WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Servant Season 2, Episode 10, “Josephine,” which aired Friday on Apple TV+.
In Servant’s first season, the central mystery concerned Sean Turner and his brother-in-law Julian Pearce investigating Leanne Grayson, her family and the conjuring of a live baby in the place of a reborn doll. All the while, the men tried their best to navigate their own grief and support Dorothy Turner’s fragile mindset. Season 2, however, turned out to be less a mystery and more of a tense stand-off between the Turners and The Church of the Lesser Saints, with both parties vying over Leanne and her divine powers. This season exemplified how far this family was willing to go in order to bring back their baby, despite Leanne being unwilling or unable to bring back the infant.
Click the button below to start this article in quick view.
At the end of last week’s episode, the Turners’ chances of being reunited with Jericho seemed dismal, and Dorothy prepared to commit suicide in order to join Jericho in the afterlife. However, the arrival of the veiled Aunt Josephine, a member of the cultish Church, provided a spark of hope for the family. Although Aunt Josephine’s intentions are revealed in this week’s season finale to be nefarious, her visit ends up being the catalyst for Jericho’s surprise return and the expansion of the Turner family.
As the episode begins, Aunt Josephine enters the Turner residence and sits down with Dorothy. She praises Dorothy’s extreme actions to regain her son, but Dorothy is dumbfounded and frustrated, as Josephine promises her “peace” without delivering the baby. Unfortunately, Josephine has no interest in bringing back Jericho. She instead hands Dorothy Jericho’s yellow onesie — which he died in — calling it “the truth.” Dorothy, believing the cult killed Jericho, decides to kill herself, but Sean is able to escape Josephine’s entrapment and talks Dorothy out of her plan.
Meanwhile, Aunt Josephine tries to kill Leanne, attempting the “reunion ritual” to return lapsed Church members back to God, but Dorothy knocks out Josephine and saves the nanny’s life. Leanne tells Dorothy that Josephine wanted her to believe Jericho was dead and promises to bring Jericho back. Dorothy relays the news to a disbelieving Sean, and for a moment, it looks as if Sean is going to reveal the truth behind Jericho’s death to Dorothy. Suddenly, they are interrupted by a cry over the baby monitor. They find Jericho alive in Leanne’s arms, and she promises that they will stay together as a family.
Leanne’s decision to bring back Jericho once more is a huge shift in her character and comes full circle with her arc. Leanne started off enamored with Dorothy, seeing her as a surrogate mother, but after learning about Dorothy’s role in Jericho’s death, Leanne’s view of her soured, which led to her decision to leave the Turners and rejoin the cult. Her viewpoint has remained mostly the same throughout Servant’s second season, and she was adamant with Sean that Dorothy needed to know the truth from him.
However, over the course of these last two episodes, Leanne’s opinion of Dorothy shifted back to her original impression. This change came after Leanne discovered the suicidal lengths Dorothy was willing to go to in order to be reunited with her son. It is also clear that Leanne once again sees Dorothy as a sort of replacement mother, as she taunts an unconscious Josephine that Dorothy had protected her like she’s her daughter.
As heartwarming as the reunion between mother and son is, Leanne’s decision to bring back Jericho and join their family has potentially destructive consequences. Dorothy is still in the dark over her part in Jericho’s death, so she’s unable to come to terms with her emotions and face the consequences of her actions. The same could be said for Sean and Julian, who are let off the hook for their multiple deceptions, and they have yet another excuse to not deal with their grief.
Jericho’s return also puts the Turners directly in the crosshairs of The Church of Lesser Saints, especially given Leanne’s dispatching of Aunt Josephine and her refusal to be “reunited” with God. In many ways, Leanne is manipulating the Turners because of their grief, endangering them emotionally and physically so she can have a happy family. The ending of Season 2 of Servant is a relatively happy one, but Season 3 will most likely explore the negative consequences of Leanne’s rebellion.
Starring Lauren Ambrose, Toby Kebbell, Nell Tiger Free and Rupert Grint, the first two seasons of Servant are now available to stream on Apple TV+.