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12022-05-04T09:23:23-07:00Colin Donahue64d03333ed3ad4a9427b25264c7cfa9c61f84dac404959plain2022-05-08T12:46:01-07:00FMST '22de2ad159ac64e95345c5a7de6719acaf2b572228 Executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan just outside Philadelphia, Servant is an Apple TV + series that premiered in November 2019. For context, Apple TV+ is a relatively new subscription streaming service that was also launched in November 2019. Given that Apple TV+ just entered the market, it had to compete for viewership from other private subscription services and needed recognizable names to draw attention to its content. M. Night Shyamalan’s name is recognizable for his works The Sixth Sense (1999), Unbreakable (2000), Split (2017), and the infamous The Last Airbender (2010). Other producers and contributors include Tony Basgallop, Ashwin Rajan, Jason Blumenthal, and Todd Black, all of whom are fairly successful in the media industry. Some well-known actors include Julian Pearce from Harry Potter and Toby Kebbell from The Wrath of the Titans. Interestingly, Servant is considered a psychological horror, thriller, and drama. This show situates itself as one of the new horror tv-series with 25-minute to 30-minute episodes that have become popular in recent years. Servant was likely competing for viewership from similar shows like The Haunting of Hill House (2018) and Evil (2019) on Netflix.
Servant centers on a seemingly normal couple living in Philadelphia. After the tragic loss of their newborn baby, the mother named Dorothy has a psychotic break and replaces her baby with a doll based on a suggestion from her therapist. However, the viewer does not immediately know that the doll is not a real baby based on how Dorothy treats it. Once this is slowly revealed to viewers, the plot becomes more unsettling as we learn more about Dorothy’s psyche. The audience soon finds out that the father, named Sean, is complicit with her behavior and plays along with the act due to her mental instability. Upon Dorothy's request, the couple hires Leanne, an eighteen-year-old nanny, to care for the baby doll. To Sean’s surprise, Leanna also treats the doll as if it were a real baby. While many viewers are tricked to initially think that she was playing along with the act to avoid being rude or disrespectful, viewers receive the classic M. Night Shyamalan “plot twist” as Leanne continues to take the baby for walks and talk to it as if it were real. Despite being told by Sean that she can simply take the money without having to pretend to be a nanny while Dorothy is not home, she continues to care for the doll. The viewers are left disturbed when at the end of the episode Sean is alone in the kitchen and hears a baby crying through the monitor; he soon realizes that the doll is now an animate baby.
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1media/american bandstand.jpg2022-04-16T15:42:48-07:00FMST '22de2ad159ac64e95345c5a7de6719acaf2b572228Philadelphia Television ShowsFMST '2220image_header2022-05-17T18:32:37-07:00FMST '22de2ad159ac64e95345c5a7de6719acaf2b572228
