The sophomore season seems to be building steadily toward another chaotic and awful reckoning with Leanne, and this is one nightmare I'm in no rush to escape.

Seven episodes in, “Servant” has found a way to not only up its game on its second outing, but also reward investment into the show’s middling first year.

Few shows are as skilled at sorting through the intricate, hypocritical, and quiet forms of hurt better than this thriller. But just because Servant has gotten more introspective this go round doesn’t mean the chilling drama has lost its edge.

Season two does possess a much surer sense of blackly absurdist humor about its ever more outlandish story. Whereas the comedy often previously came from the belief-beggaring state of affairs themselves, the show now wisely leans into the aggressively heightened performances of its leads.

Everyone is good to great here, but I wish they were servants of something that felt more narratively sound.

No matter what you think you learned after last season’s pseudo-revealing cliffhanger ending, rest assured, more twists are in store. By Episode 7, “Servant” enters a whole new genre, and some fans will roll their eyes at the escalating plot contortions while others should delight in the sheer audacity of writer/creator Tony Basgallop’s ideas. All in all, I’m much closer to the latter, though much of the enjoyment that “Servant” could deliver is hampered by how it chooses to tell its story.

The performances are still stunning, but Servant has lost much of its mystery and macabre fascination.