Servant – Season 4 Episode 2 “Itch” Recap & Review

Itch

Episode 2 of Servant season 4 starts with Dorothy awakening and hearing Jericho cry. Sean wants to stick around and help but Leanne convinces him to go to work. After all, what Dorothy needs right now is normalcy. That’s not exactly great news to Dorothy, who simply tells Leanne to go away when she arrives with breakfast.

Leanne continues to press, going on to show Dorothy a blanket she’s made out of Jericho’s old clothes. Dorothy is horrified, pointing out that this is a mother’s job. After apologizing, Leanne brings in Jericho and uses him as an incentive for Dorothy to eat. Leanne doesn’t keep him there though, instead simply allowing her to see her own son for a few minutes before taking him away again.

When Dorothy’s father’s girlfriend Kourtney heads over to see her, a whole massive commotion ends up outside in the street. It turns out there’s an infestation of bed bugs which is bad news. After all, how are they going to handle Dorothy, who’s currently bed-bound?

When Dorothy awakens, she’s uncontrollably itching and finds Leanne looking over her, shaving Dorothy’s legs with a straight razor. She’s not happy and eventually tells Leanne to leave. Leanne though, lashes out against Dorothy, deciding to move her roughly in bed to “help” her bed sores and forcefully trying to apply lipstick.

As for the rest of the characters, Julian’s father heads over to see his son and discusses his current ties with Leanne. Leanne deliberates over why the Turner household isn’t happy, while Sean is just sorta…there. Leanne thoughtfully points out to herself that she’s done absolutely everything for the family but they’re still not happy.

Leanne reminds Dorothy just after this revelation that she needs to be careful and right now, she’s reaching the point where she’s not caring anymore about the hatred she has against her.

Uncle George shows up outside and asks the fumigators how many houses have been affected. When he learns it’s the whole block, he drops to his knees. As for Leanne, she notices the front door open and as she heads upstairs, Dorothy reveals she’s hired a couple of live-in nurses. “I’m trying really hard not to get angry.” Leanne warns, and eventually leaves, a knife gripped in her hand.

The Episode Review

This early in the season we get what’s effectively another filler episode, with very little content beyond Leanne and Dorothy’s bad ties, which we kinda already knew anyway. To be fair, the bed bug thing could be part of the larger picture and may come back up again but we’ve seen this meandering tone with Servant before but usually it happens later in the series.

The atmosphere is still suitably eerie at times and there are a couple of stand-out moments, especially the foreshadowed feel that Leanne is going to turn on a dime and really step up her efforts to hit out at Dorothy and the Turner family.

Hopefully the episodes ahead improve, especially as this is supposed to be the final season!