Servant season 1 runs from November 28, 2019 to January 17, 2020. These 10 episodes track the show one chapter at a time, with the director, writer, release date, and a short plot summary for each.
- Reborn
Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
Written by: Tony Basgallop
Released: November 28, 2019
Eighteen-year-old Leanne moves into the Philadelphia home of Dorothy and Sean Turner as a nanny for "baby Jericho"—a reborn doll. Following the apparent crib death of the real Jericho at thirteen weeks old, Dorothy suffered a psychotic break and catatonia, and an unlicensed therapist suggested the doll as a coping method. The deluded Dorothy, who acts as though the doll is real, enthusiastically welcomes Leanne into their home as she returns to her own job. Sean, alone in his grief, is uncomfortable around the devoutly religious Leanne, who also acts as though the doll is real. After Leanne puts Jericho down for a "nap", Sean discovers the doll's crib contains a living baby. - Wood
Directed by: Daniel Sackheim
Written by: Tony Basgallop
Released: November 28, 2019
Leanne appears mystified when Sean demands to know whose baby is in his house, telling him that it's his son. Dorothy acts "normally" when she sees Jericho, as though he'd never died. While both women are sleeping, Sean attempts to take Jericho out of the house, but is suddenly unable to disarm the security system. He confides in Julian, Dorothy's younger brother who, along with their father Franklin, is one of the few who knows Jericho died. Sean destroys a homemade straw cross Leanne hung above Jericho's crib. He begins finding painful splinters all over his body and loses his sense of taste. Dorothy begins having flashes of catatonia, recalling the state she was in after Jericho's death six weeks earlier. - Eel
Directed by: Daniel Sackheim
Written by: Tony Basgallop
Released: November 28, 2019
Leanne passes out while watching Sean, a chef, kill and prepare eels in the kitchen. Using the address from her application letter to Dorothy, Julian and a private investigator, Roscoe, go to Medicine Bridge, Wisconsin, to investigate Leanne. They discover a burned-out house that belonged to the Grayson family, and graves for Leanne, who was born in 2001 and died in 2007, and her parents, Stephan and Laura, who also perished in the house fire. Julian believes Leanne is an imposter who is trying to get money from the family through blackmail. Leanne begins to emulate Dorothy. - Bear
Directed by: Nimród Antal
Written by: Tony Basgallop
Released: December 6, 2019
After realizing Leanne is taking Jericho into her own bedroom at night, Sean installs a nanny cam in her room to spy on her. Flashbacks reveal Dorothy suffered multiple miscarriages before Jericho was born. Dorothy decides to take Leanne and Jericho to work with her to meet her coworkers, but Sean intervenes and insists Jericho is too young. However, while watching Dorothy reporting live from a murder trial, Sean spots Leanne in the background with Jericho, watching Dorothy. Leanne watches a DVD from 2011 of Dorothy's reporting, which appears to show Dorothy interviewing a young Leanne at a children's pageant. - Cricket
Directed by: Nimród Antal
Written by: Tony Basgallop
Released: December 13, 2019
Dorothy sends Leanne on an errand so she and Sean can be intimate. Sean later snaps at Leanne after she brings up a yellow onesie from the basement. Feeling hurt by the couple, Leanne writes their names in her Bible before her evening prayers. Dorothy later wakes up with a cold sore and Sean gets another unexplained splinter. Julian tries to drive Leanne out of the house by playing pranks on her, including filling her bedroom with crickets and replacing her tomato soup with dog food. Wanda, seemingly another nanny taking care of a neighbor's daughter, befriends Leanne. However, when Leanne visits Wanda's supposed employer, she learns the family does not have a nanny or a child. When Wanda returns to the house, Leanne induces an allergic reaction in her charge with one of Sean's dishes and withholds her epi-pen, forcing Wanda to confess that she was hired by Julian to question Leanne and convince her to leave. Enraged, Leanne nearly lets the girl die before injecting her with the epi-pen. That night, as a crying Leanne flogs herself with a discipline, a dead cricket in the room returns to life. - Rain
Directed by: Alexis Ostrander
Written by: Tony Basgallop
Released: December 20, 2019
Sean leaves on a business trip. After Leanne receives a card in the mail with "Found you!" scrawled inside, her bizarre Uncle George arrives. He unnerves Dorothy by exhibiting strange behavior and announces that Leanne is returning with him. Dorothy insists he spend the night during a rainstorm, with Julian also staying at Sean's behest. Julian and Dorothy are alarmed to discover Jericho lying on the floor of his bedroom and George curled up like a baby in the crib. The following day, Leanne insists on staying, and Uncle George relents but says he will return with her Aunt May, whom she cannot refuse. He gives the Turners a hand-carved chef marionette in honor of Sean, which Sean later finds hung from Jericho's mobile. - Haggis
Directed by: Alexis Ostrander
Written by: Tony Basgallop
Released: December 27, 2019
