Spoilers beneath for anybody who hasn’t but streamed Severance’s second Season 2 episode with an Apple TV+ subscription.
With each episode that’s come out so far — 11 in whole, with hopefully tens of millions extra on the best way, I say non-hyperbolically — Severance has confirmed itself to be not simply Apple TV+’s greatest unique collection so far, however among the many medium’s higher echelon at giant. Season 2’s second outing, “Goodbye, Ms. Selvig,” definitely didn’t drop the ball because it revealed simply how a lot of what Mark discovered throughout “Hi there, Ms. Cobel” was primarily based on actuality: barely any of it. We don’t even know if Helly is definitely Helly.
However one notion rang abundantly clear all through all the episode: Mark S. is so intrinsically vital to Milchick and Lumon that a wholly new internet of lies was created — together with crafting newspaper fronts and lore-filled stop-motion movies — to persuade Adam Scott’s Innie character to proceed heading MDR for the sake of regardless of the Chilly Harbor mission is. However all this concentrate on Mark as chief led me to replicate on the catalyst that bought him so far: Petey Kilmer.
Why Was Petey Beforehand Operating MDR, And What Was He In Cost Of?
Far be it for me to ever assume that an organization as giant and opaque as Lumon would have just one ulterior motive at play concerning its severed staff, as a result of I am positive a community of motivations is guiding the non-severed overseers’ actions. So I will grant {that a} singular reply will not exist right here, for the reason that fundamental query of “What does MDR even do?” continues to be an overarching thriller.
All that stated, I feel it is each vital and essential to have a greater grasp of Petey’s skilled position inside Lumon, particularly the place it compares (or would not) to Innie Mark’s significance inside the identical workplace position. Let’s consider these perceived particulars:
- Mark is so vital that Ms. Cobel broke protocol to get nearer to his Outie
- Quite a lot of stress is on Milchick and Crew MDR to attain their objectives, which the viewers can assume are tied to the Chilly Harbor visible on the finish of the Season 2 premiere
- Mark’s connection to Ms. Casey/Gemma seems to be very important to the Chilly Harbor mission and Cobel’s personal pursuits
- Versus Helly becoming a member of another departments on the Severed Ground, the golden baby of Lumon’s CEO was particularly put onto Mark’s staff simply after his de facto promotion
- Milchick pushed exhausting to make Innie Mark consider within the five-month time hole, even retconning Irving and Dylan’s terminations and sending Helena again in to satisfy Mark’s request
Realizing everthing that we do about Petey’s story, which I will admit is not that a lot, I do not suppose Severance’‘s inventive staff set Yul Vasquez’s character up as extraordinarily very important to Lumon’s clandestine schemes with MDR. Although his reintegration-related hallucinations might have been primarily based on moments that by no means occurred, I feel having these reasonably mundane workplace interactions revealed to be fictional would undermine the concept reintegrations can work.
Plus, within the time since Mark took over MDR, Cobel and Milchick have appeared utterly stressed in methods they neither anticipated nor have ever handled earlier than. Which makes me suppose neither has ever needed to transcend fundamental efforts to maintain Petey and his personal predecessors placated, and that Petey’s private life wasn’t so straight linked to his Innie the best way that we have seen with the core characters.
Extra Severance Information For Each Innies And Outies
With all of that taken under consideration, I can not fairly inform if we’re meant to grasp that Chilly Harbor has been an ongoing mission that Petey was unwittingly accountable for, with or with out the Mark/Gemma connection as its most important goal, or if he was ensuring another plan was implement that he was most ideally fitted to.
Both manner it went, Petey nonetheless bought wind of one thing evildoer-esque taking place, thus sparking him volunteering for the reintegration course of within the first place. Inside the context of this present’s layered narrative, it could make sense for Petey to have been accountable for one thing as equally groundbreaking as no matter Chilly Harbor is, however I do not get the sensation that he was.
If Mark all of the sudden went lacking with out anybody with the ability to contact him, adopted comparatively shortly after by a useless head of safety, I can solely think about that Lumon higher-ups can be on full alert with undercover operatives scouring the streets of Kier and past, in opposition to the seeming lack of an effort to find Petey and retaining him alive, or retaining him from speaking extra. Cobel wasn’t even formally tasked with the morbid job of retrieving the chip from Petey’s mind, however did it anyway for her personal causes.
Perhaps these questions and avenues of thought are utterly pointless and irrelevant to the purpose of the present as a complete, which I will simply enable given the scope of all the things else. However it’s exactly that meticulous consideration to element that compels me to consider studying extra about Petey would assist inform what makes Mark so particular to his employers.
However now it is time to begin making ready this month’s signature syrup taste for the Waffle Occasion, so bear in mind to observe new episodes of Severance each Friday on Apple TV+.