Did you feel it? That little jolt of adrenaline when you pressed play on the first episode of Severance season two? We sure did. It’s been three years since the first season ended, and the fact we were finally about to see what happens next provided a nice little rush. It’s the type of moment you live for as a fan of pop culture. That knowledge that, in the next few seconds, something you have been waiting for is finally here. And Severance season two is finally here.
Then, as one would’ve hoped, the premiere episode delivered. Maybe it didn’t have all the answers, but it directly tackled all your questions and set the stage for a second season that seems as if it’ll live up to the first. Let’s discuss it. (And if you haven’t caught up yet, this article should do the trick.)
The season two premiere of Severance, “Hello, Ms. Cobel,” started exactly where you wanted it to, with innie Mark (Adam Scott) waking up at Lumon with the knowledge that his outtie’s wife (Dichen Lachman) is alive and, hypothetically, somewhere on that floor. Excitement and energy fill the frame as the camera follows Mark all over the severed floor in one unbroken shot on his way to the Wellness room where Ms. Casey worked. But, not only is she not there, the room isn’t there either.
In the Macrodata Refinement office, Mark meets three new severed people (Alia Shawkat, Bob Balaban, Stefano Carannante) who we later learn came from other branches of Lumon. Mark is basically the audience at this point, though, and doesn’t care about that just yet. He simply wants to know where his team is and Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman) is happy to tell him.
Milchick tells Mark that it’s been five months since the innies briefly woke up in the outside world and that it was a very painful experience for everyone. According to Milchick, their outties have become famous as the “face of severance reform” and shows him their picture in a newspaper, apparently in some kind of parade. You instantly notice that the paper is all redacted, but if you pause you’ll also notice the paper is called “The Kier Telegraph.” The New York Times, this is not—so clearly, something isn’t right.
Again, this doesn’t really matter to Mark. He wants answers. Answers to questions like why was their boss, Ms. Cobel (Patricia Arquette), at his family’s party? Milchick says she’s been fired because she had an “erotic fixation” on Mark and was hoping to enter into a throuple with both his innie and outtie. We know that’s not the case but it’s fascinating to watch as Milchick spins all these lies he’s been fed by Lumon—and Mark isn’t having any of it. Mark is also told none of the other outties wanted to return to Lumon which is why he’s the only one back in MDR. He doesn’t believe that and says he wants to hear it directly from them.
All of that happens in roughly the first 10 minutes of the premiere and things are just getting started. We have our timeframe, some answers, and are feeling the matched energy between our anticipation of the show coming back and Mark’s eagerness to figure out what the hell is going on.
Mark goes back to MDR and gets a bit more acquainted with his new team. Soon though, he attempts to sabotage them by writing a note supposedly from the other Mark (Balaban’s Mark W.), telling his outtie to blow up the floor. The new group turns on him and Mark makes a run for it. He gets to Milchick’s office, grabs the all-powerful speaker, and begs the board to get his team back. It’s a tense, exciting scene—the exact type of rebellion we were hoping to see—but it doesn’t go too well. Milchick catches him and sends Mark away. Or so we think.
Mark wakes up at Lumon again but this time, he’s not alone. Dylan (Zach Cherry), Irving (John Turturro), and finally Helly R. (Britt Lower) all emerge one by one from the elevator. Did Lumon actually ask them to come back? How did they get them to change their minds? We’re curious, but frankly at this moment we don’t care. It’s just exciting to finally see the friends and colleagues back together again. And, as you’d expect, they’re all very confused. It’s the first time they’ve been back since the end of the last season and they are dying to know what everyone saw.
To explain, Milchick brings them all to the newly remodeled break room—and, reader, we were not ready for this. He plays a video for them that he says will be shown to every innie from now on. It’s a stop-motion animated tale of their own rebellion, dubbed “The Macrodata Uprising,” that spins it as something good for Lumon. An event that opened Lumon’s eyes to the feelings of innies and, as a result, brought on “bounteous reforms.” You imagine they mean “reform” as in explaining what the hell everyone is working on, perhaps. But of course that’s not the case. Lumon’s meaningful reforms are just new foods and diversions like bobbing for pineapples. It’s all the most random, pointless stuff. The group is as confused and shocked as we are at the video, but even more shocked when they’re told they have a choice: because of their actions, their innies, not their outties, will be given a choice whether or not they want to stay.
Then, finally, it happens. After 30 minutes of information and tension, Mark, Helly, Irv, and Dylan get to speak privately and reveal what happened to each of them at the end of last season. Mark, of course, reveals that Ms. Cobel knows him on the outside and that Ms. Casey is his outtie’s (supposedly) dead wife. That’s a shock to everyone. But it’s not as big of a shock as what Helly says. We know her outtie is one of the heads of Lumon but she instead lies and says she woke up in her apartment, watching TV. We’re left wondering if she’s embarrassed by the truth or if this is her outtie now spying on the others. Irving is instantly onto her, though, when he realizes part of her story—that there was a gardener working outside her apartment at night—doesn’t add up.
Irv is reluctant to tell everyone his story too and runs off. Dylan catches him and learns that Irv saw the love of his life, Burt (Christopher Walken), but found out that he’s married. The sadness is too much to bear and Irv wants to leave. Thankfully, Dylan begs him to stay so they can figure it all out together, and by the end he agrees. Helly then vows to help Mark figure out the whole situation with his wife, despite their romantic interest in each other, and Milchick covertly reveals to Dylan they are building him a special room where he can see his outtie’s family… but he can’t tell anyone else about it.
Basically, everyone still has secrets but most importantly, they all choose to stay. And with a circular shot that mirrors the start of the episode, the Severance crew is back with a whole new purpose.
In terms of season premieres, especially after a long hiatus, Severance pretty much nailed it. It threw us right back into this world and didn’t avoid tackling the big questions. It didn’t give us any big answers and, in fact, just gave us more questions—but with a full season yet to come, we’re totally fine with that.
Additional thoughts
- Was that Keanu Reeves as the voice of the Lumon building in the video? It sure sounded like it.
- The episode is called “Welcome, Ms. Cobel” after the screensaver message still on what is now Mr. Milchick’s computer. It’s something he’s clearly very, very mad about but it seems pointless. Why is he so worried? What does that say about him? Is he merely feeling disrespected or is it something more?
- Miss Huang (Sarah Bock), right? How weird is it to have a child walking around as a manager, and how wonderful was it for everyone to continue to bring it up?
- The new MDR people are mostly an afterthought here but they do provide a lot of interesting context. For example, we learn that one of their old branches had different, more advanced animatronics of the Kiers and that another was so desolate, those same figures were made of brooms. (The video also revealed there are over 200 Lumon branches worldwide.)
- Irv reveals to Dylan that his outtie continued to paint the same hallway, over and over. A hallway that we briefly see at the beginning of the episode, as Ms. Casey takes the ominous elevator.
- Finally, watching the episode back, I think Helly is still her innie but is just too ashamed to reveal the truth about her outtie. She gives a brief look to Irv when they’re still in the break room and later, when discussing Ms. Casey with Mark, seems very adamant that innies and outties are different. We’ll see how that all plays out.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Read the full article here