Natalie, Dorothy's friend and kinesiologist, is the "therapist" who suggested the reborn doll to bring Dorothy out of her catatonic state following Jericho's death. After a session with Dorothy, Natalie discovers that the Turners hired a nanny for the doll. Later, Natalie hears a baby cry and goes into Jericho's room, but Leanne attacks her and flees with Jericho before she can see that he is a living baby. Dorothy invites Natalie over for dinner. There, Natalie intends to confront the Turners about their prolonged use of the doll, while Sean and Julian struggle to hide the living baby from her. Dorothy becomes convinced that Natalie, Sean and Julian want to talk her out of returning to work and becomes defensive. When Leanne is in the basement retrieving wine, a crack appears in the concrete floor. Natalie hears a growl, enters Jericho's room, and discovers the baby. She is then chased out by a wolfhound, which Julian eventually kills. Explaining the real baby to Natalie, Julian claims it belongs to Leanne and may be adopted by the Turners. Julian is still disturbed by Jericho's death, having seen something especially upsetting that day. Natalie comforts him and they have sex before going home together. Leanne takes her Bible into the room with the dead dog, which then exits the house alive. - Boba
Directed by: Lisa Brühlmann
Written by: Tony Basgallop
Released: January 3, 2020
Tobe and Leanne go out bowling, while Sean and Dorothy go out to a news awards gala. Julian has to stay home to babysit, but avoids the nursery, constantly thinking of the day of Jericho's death when he saw something traumatic there. As Jericho's baby monitor is unusually quiet, Julian checks on him, only to find him missing and replaced again with the doll. Panicked, Julian calls Sean, but their video chat is interrupted by Dorothy before he can explain what happened. He also contacts Roscoe, who is keeping tabs on Leanne and Tobe, but nothing seems out of the ordinary. When Tobe brings Leanne back to the house, she tries to kiss him, but he pulls away. Inside the house, Julian confronts Leanne about the doll and her past in Wisconsin. Leanne is dismissive of Julian's questions, and resumes treating the doll as a real baby like she did before it was replaced. She also continues to ask about Jericho's death and what Julian saw. Julian holds the doll over the banister, threatening to drop it. When he does so, he hears a baby's cry and catches the doll, then starts searching for the baby in the house, to no avail. He calms down and starts talking about the day Jericho died. The doll is then replaced by the real baby again. On a nearby street, Tobe runs into Wanda carrying a cradle. Sean and Dorothy return, and Julian admits to Sean that he told Leanne the truth about Jericho's death. - Jericho
Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
Written by: Tony Basgallop
Released: January 10, 2020
In a flashback, Jericho is born at home in a tub and Dorothy's placenta is kept in the freezer. While Sean is away judging a cooking show, Dorothy struggles to take care of a loud and colicky Jericho during a heat wave, causing sleep deprivation and strain to her mental state. After bringing groceries in from her car one afternoon, Dorothy forgets to close the front door. Jericho is quiet for the rest of the day, but that night Dorothy discovers his crib empty. Dorothy then realizes that she forgot Jericho in the car while bringing in the groceries; he has been left there for hours. Dorothy returns to the car and finds Jericho dead from hyperthermia, causing her to enter a catatonic state. Alone in the house, she tends to Jericho's corpse as if he were still alive for the next four days, until Julian arrives and discovers what happened. In the present, Dorothy's car alarm continuously goes off due to Leanne controlling it in an effort to remind Dorothy of Jericho's death in the car. Leanne confronts Sean, who now knows that she is aware of the details of Jericho's death. Leanne condemns Dorothy, blaming her for what happened. Sean defends Dorothy, blaming himself for leaving her alone at a time when she needed his support. Nonetheless, Leanne refuses to let Dorothy hold the living baby that night. - Balloon
Directed by: John Dahl
Written by: Tony Basgallop
Released: January 17, 2020
After Jericho's baptism, the Turners and the guests return to the house for a reception. Sean prepares a pastry dish including Jericho's placenta for the oblivious guests. Julian sees Uncle George in the background of footage of the baptism rite at the church, and instructs Roscoe to keep watch outside the house in his car. However, both George and his companion Aunt May have already infiltrated the house. May confronts Leanne in the nursery, demanding that she bring the baby home, while George convinces Sean to pray with him. Dorothy is troubled by a girl's doll among the guests. The police arrive at the reception looking for the girl, who is actually a runaway. May and George depart without incident, but Dorothy encounters May and recognizes her. Going through tapes of her old newscasts, she finds a story identifying the woman as May Markham, the leader of a cult called the Church of the Lesser Saints who supposedly died in a fire along with most of her followers after a standoff with the ATF. Sean loses his sense of feeling along with taste, and holds his hand over a stovetop burner until it is scorched. May and George return to the house at night, confronting Roscoe, whose car is later shown empty. Tobe leaves a balloon tied to the doorknob of Leanne's room. Leanne leaves the house with this balloon and her suitcase. She is greeted outside by people standing in the street who encircle her in a group hug. When a passing police officer spots the huddle and backs up to investigate, they vanish in seconds. Dorothy discovers Jericho replaced by the doll in his crib. No longer seeing the doll as a real child, she drops it.