Each week Terry and Joe review the latest episode of Apple TV’s Servant S2, alternating between our respective sites.

S1 coverage: 1– 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10

S2 coverage: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10
S3 coverage: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10
S4 coverage: 1 / 2 / 3

Spoilers follow for Episode 2.09 “Goose”

Episode 2.09 “Goose”: As they wait for Jericho’s return, Dorothy and Sean pretend everything is fine at a tense Christmas Eve lunch.

TERRY

The blank page is just staring at me, Joe, because in a season of explosive moments, this episode was a lot and I don’t know where to start. “Goose” was crammed full of awkward lunches, discussions of faith, sexual healing, drug use, death and...a noose made of clothes.

But first, we have a goose to pluck. And disembowel. And decapitate.

We haven’t had a good gross food moment on Servant in awhile. Sure, we had the century egg but, unlike the first season, in season two gross food has been replaced by violence and food. Here we get close-ups of Sean (Toby Kebbell)’s gloved hand ripping and pulling out organs, lopping off the head off and then finally seasoning the corpse.

It’s disgusting to watch...and I loved every second of it.

But back at the beginning. “Goose” opens with Sean plucking the feathers out of a goose and, I’ll be honest, I’m not sure I have the desire and/or stamina to do that. That looked like work.

I love this opening scene, though, especially as the camera follows an errant goose feather as it dances through the air and through the home, floating up the stairs, down the hall and into Jericho’s room...where Dorothy (Lauren Ambrose) sucks it up with her Dyson vacuum. I feel like there’s intent in that, but I haven’t been able to parse the metaphor. Regardless, she’s preparing the baby’s room for Jericho’s presumed return.

It’s a fleeting moment of happiness for her because everything that follows just keeps getting worse.

First up, Dorothy goes looking for Uncle George (Boris McGiver) who is, of course, either badly hurt or dead after he was hit by a car at the end of last week’s episode...I’m not really sure which. Leanne (Nell Tiger Free) tells her he left last night.

And, Joe, the look on Dorothy’s face...I think we need to celebrate Lauren Ambrose’s performance again. Each episode she turns out nuanced portrayals of grief, anger and frustration and “Goose” is another subtle showcase of her physical acting. This scene, for instance, is the first crack in her deluded happiness that Jericho is going to show up today. The pause as she processes Leanne’s comment, the brief break in her cool and calm facade, followed by her assessment, “He must have gone for Jericho. He’ll be back in time for lunch, I’m sure.” Fantastic, Joe.

Before we can focus on this, though, “Goose” is also another awkward lunch episode and for that, we need guests. Luckily, we have Julian (Rupert Grint) and Dorothy’s father Frank (Todd Waring) and his latest lover Kourtney...with a K (Katie Lee Hill).

The dismissive way Dorothy says this (“Kourtney...with a K”) made me laugh, but then we meet her and she is more fantastic than I could have expected. She’s introduced in the backseat of Frank’s car and she has many questions. “I don’t understand,” she says with a nice amount of vocal fry. “They have a baby...or don’t they?”

Her confusion causes Julian to lash out angrily and condense 19 episodes of story into the briefest of statements: “Jesus, keep up. They had a baby. Then they had a fake baby. Then it was replaced with a real baby. And now it’s a fake baby again. But this time Dorothy knows and she’s expecting the Wisconsin Yeti to arrive with the real baby any minute.

“You follow, Kourtney?”

And with an incredulous laugh she says, “No,” and in the process immediately wormed her way into my heart. Because when the story is laid out in the barest of terms, it’s pretty damn absurd. It also shows the power of the storytelling that it has captivated us for nineteen episodes even though it is, on the surface, completely preposterous. I love it when creator/writer Tony Basgallop reminds us of this with outside characters.

But even though there’s humorous stingers in this episode, “Goose” begins to explore the effects of trauma on Julian and Dorothy in increasingly dark and destructive ways.

So, Joe: do you want to play a game of Charades and do you think you can beat Kourtney with a K’s impersonation of The Very Hungry Caterpillar?

Faith and the lack of it has been a potent topic of discussion this season, so did this awkward lunch that split the table on the concept of faith work for you? What do we make of Julian and Leanne’s discussion of her tropey loss of virginity and resulting feeling of power?

Finally, while it’s not a Hermès belt, we need to talk about that noose in the basement.

