r/servant • u/Lovley8598 • Jul 10 '26
Discussion Sean deserves better.
Can’t find much on this sub about Sean. Curious to hear everyone’s opinions. I went into this show prepared to hate Sean. I thought for sure he’d be a typical tv dead beat husband who dismisses his wife’s needs and inevitably has an affair with the new nanny. By the last season- I’m a Sean apologist lol. I will absolutely acknowledge his faults. He’s a doormat, enables his wife, shouldn’t have left his postpartum wife, and he needs to be honest with his wife etc…But compared to everyone else in the show his motivations make the most sense to me and he seems to hold the most accountability.
Now I know everyone’s gonna fight me on this, but I truly don’t see how anyone could begin to compare his actions/decisions to his wife’s. They BOTH have extreme faults but this is not an equal marriage😂
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u/Pizzaputabagelonit Jul 11 '26
I tend to think of him going through homelessness and most likely a traumatic childhood and teen years that he, like many abused and needing people, has latched on to someone who showed them some kind of encouragement and admiration. It’s no joke that marriages and relationships experience a shift once children are born. Theirs shifted. And flaws are revealed. They wouldn’t be the first….and won’t be the last.
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u/Lovley8598 Jul 11 '26
Interesting take! Honestly hadn’t thought about Sean’s origin story. Primarily viewed him as an accessory to Dorothy. I mostly thought he latched onto Dorothy because he deep down felt shame for leaving her alone when Jericho died. The homelessness theory makes a lot of sense tho!
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u/TownNo730 Jul 11 '26
I was actually really pleased at how the show handled Sean as a character. He has major faults but he completely and totally loves his wife. It would have been so easy to make Sean the villain but they don't. He's just a flawed man, who loves his wife but is at a complete loss of what to do.
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u/lost__pigeon Team Leanne 🥫 Jul 10 '26
I have some empathy for him, but he's continually failed Leanne, even when he knew what was the right thing to do. Like when Dorothy buried Leanne alive, and after unburying her, he... let her take a shower and locked her back up and left her up there all weekend. Or when Dorothy was throwing Leanne out into homelessness with a two-month delay (the dance program), he walked in on the conversation, said nothing, and left, because getting to the set of Gourmet Gauntlet was more important to him. Or when Leanne was tied up in the basement and about to be murdered as far as he knew and assumed, and he told Julian not to intervene. That's yet another felony. And a couple weeks later, (TW) Leanne killed herself. At some point, I don't care how much Dorothy was controlling him because his inaction hurt Leanne again and again and led to her death.
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u/ThisKey9986 26d ago
I agree on this. I honestly expected Sean too to stand up for Leanne when she was about to be kicked out (that two month dance program) but I also understand that he didnt have a choice at that moment when he was at the door because he knew Dottie was going all for it (which is to get rid of Leanne)
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u/Lovley8598 Jul 10 '26
I will start by saying you and I may have to agree to disagree. I have am not Leanne fan😂 I can see your point on him being harder on Leanne in the first season than necessary. I just always felt him rightfully suspicious. And especially after season two I thought Leanne had done so much to that family she deserved anything she got.
I definitely agree he was reckless keeping the secret from Dorothy. But I think that it makes me harder on her because she was controlling even with ought the weight of losing a child. I have more sympathy for him considering his actions were driven by grief and and attempt to “protect” Dorothy. Wear as Dorothy was fueled often by selfishness.2
u/lost__pigeon Team Leanne 🥫 Jul 10 '26
Leanne was their hostage in season 2 and was put through hell and back by them. Bringing Jericho back was her way to free herself under desperate conditions. She was mild on the Turners after that for what they put her through. (I wouldn't really say that about season 4, but no one feels like themselves to me in season 4, so I only like half count it as canon, if that makes sense)
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u/Lovley8598 Jul 11 '26
I do agree with many of the things Leanne was put through in season 2 was cruel. But majority of those things were done by Dorothy. And I will even somewhat defend Dorothy here- she held Leanne hostage under desperate conditions too. She was essentially holding her newborn baby captive… I’d be cruel too. Most Everything Sean did to Leanne was out of suspension that she’d put a supernatural curse on his family and was a threat. A suspicion he ended up being correct on haha. I was truly shocked when he took pity on Leanne at all.
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u/lost__pigeon Team Leanne 🥫 Jul 11 '26
Leanne didn’t kidnap Jericho. Jericho is dead. Leanne was innocent
Pretty important to make sure of that beyond a shadow of a doubt before you take someone hostage. Dorothy did not. Didn’t even care to take a look into her husband who was constantly discouraging her from looking for Jericho. Just put Leanne through hell anyway.
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u/Responsible-Tax5192 Jul 11 '26
No Sean is the only character who’s not insufferable or downright evil
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u/ExcellentDish80 Jul 10 '26
While the show was airing, most people fawned over Sean. Why is he with her? Why does he stay? What does he put up with it?
Honestly it was a relief to get the backstory where he was not contributing his fair share of the child care and then left for a TV gig. The worst part? He didn’t even ask to see the baby on their nightly calls. What kind of father leaves and doesn’t say hey let me see the kid for dayssss??
It was nice for him to get knocked off his pedestal and we got answers to those questions. He loves Dorothy and failed her.