Severance Puts Several Employees On The Move Ahead Of Next Week's Finale
After a couple of weeks spent filling in backstory, Severance got back to business this week, giving us major status updates on several Lumon employees before we head into next week's season finale.
Season 2's penultimate episode opens with Helena taking a morning swim and eating tiny bits of boiled egg in preparation for what her father Jame calls "a momentous day." Milchick tells Ms. Huang her fellowship has ended, handing her a bust of Jame Eagan (just like the one Cobel had) and informing her she will now move from her parents' home into a Lumon "empathy center." Dylan's Outie wife Gretchen confesses to her husband that she kissed his Innie, admitting that "he reminds me of how you used to be." And Irving arrives home to find Burt going through his things, finding the notes Irving wrote about Lumon, including one calling Burt "a low-level enforcer or goon." Burt invites Irving on a car ride, and Irving hesitates — but Burt insists.
Back at Lumon, that creep Dr. Mauer is still watching Gemma, but Cold Harbor is stuck at 96% because Mark hasn't shown up for work. "The final quota was promised today," Mr. Drummond reminds Milchick. "Get him here now." Helly wants to know where Mark is, too, and when Milchick calls her "Helly R." she shoots back: "Don't you mean Helly E.?" (Ooh, she knows she's his boss!) But Mark is actually in a car with his sister Devon, driving to meet Ms. Cobel in a snowy clearing. He seems to still be Outie Mark — as in: not fully reintegrated — and he doesn't trust Cobel, worrying that the whole meeting could be a trap.
Dylan has another visit with Gretchen, where she tells him: "I told you about us." (That sentence makes sense, we swear.) Dylan asks, "Was he glad for us?" — and, um, no, dude, he wasn't. She can't see him anymore because his Outie threatened to quit, but Dylan begs her to stay: "My life started when you came here." He even gets down on one knee and offers her a ring he made out of paper (!), but she walks out on him, holding back tears as she goes. Later, Helly tries to comfort him, but Dylan turns on her: "You know it's your fault we're down here at all, right?" Ouch.
Cobel meets Mark and Devon, and tells him she wants to take him to meet his Innie that night (?!?). They're not sure whether he's completed Cold Harbor yet, but "if you've completed it," Cobel says gravely, "she's already dead." This (understandably) upsets Mark, but Devon reminds him they need to work with Cobel to get Gemma back. Meanwhile, Helly looks behind the "Hang In There" poster and finds Irving's directions, while Irving rides in the back of Burt's car. (Burt says he never hurt anyone, he just "drove people places"... and Irving asks, "Is that what today is?") Plus, Dylan fills out a resignation form at Lumon, so it looks he's giving his Outie what he wants.
Mr. Drummond blames Milchick for Mark not showing up for work "on what was to be Lumon's finest day." But Milchick fights back, using some of those big words he's been penalized for: "Devour feculence. It means eat s–t, Mr. Drummond." (Yeahhhh!) Mark calls into work, telling Milchick he just needs to deal with some personal stuff: "Isn't that what Lumon is all about? Balance? Work is just work, right?" He promises to come in tomorrow, and Milchick relents. And Burt takes Irving to a train station and buys him a one-way ticket: "I can't know where you get off, and you can never come back to Kier." But why? Burt admits that he severed because he wanted to feel innocent again, and "my innocent part fell in love with you."
Irving wants to continue their love story on the outside, telling Burt "I'm ready" over and over again as they tenderly touch foreheads. But Burt says they can't, simply shaking Irving's hand and wishing him farewell: "Bon voyage... buddy." So as Irving rides away on the train, Ms. Huang sits outside the Lumon building waiting for a van to take her to the "empathy center," and Dylan gets into the Lumon elevator — for perhaps the last time. And in the office, Helly is trying to memorize the directions on Irving's note when she's interrupted by... her father Jame. And she doesn't recognize him at all, of course. (Her "Who the f–k?" response is perfectly Helly.)
Mark stows away in the back of Cobel's truck as she and Devon drive to a Lumon facility known as Cottage Farm. Cobel gets them past the guards at the gate (with an excellent Twilight Zone reference), and as they drive inside, Mark switches from Outie to Innie. He finds himself in a room with Devon, who reassures him he's fine. He tries to leave, but if he does, "he's just going to come back in again," she tells him. They walk upstairs, and Cobel is waiting for him in front of a roaring fire. Devon asks him if he remembers the last thing he said to her. And he does: "She's alive."
Got thoughts on this week's Severance? Theories about what we'll see in next week's finale? We're passing the red ball to you: Make your voice heard in the comments below.