them alive.

“Neighbors” shows how Leanne’s power and strength continue to grow while the Turners grow weaker.

Basically, Leanne now has an army on her side. She has a personal cult that grows bigger daily. Then her actual powers seem stronger by the minute.

The Turners, on the other hand, are really struggling.

First, Julian has essentially given up his free will. He accepts that he’s Leanne’s boyfriend and is loyal to her. He fears challenging her even a little.

Dorothy is physically weakened. Now Sean and her see how little they have control of this situation. It’s Leanne: 400 to the Turners’: 0.

This is the midpoint in Servant Season 4, so we still have a lot of episodes left. This can either mean that something powerful enough to take down Leanne is coming, or her powers will continue to grow each week until she brings everything down.

The former offers the more interesting endgame.

Bev and Bobbie could be that thing to challenge Leanne but they continue to seem neutral. They, once again, protect Dorothy but other than that, they show no real interference in events. Dorothy even notes that they are best at distracting Leanne.

This could foreshadow that they may be a distraction to stop her or to allow the real threat to arrive.

“Neighbors” is a good reminder that though Servant is a horror drama, it can be hilarious at times. This episode — despite the big final moments — has so many funny lines and situations.

Sean and Dorothy’s interrogating tactics show their idiocy but adds so many comedic moments to the episode. Leanne popping up to scare Sean is also an A+ gag.

Also, her telling them to accept their family status at the end, though probably not intentionally funny, is very funny because she ignores all the chaos to just focus on forcing a familial situation.

Furthermore, it demonstrates that fundamentally all Leanne wants is acceptance and a family. She’s willing to fight for it even when they want to push her out.

If you remove all of Leanne’s devious behavior, you kind of go back to sympathizing with her on “Neighbors.” It’s incredibly insane and terrible that Sean and Dorothy try to give her back to an abusive cult.

Sean and Dorothy are the monsters here. They even acknowledge that possibility on this episode.

However, you can also sympathize with their desire to free themselves of this powerful entity controlling their lives.

This is a no-win situation for any of them. That’s what makes this final season of Servant so fascinating and entertaining.

Almost every character has shades of a monster and a hero. None of them can find true happiness as long as they’re together.

Leanne wants to stay with this family but they no longer care or want her in it. Any niceness will be fake.

The Turners will never truly be her family again.

Dorothy isn’t willing to forgive or welcome Leanne back into her life. She will always see her as an obstacle, a burden. Sean and Julian both fear Leanne.

Sean especially feels no comfort with her around. His priorities also revolve around making Dorothy happy.

That cannot happen with Leanne there.

It really may all come down to mutual destruction on Servant.

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

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Servant streams Fridays on AppleTV+. 

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