[Editor’s note: The following review contains spoilers for “Severance” Season 2, Episode 9, “The After Hours.” For coverage of earlier episodes, read our previous reviews.]
Because the little blue bus pulls as much as Lumon’s workplace constructing, Ms. Huang (Sarah Bock) appears to be like extra childlike than ever. A drooping bookbag hangs from her again. Puffy earmuffs body her plump cheeks. No matter administrative authority she wielded on the severed ground is gone, and as an alternative is the apprehension of a younger lady transferring to a brand new place. Whether or not Ms. Huang is aware of the place she’s going is much less essential than the sudden displacement itself (although Svalbard’s proximity to the North Pole might make clear Mr. Milchik’s irritations along with his would-be successor). Tonight, relatively than sleep in her room, subsequent door to her mother and father, she might be napping on a airplane earlier than spending night time after night time on the Gunnel Eagan Empathy Heart. She might have her identical mattress, as Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman) suggests, however what consolation a constant mattress gives pales compared to a secure adolescence at house. An actual house.
Miss Huang could also be alone on her journey, however she’s not the one one stepping out into the nice unknown. Episode 9, “The After Hours,” sees every of the Macrodata Refiners take a serious leap of religion. Some, like Miss Huang, really feel they don’t have a alternative. Others select to dwell or die relatively than take a danger. One does roll the cube, whereas one different worker merely has to see how deep the rabbit gap goes, regardless of the place it takes her.
So let’s begin along with her. Dan Erickson bookends Episode 9 with Helena and Helly (Britt Decrease) alongside their paternal {and professional} father, Jame Eagan (Michael Siberry). Within the opening sequence, Helly’s morning swim results in a peculiar breakfast supervised by her unusual papa. Slicing her hard-boiled egg into sixths and spreading them evenly throughout a plate adorned with a nervous younger lad being held to his seat by two elders, Helly voluntarily holds her chair and consumes her eggs (a coveted deal with amongst severed employees) as Jame appears to be like on, groaning ominously. “I want you are taking them uncooked,” he tells her earlier than leaving.
After we see the reigning Lumon CEO once more, he’s sneaking up on Helly at work as she tries to memorize instructions to the black hallway. “You tricked me,” he says. “My Helly.” “What the fuck?,” she responds, sliding the directions underneath her keyboard. WTF, certainly. Why Jame is visiting the severed ground stays a thriller, however Helly’s mission isn’t. Alone within the workplace, with Mark’s (Adam Scott) whereabouts unknown, Irving (John Turturro) fired, and Dylan (Zach Cherry) quitting, Helly pushes forward with the plan to save lots of Gemma (Dichen Lachman). She wants solutions. She wants independence, and if the pursuit of each means heading off just a few Lumon weirdos who wish to scare her, cease her, or worse, she’ll attempt. If it means risking all of it, she’s going to. If she has to go after it alone, she goes.
Little does she know, she’s not alone. Out within the wilderness, Mark’s Outie is reluctantly embracing his personal plan to save lots of Gemma. Nicely, it’s extra like Devon’s (Jen Tullock) plan, or perhaps Concord’s (Patricia Arquette) plan, however it’s the one plan he’s received. Neither sibling is underneath any delusion of management. On their technique to the meet-up, they debate whether or not to undergo with it with out ever questioning the info. They don’t belief Concord. They’ve given her much more info than she’s given them, and she or he’s complicit in no matter has occurred (and will nonetheless occur) to Gemma. However they want her. “There may be actually no different possibility than to do what the fuck she says proper now,” Devon says. “For Gemma. She is aware of the place she is, Mark.”
“Actually no different possibility” could also be pushing it a bit — cops may very well be referred to as, a personal investigator may very well be employed, a small military of severed employees may very well be recruited to overthrow the Lumon board — but when what Cobel says about Chilly Harbor is true (that they’ve to search out Gemma earlier than it’s accomplished), then they don’t have time for any of that. Concord is promising them a means into Lumon proper now. Wouldn’t they be extra silly to refuse it than to take it?
Irving faces an analogous query. Whereas he needs to remain and discover out if he and Burt’s (Christopher Walken) Outies can rediscover the romance they shared as Innies, he’s additionally received a one-way ticket to security. Burt is providing him a means out. They wouldn’t be collectively, however Irving wouldn’t be in peril both, because it’s implied he’s now, if he stays. Is it extra silly to remain and hope to rekindle a love neither of them can keep in mind, than to go and discover love some place else, with another person, with out the peril?
