Tension and romance heat up on Severance

[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.]      

A bunch of dark, depressing stuff goes down in Severance’s fourth episode, so forgive me if I want to delay dwelling on it. Instead, let’s start with the part that left me giddy. Who knew a TV show with this much dread could also evoke butterflies in my stomach? Irving and Burt (John Turturro and Christopher Walken) share such a warm chemistry with such little dialogue. It’s all about shy glances, wide smiles, and a charged need to be close to each other. Their innies met only a couple of days ago but having bonded over common interests, they are already missing each other. In their mundane severed existence, they’ve developed genuine feelings and have a goddamn crush. It’s sweet! (It also makes me scared for them.) 

This exciting new emotion forces Irving, a devout Kier believer, to step out of his MDR routine and visit O&D as soon as Burt comes over to invite him for an informal tour and thoughtfully drops off the totes he knew Irv wanted. I love how both actors uniquely express interest in each other through their performances. Turturro is visibly charmed with his eyes aglow, while Walken speaks softly and furtively. Later, as they’re both appreciating the artwork that rotates around the departments before ending back at O&D, Irving and Burt gently touch each other’s hands. Irv cuts it short in a brief moment of panic, but returns so both of them can clarify that they are decidedly not embarrassed by their actions and continue flirting away. 

As much as I enjoyed their scenes, I’m nervous about Burt lying to Irving about O&D being a two-person team. Granted, he’s following orders, but it doesn’t bode well for them now that Irving knows the truth. When he walks back to meet Burt, he ends up opening a secret door to witness him working with five people surrounded by a never-ending line of huge printers in a large room. Sigh. Optics & Design is living up to the first part of its name because the department is an illusion. Hopefully, Irv knowing Burt’s secret doesn’t hamper their connection because Severance could use their lovely moments. 

The rest of “The You You Are” dials up the anxiety with each passing minute. Outie Mark avoids the phone calls he sees coming on Petey’s phone from a blocked number. He still attends his work friend’s funeral and meets his daughter and ex-wife. He also bumps into Mrs. Selvig/Harmony Cobel there, who claims Peter was a customer at her shop. My heart spiked when Cobel and Mark bumped into each other because Severance makes you believe she’s about to find out he met Petey. Of course, she’s there for nefarious reasons. My gosh, how convenient for her that the funeral features a clip of Petey and his daughter loudly jamming out to guitar tunes. The noise allows Cobel to sneak into the room with his coffin and drill into his head to retrieve the severance chip. It feels awfully convenient. Severance doesn’t usually go the easy route, so this move is a little off.

Mark’s conversation with Petey’s daughter, June (Cassidy Layton) suggests that she’s pissed that her dad chose to forget his memories for eight hours a day instead of confronting his problems head on. Mark can relate. He still claims this is working for him, but being at a funeral is so emotionally draining that he drives to the spot where Gemma died in a car crash (next to a tree) and weeps uncontrollably. The urge to shake his shoulders and say “It’s okay, cry it out, that’s the only healthy way to move on” is real. And that’s because Scott is outstanding in this scene. So much of his performance so far has been about controlling his emotions and compartmentalizing. So it was interesting to see Mark let go for once. Cobel knows Mark is upset, though, so she asks Ms. Casey to bring him in for a wellness session that she observes. Strap in, as things are about to get weird. 

During their chat, Ms. Casey suggests that Mark use a mold of clay to help shape his feelings. He inadvertently carves a tree similar to the one next to Gemma’s dying place. Something provoked him to do it. Was it just instinct from deep within, or was it an olfactory reaction to the candle Ms. Casey just lit? It turns out it’s the same red and green one Gemma made. Cobel stole it from Mark’s house and presumably gave it to Ms. Casey. She’s observing his reaction to it, wondering if Mark recognizes it. He does; he just doesn’t know it yet. This further proves what Petey said before dying, that feelings transfer over to the innies. (Also, let’s file it for later that Milchick is nervous about a potential Ms. Casey and Mark interaction.)

