Constituent: Tony Basgallop
Distribution: Nell Tiger Free, Lauren Ambrose, Toby Kebbell, Rupert Grint
Country: United States of America
Duration: 26 to 35 minutes (10 episodes; three viewed for review)
Year: 2023
Gender: Psychological tension
Season four premiere: 13 January 2023 (Apple TV+)
Immortality, It’s not too late to catch up with the ‘Maid’. and arrive in time for publication in the few months that will surely come to an end. After all, one of M. Night Shyamalan’s greatest achievements as a ‘showrunner’ is, half hour episodes. Nearly everything is a narrative fiber in this psychological “thriller” that has turned into a strange “sitcom”: sects, motherhood and self-deception this takes place practically in one space, partly because of the sitcom flavor, and it’s not a nuisance, it’s one of the charms.
We are, of course, talking about the idyllic terraced house in Philadelphia, the city of Shyamalan, which is so dominant in the Turner couple’s business. TV reporter Dorothy (Lauren Ambrose) and experimental chef Sean (Toby Kebbell) Overcome an irreparable loss by having a ‘reborn’ baby perhaps through mysterious nanny Leanne (Nell Tiger Free), who becomes a full-fledged baby. followed plot twists of all types and depths, often exciting, sometimes extremely illogical. The justifications for continuing to pursue an impossible coexistence may be increasingly fragile, but it’s easy to forgive logical games in a series that is increasingly surrendering to surrealism.
At the start of this fourth and final season, three months have passed since Dorothy suffered a fatal fall. Incompetence or just a little telekinetic push from Leanne whose powers never stop growing, bit by bit? You may never know. As if all was not well, Leanne throws a welcome party for Dorothy, who, to be more precise, would rather stay in the hospital than her sister Julian (Rupert Grint), who is the babysitter’s lover. Meanwhile, Sean has become a new Gordon Ramsay in a fraudulent ‘reality’ filmed in his home city. Little Jericho’s parents are more like babysitters and girlfriends. This is ‘Maid’.
But we would be able to enjoy it before Dorothy returned home, the unhealthy home. an episode in the form of a prologue that is already considered among the best in the series. Alone in peril from the Little Saints’ Church she long ago escaped, Leanne must play with unseen forces to survive in a claustrophobic game of cat and mouse that starts as ‘Cujo’ and ends a bit like ‘The Birds’. ‘. Stephen King and Alfred Hitchcock: two gods for Shyamalan. Love is mutual: the King adores the ‘Servant’.
Behind this magnificent half-hour we find up-and-coming director Dylan Holmes Williams (awarded for the short ‘The Devil’s harmony’ at Sundance), who has already signed on to parts of the previous season. Another veteran in the series, Kitty Green (“Assistant”), is in charge of a second division. a relatively unexpected plague and the escalation of the war between Leanne and Dorothy: switch to bites. A fan of Chantal Akerman, Green once again shoots some fantastic wide shots as well as some traveling shots with supreme grace.
And literally from the family is M. Night’s middle daughter, emerging filmmaker Ishana Shyamalan, who has once again shown it in the spiritism episode ‘The Ship’. carry talent in the blood: always place the camera in places of interest; sometimes looking for static visions as well as destabilization, others show the most controlled movements.
In both this episode and the two preceding episodes, composer Trevor Gureckis (“Time”), with his increasingly dark and heavy voices, settles the nerves in the body in that beautifully orchestrated chaos. The remaining seven episodes mark perfect turmoil..