The second season of Servant, the "tension-drama" series created and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, has come to an end.
I'm not going to fool you, already in the first season I had to bite my knuckles to not let go of what I felt on this site. Like See (the second season awaiting release) or For all of humanity (I haven't been able to see the new season yet), I put it straight into the "bad guys" bin, but for different reasons.
In the case of See or For all of humanity, you may not identify with the proposition, or it seems slow paced, but they have their focus, their audience and if the story is well told then no objection.
In the case of Servant, the reasons why I find him bad are intrinsic, foundational. Endemic, contributed by the creator's mannerism.
It is an artifice in which tension is sought by creating fictitious situations, in which the viewer cannot ask why or the script explains it. Someone can get the splinters out of their mouth and everyone acts normally. Another may act like a psychopath and everything is normal.
They are simply pretexts to make the narrative work.
With the start of the second season, and with the child's dilemma resolved, there was little hope, as they could finally focus on the characters, their personalities, their stories… but the hiatus was short-lived. Then go back to the nonsense to fill in the time and complete the episode.
A body can even be burned to char and no one smells or notices anything. It can hide behind a wall and there is no hole, dust and noise.
The absurdity of the narrative leaves the actors absolutely perplexed as to what is expected of it, since they don't know where they are going. They can only aspire to say their sentences or act out the scenes in the best possible way without understanding where they are going.
Leading actress Loren Ambrose (Dorothy), who bears the burden (psychological and dramatic), contorts her character in each episode trying to convey a tension that is neither sustained nor believed. Her husband, Toby Kebbel (Sean) just wanders around the house (and the scenes) not knowing very well what his role is. The Servant, Nell Tiger Free (Leanne) ... well, she can be locked up in an attic with no bathroom or clothes to change which is always kept immaculate and no one smells ..., brother-in-law Rupert Grint (Julian), alcoholic, drug addict and unstable for no reason apparent (appears to be arriving at the home of his crazy sister who destabilizes her), "Uncle George", Boris McGiver, (you must have seen the series to know who he is), having absolutely no real content, just builds a character histrionic, absurd,
Do I have to continue so that you understand why I find this series very bad?
It's not offensive in the sense of Emily in Paris (a Netflix series I haven't talked about here) due to her stereotypes and American supremacism. It is offensive in that it considers the viewer a vegetative being, a consumer of content, unable to think while watching television (which I am not saying that in some cases and programs it is not a true perception).
But that's not the case with the audience of the intrigue / tension / drama series… we sit down wanting to be questioned, intrigued, surprised. Not to witness the aesthetic onanism of an overrated director (how far away is that of "sometimes I see the dead") who uses the camera to create scenes that "presumably" convey an uncomfortable atmosphere.
Here I leave it, I have said enough.
Now, the things I can highlight about Servant: In Season XNUMX, the cooking scenes look great to me. Perfect in the choice of dishes and in the way of presenting the creation of haute cuisine dishes as something subtly attractive. The setting, the photography ... everything else, superfluous and expendable.
And there is still the third season ...
