Apple TV’s Servant
3×10: “Mama”
Directed by Ishana Shyamalan
Written by Ryan Scott

* For a recap & review of 3×09, click here.
* Final season recaps & reviews to come!
A couple’s looking at a brownstone just across the street from the Turner place. Surely nothing sinister, right? Dorothy’s been on bedrest lately; doctor’s orders. She comes downstairs now finally to see everybody, who rush to make her feel comfortable. But Leanne’s not playing kid gloves stuff. She confronts Dorothy about their situation. She asks Dorothy to “stop fighting” her. She wants them to “go back to being a family.” For her part, Dorothy says she understands she pushed things too far, apologising. Hmm. Is Dorothy really looking for “a fresh start“? Or is she biding her time? Well, Sean and Julian aren’t buying Dorothy’s act. Only time will tell the truth.

Later, Sean attempts to confront his wife about her potential plotting but she responds calmly. Dorothy claims that when the doctor said she was a danger to their son she saw the look in Sean’s eyes and it got to her. That’s maybe true, or close to the truth. Maybe. Meanwhile, Leanne’s up in her room, crawling into the space behind the wall where Aunt Josephine’s corpse is still hidden. She touches the body and it reduces to ash, so she sweeps it up and tosses it out.
Dorothy looks through her old calendar journal, seeing a note about the day Leanne was meant to arrive when the nanny first came to their home. She wakes in the morning to Leanne asking to take a walk with her. The nanny takes the mother to the park, where all the houseless people are gathered. Leanne’s friends found out a news station is looking for a new anchor because of a retirement. She hopes Dorothy might get a new job, that things might be better again. She tells Dorothy: “I‘m just trying to show you we‘re all on the same side.” That evening, Dorothy’s in the tub with Jericho when the boy says his first word: “Mama.” But she’s troubled when Jericho looks to the doorway, repeating the word, as if looking at somebody else. Just paranoia on mom’s part?

Dorothy’s cooked dinner for everybody. She wants a real fresh start, so she breaks out a special bottle of wine that belonged to her and Julian’s mother. Julia protests at first, then they agree to drink it, to start anew properly. They toast to “new beginnings” and drink. All’s well, though there’s somebody sneaking around just outside the brownstone. Later that night, Dorothy talks to Sean about his new beliefs, and compares it to how she fell into anger instead; they both went different ways with their grief. Perhaps Dorothy really does want to start fresh.
Outside in the night, Roscoe talks with Uncle George. He’s been working with the cult, probably the entire time since he first encountered them. “Do you smell the rot?” asks George. He says the end is coming; the Turner house is filled with parasites.
Looks like Dorothy’s idea of starting again actually means leaving her house in the middle of the night with Jericho and a bunch of cash. Oh, shit. Dorothy has everything packed and ready to go but Jericho keeps crying. Leanne interrupts the escape, asking where Dorothy plans to go and what she’ll do when she gets there. She wants to go, too. “I‘ll follow you wherever you go,” Leanne says. Dorothy offers everything she has to the nanny, but Leanne isn’t looking for money, or a house, or Sean to herself. The nanny grabs hold of Leanne, yelling out to Sean and Julian. Dorothy goes absolute wild, yelling at Leanne, and she’s about to leave when the bannister breaks. Dorothy falls, as Leanne grabs Jericho from her arms, and she tumbles through the wood of the stairs, smashing to the floor below. Jesus. Christ. Now those shots of the wood earlier make all the sense. Was this just fate? Or… something else?

Bring on Season 4.