I love seeing this theory put to the test in different ways because Outie Mark is questioning his job, and it’s seeping into Innie Mark, too. That’s why he doesn’t give up Ricken’s book (the same one Milchick left behind in the conference room in the last episode) when Irving discovers it. Instead, he secretly reads it in the bathroom, not knowing he’s consuming his brother-in-law’s words. He also seems to have shredded the map Petey drew of the severed floor, primarily to prove to Helly that he’s a rule follower. However, I’d like to point out that Ricken calls Mark a “cartographer of the mind,” so perhaps he’s got a photographic memory—or he’s made a copy. Either way, Mark can be in denial but Helly’s influence on his innie is showing.

Speaking of Helly, she is in no mood to give up her quest, which leads to brutal results. In the break room, she’s forced to say that apologetic speech in front of a screen 1,072 fucking times. It’s torture, plain and simple. She’s expected to head back to her cubicle and sort numbers like nothing is wrong. Lumon assumes this technique will numb her and eventually make her a model employee. If anything, this insane event pushes her to make a drastic decision. She threatens to chop off her arm in front of Cobel, Milchick, and Mark if she isn’t allowed to tape a resignation video for her outie. What she doesn’t account for is that her outside version is also rebellious. Outie Helly might’ve seemed concerned at first, but now that is replaced with pure disdain for how her innie is behaving. So she makes it clear: “I am a person; you are not. I make the decisions; you do not.” Watching this power struggle between the same person is electric. Britt Lower is superb, and it makes me want to see Outie Helly more to understand why she’s so seemingly cruel, while her innie is the most “human,” so to speak. 

But even her spirit is crushed after this. So while leaving for the day, she casually bids Dylan goodbye and walks toward the elevator with a power cord and trash can in hand. And then, her life—her three-day-old life as an innie—flashes before her eyes. It’s mainly just glimpses of Mark. She may have been rude to him before, but this proves that Helly at least trusts Mark and considers him a friend. And then, she hangs herself. It’s quite horrifying and heartbreaking, but despite the cliffhanger, it’s evident Helly is too important to lose. So, don’t worry, she’ll be back, as I’ll dissect in the episode five recap.  

Stray observations 

• • Color theory: The most noticeable one to me is Ricken’s book cover, which is an extremely bright orange/red, representing the outside world. Now, it’s fully pervading into the job. That work-life balance sure is fading.
• • Shoutout to Aoife McArdle, who took over directing duties for Ben Stiller in this episode. She does a terrific job, especially in the scene of Helly leaving after filming her resignation video, confident she won’t be back, only to return in different clothes in the blink of an eye.
• • I need to know how Milchick feels about being a witness to the break room apologies. Is he bored? Is he numb? Is he dedicated? What’s going on in his head as he sees Helly, Mark, and everyone go through it?
• • “This is the part where I tell you to go to hell except you’re already here.” “If you want a hug, go to hell and find your mother.” Seriously, there are a lot of hell references.
• • The map Petey drew has houses, too. Does that mean Lumon is testing something throughout their town? Or are there homes within the floor? The possibilities are endless.
• • I know I made Lost comparisons in the premiere recap, but every time they talk about mysterious numbers in Severance, I’m tempted to bring it up again. 
• • When Cobel is stressed out in her office, she blankly chants the core principles of Lumon. They include words like vision, wit, cheer, humility, benevolence, nimbleness, probity, and wiles.
• • Curiously, Devon doesn’t mention to her brother that Ricken left him his book as a gift, or ask if he received it and what his thoughts are.
• • Irv and Burt’s O&D interactions occur as they stand over a portrait of Lumon founder Kier Eagan as a child when he convalesced. The show is clearly trying to tell us that Kier’s beliefs about longevity, healing, and devotion began at an impressionable age.
• • I wonder what’s going on with Helly and Dylan hearing different background noises in the break room. She hears an old man dying, while he says he heard a crying baby the last time he was there.
• • Speaking of Dylan, I can’t wait for him and Zach Cherry to get an expanded focus.