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 is not too late to catch up with the series and arrive in time for publication in the weeks that will surely come to an end. One of M. Night Shyamalan’s notable strengths as a showrunner is the tightness of half hour episodes. Much of the narrative fabric rests on suspense, with this psychological thriller evolving into an unconventional sitcom that threads together sects, motherhood, and self deception, all unfolding largely within a single setting.
The story centers on a quiet terraced house in Philadelphia, a city closely tied to Shyamalan’s creative footprint. Here TV reporter Dorothy and experimental chef Sean confront a devastating loss by welcoming a possibly reborn baby through the mysterious nanny Leanne, who becomes an integral part of the family. The plot twists arrive in layers, often thrilling and sometimes defying straightforward logic. The rationale for sustaining an impossible coexistence grows shakier, yet the show earns forgiveness for its playful, surreal experiments that mark its unique appeal.
At the outset of the fourth and final season, three months have passed since Dorothy suffered a fatal fall. Is it incompetence or a growing telekinetic push from Leanne whose powers escalate week by week? The truth remains elusive. If the domestic front seems unsettled, Leanne hosts a welcome party for Dorothy, who would rather remain in the hospital than with her sister Julian, the babysitter’s lover. Meanwhile Sean channels a new version of a televised reality, navigating fraud and spectacle within his home city. Jericho’s parents juggle roles as caregivers and confidants. This is the world of the show.
Yet even before Dorothy ever returns to the familiar home, the series treats viewers to a prologue that stands among its strongest instalments. Leanne, isolated in peril from the Little Saints Church she once escaped, must contend with unseen forces in a claustrophobic cat and mouse game that starts like Cujo and ends with echoes of The Birds. The influence of Stephen King and Alfred Hitchcock looms large, shaping tone and texture in homage to two renowned masters of suspense. The dynamic is reciprocal, with King an admirer of the Servant universe.
The episode features a rising director in Dylan Holmes Williams, known for the Sundance accolade for The Devil’s Harmony, who returns to contribute to this season. A familiar voice in the series, Kitty Green, who previously helmed Assistant, leads a second unit through a plague of escalating tension and a rapid shift in the relationship between Leanne and Dorothy. Green’s signature wide and roaming shots lend a graceful pace to the on-screen movement as well as the careful staging of intimate spaces.
From within the family circle comes Ishana Shyamalan, M. Night’s own daughter and a filmmaker in her own right. She returns with a talent for placing cameras in key moments, sometimes seeking stillness, other times oscillating toward destabilization, always delivering controlled and purposeful visuals. In this instalment and the two preceding ones, Trevor Gureckis composes sound with a darker, heavier voice that delicately tethers the audience to a sense of unease, ensuring the series maintains its signature orchestral chaos as the final seven episodes unfold.