“Physical.” “Servant.”

“Physical.” (Apple TV+.) Dark comedy-drama. 3 Seasons. Set in 1980s San Diego, this series follows Sheila Rubin through her journey of self-discovery via aerobics. You either like this show, dislike it, or you just have to carry on, hoping some “Ozark” level twist crops up somewhere. None. But you still watch it, anyhow, essentially because Rose Byrne as Sheila Rubin stays engaging, focused, and earnest. You gotta stay on that energy. 

       Yet I must say the characters are stereotypically stereotyped, uh huh. Especially Sheila’s husband Danny and religious zealot mall owner John Breem, portrayed by an annoying Rory Scovel and a static Paul Sparks. Add another annoyance, Geoffrey Arend as Jerry Goldman, an old friend of Sheila and Danny who channels a Berkeley hippie but emerges as a typical Asheville homeless hipster. The usually affable and lovable Zooey Deschanel appears as Kelly Kilmartin, a sitcom star and aerobics instructor, in Season 3 but that didn’t help. 

       However, if the series stuck with the funny, fumbling pair of Della Saba and Lou Taylor Pucci, as Bunny, an aerobics instructor and her simpleton surfer boyfriend Tyler, we could have salvaged some laughable excitement. But thanks to Dierdre Friel as Greta Hauser, Sheila’s friend, she saved this series altogether. No more Season 4, good, but I’d like to see Dierdre again for sure. 🎥📺📹

“Servant” (Apple TV+.) Psychological horror. 4 Seasons. A middle-wealthy and relatively famous Philadelphia couple, Dorothy and Sean Turner, experience a fracture in their marriage after the death of their thirteen-week-old son, Jericho. The couple undergo transitory object therapy using a lifelike reborn doll after Dorothy experiences a full psychotic break. The doll, which Dorothy believes is her real child, was the only thing that brought her out of a catatonic state following Jericho's death. Six weeks after his death, they hire a young nanny, Leanne Grayson, to move in and take care of Jericho, the reborn doll, opening their home to increasingly unusual occurrences. 

       Compelling, intriguing, and quite inventive plotline, you reckon? And mind you, this is an M. Night Shyamalan project. Who? If you don’t know the dude, you don’t know 21st century horror, okay? You dig? But the thing with Mr Shyamalan? It’s either you truly enjoy his work: 1999’s “The Sixth Sense,” 2000’s “Unbreakable,” 2002’s “Signs,” 2016’s “Split.” Or you don’t: 2004’s “The Village,” 2006’s “Lady in the Water,” 2010’s “The Last Airbender,” 2013’s “After Earth.” (I haven’t seen his new ones: 2021’s “Old,” or this year’s “Knock at the Cabin.” But yes whether you like his work or not, M. Night is admittedly inventive, cerebral, and intense. 

       “Servant” started quite truly Shyamalanic, if I may say. The shock isn’t obligatory scarer or gore/slash theatrics. The shudder is insistently inward; piercing. And although I don’t really find Lauren Ambrose and Toby Kebbell (as wife and husband Dorothy and Sean) as interesting performers, one-dimensionally boring, Rupert Grint as Julian (Dorothy's alcoholic younger brother) manages to render some fine points somewhere. Comic, neurotic, spaced out.

       Nell Tiger Free as Leanne Grayson, the mysterious young nanny, is okay to me. She has lots of promise. The problem with “Servant,” I feel, it should have ended in Season 2. Season 3 was pretty much Season 1, with new characters. And Season 4, OMG! I simply wanted it to end. 

       Now I think I will go watch “Old” and/or “Knock at the Cabin.” At least are full-length features, not a series. 🎥📺📹