Servant season 2, episode 8 recap – what happened in “Loveshack”?

This recap of the Apple TV+ series Servant season 2, episode 8, “Loveshack”, contains significant spoilers.

Servant gets stranger every week, and we have to admit, the constant non-answers were getting a little tiresome. However, after George continued to mumble his recitals last week, “Loveshack” manages to intrigue the audience even more — this series somehow keeps pulling us back in. M. Night Shyamalan keeps us guessing what’s going to happen next. 

“Loveshack” opens with Leanne pacing the loft, watching old footage of Dorothy on the news. She’s interested in a specific shot that she seems to be in as a younger girl. Meanwhile, George is upstairs ointing the loft door — he heads into the bathroom and cries. The opening scenes feel “more normal” than usual, especially after the last two episodes, but it was leading the audience astray.

George wants to use the grill, and Julian investigates

Dorothy tells George that she’s ordered him a Betamax player for his tape while giving him breakfast. George asks if he can use the grill outside, and Sean is confused, but Dorothy claims she has it under control. Meanwhile, Julian does his own investigation on Leanne’s upbringing and tries to talk to her about it.

Leanne confides with Julian

And it seems to work, as the story between Julian and Leanne takes an unexpected turn in “Loveshack” as the pair strongly bond.

As Julian walks around the house, he hears music from the loft. Leanne is perched in front of the couch with the mannequin laid on it. She tells Julian that she wants to talk and reveals that the mannequin is a reminder of her mother. She then explains that George and May are her chosen family, and they told her that God had given her a second chance.

Julian shows Leanne the old news archives of her parents. Leanne notes how her parents are holding her and that she was wrong about Dorothy — that she isn’t a perfect mother. Julian thinks it’s unfair, stating that she didn’t mean to kill Jericho.

Dorothy learns about the PI

The private investigator Roscoe turns up at the house and talks to Dorothy and Sean. Dorothy is annoyed that Sean and Julian secretly hired an investigator to look into Leanne. The private investigator heads inside, and he hears someone go into the basement (it’s George). Dorothy tells Sean she doesn’t want any more lies between them. Once again, Dorothy is naively unaware of anything that is happening — her mind is still transfixed in getting Jericho back from George.

Julian plays old voicemails.

We begin to understand why Julian decides to head over all the time in Servant season 2, episode 8 — he is disabled with guilt.

Julian plays some recordings of Dorothy leaving him voicemails; she was struggling with Jericho before he died, and she was begging for help, but he chose to ignore her as he was buying some good drugs. He tells Leanne that it eats his insides and that he feels equally guilty for what happened to the baby; he’s justifying Dorothy’s behavior. Leanne then talks about creating a fire in her own home because she was angry and felt like she was burning. She believes terrible things happen for a reason, and if “that’s God, I don’t want anything to do with it”.

George wants time to prepare

As for Roscoe, he tells Sean and Dorothy that they cannot go back inside as he told “them” he’d keep them outside until sunset. Dorothy barges inside and confronts George about not fulfilling his side of the deal. George states he needed time to prepare for the union when the clock turns. Sean kicks Roscoe out. As he does, Roscoe tells Sean that something is shifting for the better and that he can trust “them” because they are special.

Hooking up

“Loveshack” brings a moment of despair and an unexpected moment between Julian and Leanne.

Julian and Leanne continue to hang out with each other, and they kiss. They full-on hook up after confiding in each other. Meanwhile, George plays “Loveshack” on the stereo and then repeatedly bashes his head against the wall. As she does, Sean notices that his hand is healing.

It gets more intense between Leanne and Julian as they have sex. As Leanne straddles him, Julian cries, so she comforts him. They are both connecting, and Julian lets out all his guilt that has burned in his mind all this time. Afterward, they lay together peacefully in bed.

The ending

George continues his strange ways, grabbing a piece of meat from the basement and then heading to the bathroom with his dagger that we saw in episode 7. He then slowly heads up into the loft with the dagger. He sees Julian and Leanne naked together, but then Leanne wakes up. She asks him why he’s holding a knife. She drops a candle, and the loft starts setting on fire in front of her bed. George is scared and tells Leanne that “she will come for you”. Leanne says, “Let her. I can handle May”. George scrambles back downstairs and leaves the house. It then flits back to Leanne, and the fire is now embers. She looks outside and looks down at George, who is suddenly run over by a car.

As we started to wonder if this story was running out of juice, Servant season 2, episode 8 brings further dynamics to the story. There’s a hint that there may be another visitor coming to the Turner household.