JOE

It’s hilarious to me how many of these second season reviews we have begun with the words “I don’t know where to begin.” Servant truly is the gift that keeps on giving; each episode takes us closer and closer to something akin to a grief precipice, punctuated by comedic beats, awkward moments and jaw dropping performances and setpieces.

Going into “Goose”, I wondered if the series would adopt a Game of Thrones approach to its penultimate episode. After all, this was the point in the first season when we finally found out the sad, terrible, upsetting truth about what actually happened to Jericho. While “Goose” doesn’t quite reach those highs, it very effectively ramps up the tension of the ticking clock that has been looming over the entirety of season two, and in particular last week’s episode.

There is a sense of play on display here, though thankfully not the uncomfortable competitiveness of watching a coked-out Julian angrily berate Kourtney with a K for her lack of Charades skills (for my money she did ok with a difficult clue, but I also hate Charades). No, the “play” on display in this episode is, of course, the facade as everyone pretends that what they are doing isn’t utterly ridiculous and sad.

The way the diners gather around the table so that “Reverend'' Sean can deliver his blatant plea to Leanne - or some higher power - is fascinating. Throughout the series, Dorothy has been the true believer, the one whose belief that their missing child would find its way back to them, while Sean has played deceiver and puppet master, orchestrating the ruse with Julian.

And yet here he is, at a lunch celebrating the eve of the birth of another magical baby whose effigy was highlighted earlier in the episode as part of the Christmas creche. Throw in all of the religious/symbolic imagery of angels (on tables and adorning the top of the tree, gazing down at Dorothy as she prepares the tree) and it subtly reinforces just how fucked up this alternative form of worship truly is.

So yes, Sean may not be a true believer, but he believes in something enough to announce it to the table in the hope that it comes true.

But this isn’t the season for Christmas miracles, Terry. The entirety of “Goose” is orchestrated around time once again, particularly as a despondent Dorothy sits on the front step, surveying the empty street and her neighbours with their newborn. She keeps an eye on the clock, announcing the passing minutes to Sean as they share what may be their most intimate moment in the series’ present timeline thus far.

This is truly a couple that has gone through Hell, but there’s only two paths ahead: Jericho...or that fashionable noose in the basement.

I won’t lie: the slow pan up to the rafters to reveal what Dorothy had constructed (and what we’ve longed anticipated) still made me gasp. It’s not that Dorothy’s devotion to her child has ever been in question; it’s quite another thing to show the vehicle that she will use to be reunited with child should he not be delivered to her by sundown.

You’re right that Ambrose’s performance is gob-smackingly good. For me, it’s that moment when Leanne questions what she’ll do with the noose and Dorothy tells her “Sean mustn’t know about that” with a sad, conspiratorial smile. It’s chilling and devastating in equal measure. What more does Ambrose have to do to garner awards attention for this role?!

But Terry, we need to talk about Julian’s spiral, because as strong as Ambrose is, this is a showcase episode for Grint. What did you make of his drug/alcohol binge? Did you delight at the cross-cutting between the Jenga game and Julian’s time in the bathroom? And I didn’t get to your prompt about him and Leanne, so how did you read her body language in the kitchen and her decision to “break the rules” by bringing him back from the dead?

Oh and thoughts on the arrival of “she”?

TERRY

To piggyback off of your dissection of the religiously awkward lunch, what intrigued me the most (besides poor Kourtney with a K getting pushed around by Julian when all she wanted to do was eat those $300 La Bonnotte potatoes) was the way Julian and Leanne are positioned at the end of the table. While it’s not surprising that the antagonistically unbelieving Julian wouldn’t put up with this prayer nonsense, it is telling that Leanne - pious and true-believing Leanne - who refuses to take Sean’s hand. It’s another moment of refutation for her.

Which leads to a secret meeting between Leanne and Julian about what happened the night before. While Julian apologizes and says it should not have happened, Leanne drags her fingers seductively against the kitchen island and says she isn’t sorry. That she feels different. “More powerful.” That it feels good.

I’m not quite sure what to make of this development from a narrative perspective. It feels a bit tropey that a woman “loses her virginity” and suddenly feels powerful. Considering this is at least partially a religious story and Christianity (which the cult feels at least somewhat attached to) holds so much (and I’m rolling my eyes here) credence over a woman’s purity, it kind of makes sense. So I’m at a loss on how to feel about this scene or what it portends.

