SPOILERS
Battle of two tv series and their "weirdness." These two tv series are on two different streaming networks - Amazon Prime hosts Outer Range while Apple TV+ hosts Servant. What they have is common is a lot.
- slow burn and "mystery box" type shows
- stranger comes to main characters residences and then strange things happen
- stranger seems to know more than the main characters
- main characters are trying to figure out what's happening around them as they deal with grief, community pressure and their own personal relationships
- cults are involved via stranger
One show, Servant, was guaranteed renewal with an original six seasons trimmed down to four. Outer Range is your typical series where the renewal is "wait and see." In my mind Outer Range at least deserves two seasons. Servant has overstayed its welcome, though Season 4 is upcoming and as stated is its last. Thank God.
Servant intrigued me by its first episode. Season 1 was alright, maybe even above average, though it definitely had potential to be great. I was looking forward to Season 2 but I heard very mixed review about it. The writers forced a relationship that can only be said to be disgusting for the sake of - I don't know. The relationship doesn't make much sense. By the sound of it Servant has mostly betrayed its steadiness found in Season 1 for the sake of "things need to happen" and "characters need to to stuff even it's sorta kinda out of left field." It's just screams lazy writing and I'm not the only one who shares this view. It's a slow burn that fell in love with itself because it could given it was riding on M. Night Shymalan's name as an executive producer (which is different from a producer) and it was guaranteed multiple seasons. There was no pressure to have concise writing.
Out Range seemed more humble. The writer and creator is relatively newbie to entertainment thought sadly some of the actors seemed confused on the meaning of their characters and the overall meaning of the show. I will say Outer Range is more ambitious with its ideas, trying to pull together multiple themes and storylines as it intersects with the main characters.
- Western drama of land issues
- family drama dealing with tragedy and abandonment
- sci-fi aspect of a big black hole in the ground
The relationships in Outer Range also seemed more fleshed out, more mature than Servant despite only having eight episodes to introduce and develop its characters. Servant just arrogantly puts characters in from of you and you have to deal with their inane and out-of-character actions "because-this-what-the-writers-wanted-to-happen-so-you'll-swallow-it-and-love-it."
Servant fans are just stupidly defending the show from any and all criticisms on Reddit. Outer Range, well, I don't think there are a lot of fans of the show for a number of reasons (arguable both shows have the same amount of viewership but Servant has more fans), but discussions are mostly critical of it. Servant fanboys are all "ya just gotta wait and see because in the final season it'll tie in together." Yea, though I heard Season 3 of Servant is better than Season 2 (to some degree), I doubt that the writers in a single and its final season will explain most of everything - both in dialogue and in actions (what is shown and not shown, and to what degree) that's been ailing its audience. The writers of Servant are all over the place and don't know what it wants to be.
Outer Range also deals with religion (role of faith in everyday life, role of faith facing tragedy and the oddness of life) better than Servant. Servant's take on religion seems utterly shallow and though I have not watched Season 2 yet, it seems it has not developed the religious characters at all. In Servant the main characters, the Turners, are irreligious (atheist and agnostic). In Other Range the Royal is seen as a skeptic who at leasts verbally admits his frustrations. Cecil, his wife, is religious but later develops doubts given some absurdities she has come across.
But, like Servant, the first season of OR is vague in its particulars. The audience sees Cecilia attend a church which seems non-denomination but in Ep. 6 it directly borrows lines from the Catholic mass with its Eucharist. The place where the religious service is said doesn't resemble a Catholic Church or chapel - it purposely generic with no pews but chairs and a bare cross in the background of the altar. What we do know about OR's denomination is that, for the sake of the Diversity & Inclusion narrative, a chapel member denounces the lesbian couple who were visiting when asked to stand up to receive a prayer in form of a welcome.
In Servant, what appears to be a religious main character, Leanne, isn't given much exposition on what she actually believes and how those beliefs play out in her actions come duress or being idle. It's just she prays a bastardized version of Our Father in a relatively see through night gown (you can tell the writers wanted to play the "good Christian girl is actually naughty" trope) before she goes to sleep, writes some stuff in her Bible and makes wicker crosses. It's surface level stuff that's never given any deeper meaning or purpose.
Outer Range >>>> Servant
- Autumn >>>> Leanne
- Royal + Cecilia >> Dorothy + Sean
- Perry & Rhett >>>> Julian
- Big Black Mysterious Hole In Ground = Jericho
- Servant cult > Outer Range cult
- Cast of Outer Range >> Cast of Servant
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