Servant 2.04: "2:00" goes for artful horror
Servant 2.04: "2:00" goes for artful horror
M. Night Shyamalan directs a devilishly good outing
Original Airdate: February 5, 2021
Written By: Tony Basgallop
Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
Plot Summary: As she interrogates Leanne about her son’s whereabouts, Dorothy starts mysteriously waking up at 2 in the morning.
Review
One of the neatest tricks that the first season of Servant pulled off was slowly but surely shifting audience empathy from Dorothy to Sean. When the series began, it was easy to see Sean as the lesser of the two Turners, a vain and egocentric man that seemed all but impossible to like. Dorothy seemed more empathetic just by virtue of the fact that she had lost her child and with that her grip on reality.
But as the story progressed, viewers learned alongside Leanne just how selfish, manipulative, and sometimes downright cruel Dorothy could be. Once the series revealed that Dorothy had essentially killed her son via neglect, Sean began to look like the most decent or righteous person in the family. That contrast is thrown into sharp relief by the Turners’ interactions with Leanne in the course of “2:00,” easily the darkest, creepiest and least comedic episode of the season thus far.
In effect, the extended 36-minute chapter presents a dark inversion of the Season 1 dynamic, where Dorothy was kind and welcoming to the Turners’ mysterious new houseguest, while Sean was suspicious, distrustful, and spiteful of her. Having undergone a spiritual awakening at the end of last season, Sean now recognizes on some level what Leanne has done for him and his wife and so in turn knows that everything they’re doing to her is wrong.
Admittedly, he continually enables and upholds Dorothy’s delusions, while neglecting to do the right thing. Yet his actions here, which include trying to gain Leanne’s trust, allowing her more human comforts and appealing to her sense of goodness, point to a fundamental decency and humanity. So it makes sense that Leanne would remove his affliction with leprosy. (Though, it could be a way for her to manipulate him.)
If Sean can be considered, by Leanne’s own judgement, to be a moral person, then what does that make of Dorothy? Even before she begins inexplicably waking up at 2am to physically torture and abuse Jericho’s ex-nanny, Dorothy behaves in a manner that is quite disturbing. It’s downright scary to see how casually she’s able to go about her day and discuss fixing the crack in the basement after leaving Leanne imprisoned against her will and deprived of basic amenities like food and a bathroom.
Even scarier is the way that Dorothy justifies her treatment of Leanne whenever anyone questions it by essentially dehumanizing the victim. She compares Leanne to a drug addict and refers to her situation as a form of “deprogramming,” as though it’s for the girl’s own good. Even her “first rule of journalism” sounds like a government agent’s official policy on the ‘enhanced interrogation’ of prisoners.
So, as the episode progresses, and Dorothy’s late-night visits to Leanne turn increasingly more abusive, the viewer may very well be compelled to wonder, as to whether Dorothy is only now losing her humanity or if her malevolence had always been there, simply hiding under the surface.
Viewers might also find it hard not to fear for Leanne’s life, especially as the usually stoic and composed servant becomes so scared and traumatized that she starts hiding behind artificial barriers composed of the luggage in the attic. All this contributes to a tense and suspenseful atmosphere that is sustained from beginning to end.
It really helps that “2:00” is a longer and slower-paced episode than the ones preceding it. The second season of Servant has thus far boldly, yet all-too-quickly burned through its story, resulting in uncharacteristically short episodes. With its 36 minutes, “2:00” shifts things back toward the style of the more meditative first season, which tended to luxuriate in the formal details.
We get ample time to get used to Leanne’s new dwelling place in the Turners’ previously unseen (and beautifully lit) attic before things escalate. The terrifying final sequence of “2:00” feels like an artsy, European take on an 80s slasher picture, complete with an extended first-person POV shot reminiscent of classics like Halloween and Friday the 13th. Here, Dorothy assumes the role of an unstoppable stalker and Leanne takes on the mantle of the virginal “final girl.”
M. Night Shyamalan, who returns to direct after last taking on S1’s stellar “Jericho,” handles the transition into full-on horror with aplomb. Needless to say, his penchant for longer, uninterrupted takes with some amazing blocking and unconventional coverage is on full display here. Arguably one of the best shots from a visual storytelling standpoint has to be the long, ominous panning shot in the attic that creates the impression that someone or something is gliding over Leanne before the camera focuses on the clock at 2am. This immediately precedes a shot of Dorothy suddenly jolting up in bed, which heavily implies that something unnatural may be happening in the Turner household.
