Severance unleashes its chilling Music/Dance Experience

[Editor’s note: In anticipation of Severance’s upcoming second season, The A.V. Club is recapping season one of the show for the first time. Expect a new recap to drop daily through September 2.]  

The last three episodes of Severance season one are electric. Disparate puzzle pieces start coming together even as more questions are raised. In this installment alone, we learn Ms. Casey’s true identity (a real jaw-dropper), Mr. Graner dies (no loss there, sorry), the innies discover a game-changing emergency measure, and Burt retires (heartbreaking for us Burving shippers). However, I couldn’t wait to get to episode seven on my rewatch because of—if you’ve seen the show, you already know—the Music/Dance Experience, which is Lumon’s corporate way of packaging a dance-party break. 

Milchick prematurely rewards the Macrodata Refinement team with an MDE even if Helly hasn’t “reached 75-percent refinement on Siena,” whatever the hell that is. Her 73-percent is good enough for him to use as a reason to distract from a potential mutiny. He also wants Dylan to forget about how he woke his innie on the outside. Oh, he’s so, so wrong. It’s not like Milchick to make such grave errors, and it’s a sign that he’s rattled by whatever MDR folks are up to. At least we get to see this Music/Dance Experience in all of its sickening glory—it’s one of Severance’s most impressionable scenes. It’s absurd, delightful, and shocking as it heightens the tension. The moment perfectly encapsulates how the show has used elements like music and colors so far to accomplish a sense of foreboding. And, of course, the dance ends with an act of rebellion. Let’s get into it. 

Helly opts for jazz as the genre and a maraca as her instrument to kick off the Music/Dance Experience. Is there any surprise she goes for the music genre Lumon calls “defiant”? MDR’s normally bright white office turns vibrant as strobe lights—red, green, blue, yellow—illuminate the room. An overly enthusiastic Milchick grooves with Helly to the tune of Joe McPhee’’s “Shakey Jake” in what looks like the two happiest minutes of her innie’s life. Even Mark and Irving partake, with their reserved styles mirroring their personalities well. Innie Dylan is too pissed off to care after he found out via Milchick his outie has a son that he will never meet. It’s expectedly tearing him apart. Why would he want to get up and shake it with Milchick, who hovers behind his shoulders? Ben Stiller frames this moment like a Stanley Kubrick movie. As the room turns crimson and the music glitches, Dylan loses his shit, pushes Milchick, and bites him hard enough on the shoulder to draw blood. 

Zach Cherry and Tramell Tillman are great here. So far, Cherry has given a carefree, casual performance. But now that Dylan has gone through a confusing event, he brings the right amount of trepidation and anger to the forefront. Meanwhile, it’s been a joy to watch Tillman’s shady character rise to the surface, especially with Cobel busying herself as Mrs. Selvig to help Devon. “Defiant Jazz” is his MVP moment. With a white turtleneck and smug attitude, he dances around MDR and completely rattles everyone, including us. 

Milchick underestimates Dylan’s rage because our guy quickly confesses to his teammates about the Overtime Contingency, the method Lumon uses to wake innies when they’re outside the office. The implications of this are unparalleled because it means they can control their employees whenever and however they want—and now MDR knows it. If the severance procedure was alarming before, this twist takes it to a dangerous new level—and also defeats the purpose of why anyone chooses to undergo it. We don’t know Outie Dylan’s reasons yet, but his innie has to live with half-baked knowledge of his family—except, it’s not really his. This is psychological torture at its finest. But it pushes Dylan to take action so he quickly tells his teammates about the Overtime Contingency, the method Lumon uses to wake innies when they’re outside the office. 

Mark and Helly realize they can use this information to their benefit so they head off to the security room to learn how they can activate it. I was surprised Lumon doesn’t have more guards in their endless corridors. Perhaps the fear of being watched is enough for innies not to risk anything, as Mark posits. Mark uses the black all-access card he stole from Graner’s body the previous night after Regabhi bashed him in the head. Innie Mark has no idea how he got it, of course, but right now it doesn’t matter because they have the Overtime Contingency manual, and Dylan has volunteered to handle the two-person job solo. 