In Season 1, Burt and Irving’s arc ended with Irving attending Burt’s retirement get together at Lumon. There, Irving fought for his man, and Burt calmed him down, shook his hand, and mentioned goodbye. They accepted their separate fates… till Irving couldn’t stand it any longer. In Season 2, will Burt and Irving’s arc finish the identical means? At at prepare station, with Irving combating for the love he’s by no means had, being informed no, and despatched off on his lonely highway with nothing greater than a handshake? Will he once more come again to Burt, pounding on his entrance door, refusing to let go of his first and solely love?
Dylan additionally shoots his shot, and Dylan additionally falls brief. After Gretchen (Merritt Wever) tells Dylan’s Outie concerning the kiss she shared along with his Innie, the latter’s subsequent freak-out results in the previous’s return to isolation. Gretchen informs Dylan’s Innie she will’t see him anymore, and as candy as his marriage proposal proves to be — he made an engagement ring out of a finger entice — it’s an empty gesture. He can’t give her the life he guarantees, even when he does deal with her higher than his Outie. He’s an Innie. He lives at work. She will be able to’t dwell there with him — her Innie wouldn’t know both Dylan — and he can’t go away.
Dylan has come a great distance since we first met him. Obsessing over meaningless titles (Refiner of the Month!) and clinging to his imprecise proficiency (he’s good at his job however he additionally doesn’t know what he’s doing?), the whole lot modified the night time when Dylan wakened in his closet and noticed his Outie’s son. The data that his different half had a spouse and children woke up part of Dylan’s Innie that had been buried underneath a pile of perks. Pencil erasers and caricature portraits simply aren’t sufficient anymore, not when real love and affection are on the desk, and shedding Gretchen is a bridge too far for a household man denied his household.
So Dylan quits. Regardless of Helly’s pleas to remain — for Irving, for her, for the higher good — his heartbreak is an excessive amount of to bear. He fills out the paperwork, he shoulders Mr. Milchick’s disapproval, and he steps onto the elevator, not figuring out when or if he’ll get up once more. Whereas Irving chooses to dwell relatively than danger dying to be with Burt, Dylan chooses to die relatively than danger dwelling with out his household (an Innie’s dying, to be clear, however a deadly alternative nonetheless). Now, their fates are tied to Mark, Helly, and Concord (give or take a Devon). Will their leaps of religion land on agency floor, or will the unknown stay frustratingly out of attain? Right here’s hoping everybody, someway, finds their means house.
Grade: B+
“Severance” releases new episodes Fridays on Apple TV+. The Season 2 finale is about for Friday, March 21.
Additional Refinement:
• For these of you protecting observe, the remaining MDR worker referenced within the second paragraph — the one who rolls the cube — is Mr. Milchick, who chooses to face as much as Mr. Drummond (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) even when it results in extra paper clipping torture periods (or his outright dismissal). Chastised for utilizing large phrases once more, Mr. Milchick apologizes as soon as however refuses to take action once more. As an alternative, he tells him to “devour feculence,” which he additionally interprets “mon-o-syll-ab-ic-ally” to “eat shit.” Goddamn, I like a bitchy Milchick. Swap sides, my man!
• “I’m sorry, the wind was whistling over the opening at the back of your cranium, so I didn’t fairly get that. Did you simply name my plan a fucking mistake?” Oh, Devon. In one other world, you and Mark might’ve carried a multi-cam sitcom a couple of brother and sister who go on loopy adventures collectively. By no means change.
Code Detectors:
• “We’re seeing to Mr. Bailiff.” Helena’s weird breakfast included a tip-off towards Irving’s destiny, however find out how to interpret it’s nonetheless up for debate. Taken a method, Helena saying they’ll “see to” Irving might imply she dispatched Burt to escort him out of city. In any case, Burt’s intentions have been suspicious all season. This week, he says his previous job was “driving individuals locations,” and Irving asks, “Is that what immediately is?” It positive may very well be! Burt by no means solutions, identical to he doesn’t reply later when Irving asks if Lumon will come after him for “serving to” Irving get out of city. Maybe the reply is that he’s not serving to. Maybe he’s simply again on the job once more. Maybe he by no means left.
However this brings up an previous bugaboo of mine: Everyone knows Christopher Walken is a good actor, however is Burt? He must be if he’s been mendacity to Irving this entire time, particularly once they say their grief-stricken goodbyes on the station. And I’m sorry, however drivers don’t must be nice liars, and former “goons” in all probability shouldn’t be emotionally adept sufficient to channel such exacting feelings simply to get a man on a prepare. So I believe Burt was doubtless ordered to drive Irving someplace — simply not the prepare station.