The intentional ambiguity of what’s actually going on here very much fits the concept of the “fantastic,” as described by cultural critic Tzvetan Todorov — a middle ground or uncertainty between the rational and supernatural. Servant has dabbled in the (implicitly) supernatural many times before, but it has arguably never walked the fine line between the marvelous and the uncanny as much as it does here.
One can certainly come up with a rational explanation for what is happening to Dorothy and why. After all, the act of waking up in the middle of the night from REM sleep is not uncommon, and Dorothy herself suggests that her body is remembering something her mind does not. It is blatantly obvious to longtime viewers that these awakenings are somehow connected to her memory of Jericho’s death, though the episode never quite spells out exactly what they mean.
Perhaps, the Dorothy that wakes up at 2am is aware that she had killed Jericho and so in turn knows that Leanne brought him back, only to take him away. This would suggest that Dorothy has a second personality that is only capable of taking control of her body at night, which would explain why when Dorothy visits Leanne during the day, she does not appear to be aware of the previous night’s events. It’s also possible that Dorothy is actually well aware of what she does to Leanne at 2am and simply plays dumb in front of Sean.
And yet, it is difficult to discount the possibility that perhaps there is something else, some kind of dark force that briefly takes possession of Dorothy during at that specific time frame. For one thing, the narrative of Servant has from the beginning been at least supernatural-adjacent and the visual language here clearly hints at something. For another, the story of Dorothy’s mysteriously waking up at 2am appears to be drawing on the cultural concept of “The Devil’s Hour,” which refers to a time period — usually 3am — linked to the sudden awakenings of people in a panic.
According to paranormal researcher Xavier Remington, for instance, ““Legend has it that if you wake up at exactly 3:00am for no reason in a state of terror then the Devil has paid you a visit literally or in your dreams.”” So, it is just as possible then that the Devil may be influencing, if not possessing, Dorothy at 2am at night. This would also tie into the religious context of the series. Assuming Leanne is indeed a saint, it would make sense for the Devil to manipulate Dorothy to corrupt God’s servant.
In any case, “2:00” emerges as another great episode in the second season of Servant, a beautiful mini-horror movie that continues to boldly push the series forward in terms of story and character. Its ending arguably raises a new central question for the season: “Is Dorothy Turner inherently evil?” Sean claims that Dorothy isn’t a bad person. But everything we see suggests otherwise. So Leanne is probably right to say that Jericho is in a better place, and safe far away from his mother.
Grade: A
Notes and Annotations
The primary reason why the “Devil’s Hour” is believed to occur at 3am ostensibly has to do with the notion that Christ was crucified at 3pm. Thus, the Devil inverts this and/or mocks the Holy Trinity.
Another potential reference could be to “The Witching Hour,” which is a separate concept from the “Devil’s Hour,” though the two are often conflated. I recommend reading this article by Icy Sedgwick for more information on the concept.
So, does Leanne return Sean’s senses of taste and touch because she believes he is not deserving of her punishment? Or does she do this hoping to manipulating him into helping her? One could interpret this either way, though I am leaning towards the former. Certainly, it is the return of Sean’s pain that ultimately leads to his digging up Leanne before it’s too late, but then again, she never tries to use the return of his senses as a bartering chip to get him to let her go.
So, why doesn’t Leanne use the bible to perhaps curse Dorothy? After all, she has cursed her before for lesser grievances. It’s possible this is because she doesn’t possess a personal item of Dorothy’s anymore, but still…
The way Night films the third assault sequence seemed especially reminiscent to me of Michael Haneke’s White Ribbon. The violence is entirely off-screen, but that only makes it harder to stomach for the viewer. Speaking of which, that Dorothy does this while Sean’s asleep gives the whole thing a transgressive feel, one that calls to mind the Doctor’s (Rainer Bock) sexual assault of his own daughter behind closed doors, while his son was asleep at night.
I assume that Leanne never tells Sean what Dorothy does at night, as she assumes that he knows.
The fact that Leanne never tells Dorothy explicitly that Jericho died is sorta explained here by the idea that “it must be one of the Turners” that does this. So, it looks like there are some unspecified rules that govern what Leanne can or cannot say to Dorothy.
Leanne telling Dorothy that Jericho is “in a better place” is the closest she can come to outright spelling out that, yes, the boy is dead and he has gone to heaven.