But what did work for me on the Julian front was his downward spiral that has been building since...well, probably since the beginning of the series. The choice of mirroring the group playing Jenga (a tower that is fated to eventually collapse) with Julian’s equally fated fall might be a bit on the nose, but it was shot and edited so well that I didn’t particularly care. You’ve mentioned the way this episode builds on the ticking clock motif the season has played with and I loved the use of Natalie (Jerrika Hinton)’s repeated calls. The phone’s constant buzzing and Julian’s reluctance to answer expressed how much he didn’t want to be saved.

It’s telling that he listens to one of her voice mails pleading with him to talk to her while he takes his fatal sniff of cocaine. I’ve started to realize how the Turner household feels like a blackhole of Hell, pulling damaged people back in...only to revel in their torment. And it all stems from their fears of failing Jericho. From Leanne’s self-flagellation and doubts to Sean’s constant need to “protect” his wife from the truth to Dorothy’s subconscious understanding that she’s responsible for Jericho’s death to Julian’s pain for ignoring Dorothy’s plea...everyone is in some way culpable for the events that have led them here. And everyone continues to punish themselves in an unending ouroboros of self-inflicted pain.

So when “She” (Barbara Sukowa) shows up at the door, dressed as if she’s attending a funeral, it feels oddly in line because this found family unit seems moments away from death at any given minute. I have to admit, I desperately want to know more about her, what she’s doing there and what her neutral question of “I understand you’re looking for Jericho?” actually means.

We’re at the end, though, Joe. One episode left in the season and I don’t know about you, but I still have a bunch of questions. What did you make of Julian’s resurrection and his statement that he “...saw him there. He seemed okay”? Do you think season two will end with the remarkable re-rebirth of Jericho? Or will this mysterious new “she” (identified as Aunt Josephine on IMDb) bring destruction along with her funeral gown?

JOE

Aunt Josephine’s attire certainly portends doom, doesn’t it? Here’s a woman who clearly knows how to make an entrance.

On one hand, it’s perfectly in keeping with all of this talk of death, rebirth and miracles for an odd woman to arrive on Christmas Eve to deliver a line that evokes Candyman.

On the other, it’s confirmation that Servant is essentially a glorified soap-opera with a taste for flair on the same level as a queen on RuPaul’s Drag Race. This show *loves* its cliffhangers, its high fashion costuming, its food porn and, above all else, drama. (And for the record, none of this is bad; we also love it for all of these reasons).

Honestly Terry, I have no illusions about my inability to predict where any of this is going. Servant has a penchant for throwing seemingly significant events into the wind (Where has George’s body gone? What about the Betamax tape? Who - or what - is “He” from Roscoe’s hypnosis session?!) only to bring them back at vital moments (Oh hi Natalie, where have you been all season?). This suggests that the finale will introduce as many dangling plot threads as it will pay off. After all, let’s not forget that monster cliffhanger that S1 ended on!

Regarding the question of a Jericho re-rebirth, I do wonder how much to read into Kourtney with a K (I snuck in one last reference!)’s Charades clue about “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”? What is a caterpillar but a creature on the cusp of transformation aka a rebirth? We’ve seen nothing of Jericho this season (the sight of the doll in the crib as Dorothy prepares his room plays like a surreal S1 flashback!), but perhaps Jericho has been off transforming into something new? Time jumps for babies and children is hardly new ground for genre series, so it’s not out of the realm of the possible.

Or is that too wild even for Servant?

If we can assume that the show is a memorial to trauma and pain and suffering, however, it may explain in part why the series is geographically fixed to the Philadelphia Brownstone. We’ve made many jokes during the course of these reviews about how the show never ventures further than the front steps of the Turner house, but like everything else, that’s by design. If this truly is Hell and all of these characters are being tormented, it makes sense that their home is a prison from which they cannot escape. In hindsight I always thought the bannister leading up to the attic was like the bars of a child’s crib, but in hindsight, perhaps they’re also the bars of a cell.

All of this talk of punishment and suffering really comes to the forefront when you find a woman bearing all of the hallmarks of death on your front stoop. I guess we’ll find out just what this shadowy figure’s deal is next week when we jump back to QueerHorrorMovies for the S2 finale “Josephine.”