While this is going on, Irving darts to O&D to ensure Burt is safe from any punishment after their departments are caught mingling. He walks into a crushing sight: a farewell party for his love interest because Burt’s outie is retiring. I’ve gone on and on about how well Severance has developed their bond in only a few hours (for us) and a few days (for their innies), but Burt and Irving are a breath of fresh air. I don’t just mean on Severance; I mean on television. It’s rare to get an older couple like them who go through all the romantic tropes of a workplace sitcom: will-they-won’t they, star-crossed lovers, enemies who turn into partners, etc. Knowing the nature of this series, getting attached to Burving isn’t recommended, but I did anyway. So it’s awful to see heartbreak plastered all over John Turturro’s face as he digests the news. It’s even worse when a recording from Burt’s outie plays to thank his coworkers. He doesn’t know or recollect a single detail about any of his innie’s pals, but he says they’ll be lodged in him forever. Well, Irv doesn’t want to just live in a deep, inaccessible corner of outie Burt’s mind.

Irving lashes out at everyone, especially Milchick, saying he can walk out of work without having his memories snuffed out. Meanwhile, Burt and Irv leave the office and forget each other. It’s another reminder that innies aren’t treated as real people with feelings; they’re supposed to do their nine to five and that’s it. How can it be enough? He also questions how the rest of O&D is willing to let Innie Burt “die.” It’s an interesting way to phrase it because, in episode two, Milchick says this place is devoid of death. Irv’s insight about losing Burt is equivalent to death for him because his innie will never see the man he loves again. It’s a lot to process, but Irving isn’t in the mood to sit and mourn quietly anymore. He marches back to MDR and firmly declares, “Let’s burn this place to the ground.” It’s all very Peggy Olson-esque, and I approve.

If it already feels like “Defiant Jazz” is jam-packed, we still have to geek out over who Ms. Casey really is. Lumon’s soft-spoken therapist, as it turns out, is Mark’s “dead” wife Gemma. (Oh. My. God.) This opens up a brand new can of worms because why the hell does this company want Gemma/Casey? Was her outie involved in something sinister and did she fake her death, or did Lumon do something nefarious to Gemma so they could trap her inside? Is that why Cobel keeps such a close eye on Mark? In this episode, Mrs. Selvig tries to ascertain out of Devon if Mark ever “sees” his spouse, which puts her secret experiments with Ms. Casey in perspective. So even in giving us a morsel of an answer, Severance has further jumbled up things.

Stray observations

• • Color theory: Helly’s neutral yellow dress is a standout, even if I’m not sure entirely what it means yet. However, there are so many great subtle details in “Defiant Jazz,” like the way the cut watermelon is presented at Burt’s party. The red is popping out while the green rind isn’t. When Dylan confesses about the Overtime Contingency, the papers on either side of him are also red and green. Red represents the outside world, whereas green is the severed. It’s such a cool visual sight. And then there’s Cobel, who even as Mrs. Selvig continues to wear a dark-blue sweater.
• • I appreciate how this episode starts with a black screen and a voiceover from Mark asking, “Who are you?” as a way to mirror the series premiere.
• • “You usually dispose of your waste in the early afternoon,” Mrs. Selvig observes when she sees Mark dumping his clothes from Graner’s crime scene. This woman has certainly gone through his trash way more times than I want to imagine.
• • Mrs. Selvig’s fake laugh after cracking jokes like “Jack Frost certainly needs a new dandruff shampoo” about the snowfall is another nod to how corporate bosses behave even when they’re not in their cubicles.
• • Burt’s innie suffered more than just reciting an apology speech in the Break Room, right? He seems terrified at the notion of going in again. And we already know Mark also had bruises on his knuckles from his session in there.
• • What does Milchick mean when he tells Burt to get started on the “final prep” after he returns the ideographic card that Dylan stole?
• • Cobel is told that she’ll get to present her proof to the board that Petey reintegrated at the Eagan family gala in a week. Hmm, I wonder how many Eagan’s we’ll meet.