Summary
“Goose” brings a Christmas-themed chapter, but it’s far from festive. The penultimate chapter brings many questions for the finale.
This recap of the Apple TV+ series Servant season 2, episode 9, “Goose”, contains significant spoilers.
As this story progresses, I find myself laughing at the absurdity of it. Not in a mocking way. How this story has escalated patiently is a great piece of work, and I often remind myself of the early episodes of Season 1. Yet there’s a feeling that there is way more to come in this intriguing, slow horror.
“Goose” begins with Sean ripping the feathers of a goose away. One of the feathers makes it into the house and floats upstairs before being hoovered by Dorothy. Dorothy checks up on George, but he isn’t there after fleeing the house in episode 8. She asks Leanne where he is. Leanne explains that George left the night before. Dorothy assumes he’s off to get Jericho. In the house, Christmas decorations are going up — Dorothy wants to celebrate Jericho’s first Christmas even though he is not there. The camera focuses on the goose as Sean rips it apart and puts it into the oven.
The festivities
“Goose” brings the tensest Christmas ever, and despite the context, this is probably not too far apart from what some families experience.
Dorothy’s father heads over with his new girlfriend, Kourtney. Sean cooks in the kitchen to hide. Leanne is worried that Dorothy expects Jericho back on a festive day. There’s this expectancy that because it’s Christmas Day, the baby will return. Sean even tells Julian that he believes there’s a possibility that it will happen. Leanne, on the other hand, is doubtful.
Sean’s prayer annoys Julian
The dinner is shortlived in “Goose”. There’s tension, mostly because of Julian’s detest for his father Frank and the new girlfriend. Sean makes a prayer before they eat, asking them to take away their food and bring back what they lost. Julian gets irritated at Sean’s prayer and asks what it was about. Frank tries to calm Julian down, but nothing is easing his anxiety in “Goose”.
Hearing a baby outside
Dorothy hears a baby outside, but it’s another family. She’s crestfallen, and she sits on the steps in the cold. Meanwhile, Julian heads to the toilet for a line of cocaine. When he pours himself a drink in the kitchen, Leanne checks up on him. She wants to talk about what happened between them when they slept together, but Julian states it was a mistake and apologizes. Leanne says she feels different and more powerful and edges closer to him. She asks if she can take his pain away. It’s like Leanne has been awakened and is no longer succumbed to the cult or the beliefs of George.
Christmas games
Sean joins his wife outside in the cold. Dorothy is wondering if she was wrong and is willing to wait until sunset. Inside, Julian, Frank, and Kourtney play Taboo to appease Dorothy and make it look like a “happy family day”. Julian is pacing the room while very high, increasingly getting irritated. He then heads to the bathroom and listens to Natalie’s voicemail messages, offering help while sniffing copious amounts of powder. Suddenly, Julian sniffs too much powder, and he collapses from an overdose.
Bringing Sean back from the dead
When Kourtney opens the bathroom door, Julian falls out, and she screams. Everyone panics and Sean starts performing CPR. Dorothy looks over in despair as Kourtney rings an ambulance. Leanne heads downstairs as Sean gives up. Leanne kneels and kisses Julian, and he suddenly wakes up. Julian looks shocked and says, “I saw him there, and he seemed okay”, as he stares at Leanne. This isn’t the first time a living life form has been brought back from the dead. The shock in Julian’s eyes means the character will be changed forever — perhaps he will believe like Roscoe or Sean.
The ending
Frank and Kourtney help escort Julian to the hospital. Meanwhile, Leanne heads inside the basement to see an entanglement of clothes spread across the roof that forms into a noose. Dorothy heads back upstairs to see Dorothy looking at the fake baby in the cot. Leanne knows Dorothy made the noose in the basement and asks what it’s for. Dorothy says it’s “contingency” in case Jericho doesn’t come back — she states she would die for him: “I’m his mother”.
Outside, a hooded woman lurks in the snow. Sean shouts around the house for Dorothy, but then there’s a knock on the door. There’s a woman at the door with a veil over her face, and she says, “Mr. Turner. I understand you’re looking for Jericho”. Is this Aunt May?
Servant season 2, episode 9 brings a Christmas-themed chapter, but it’s far from festive. The penultimate chapter brings many questions for the finale.
Additional points
- Julian preps his father and his new girlfriend, Kourtney, on the baby situation. Kourtney doesn’t understand the situation between real baby and fake.
