SPOILERS for Severance Season 2, Episode 1 ‘Hello, Ms. Cobel’
After a hiatus of nearly 3 years (a duration I’d have loved to be severed for) Severance has returned to twist our minds and bend our reality just a little more. With the return of Severance comes the return of a review structure I’ve not had the pleasure of doing since the unceremonious cancelling of Westworld. Despite the lengthy break, the series nor its creators have lost their touch. The season 1 finale feeds beautifully into this season’s premiere, and it gives the impression that both no time has passed, and eons have passed. While the episode does drop a couple of answers and clarifies some queries about the finale, it makes it clear we’ll be waiting a while for concrete answers. Not only that, but it wastes absolutely no time raising even more mysteries, something you should expect of Severance by now. Let’s unpack the episode and catch back up with our cast of innies.
I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore
Picking right where we left off, Mark’s (Adam Scott) innie wakes up for the first time following the shutdown of the OTC. This opening is chaotic and frantic, with Mark sprinting through the corridors with so much adrenaline and panic that he’s having to double back. The juxtaposition between Mark’s introduction here and in the pilot episode is wonderful work on the part of Dan Erickson and Ben Stiller. Mark’s initial corridor walk is iconic because of how calm it is, with funky jazz beats over the top to really set the odd, quirky tone. This corridor scene is a frantic mess, with a high tempo score over the top and some mesmerising camera work. The cinematography of this series has always amazed me, but the surreal nature of this opening, with its warped angles and switches in POV, is a sight to behold. It’s the kind of filmmaking that the late, great David Lynch would have loved to see.
Back to the narrative – Mark finds his way to the Wellness Centre, presumably to confront his wife who he just found out exists (and is alive), only to realise it’s gone. Either renovations at Lumon happen really quick, or some time has passed since Mark last descended to the severed floor. Not just that, but Macrodata Refinement is now made up of three new employees and Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman) has been promoted to Ms. Cobel’s position, acquiring her office. In one of the strangest revelations of this season, Milicheck’s old position has been filled by a child, Miss Huang (Sarah Bock). There’s a lot going on with her, which I’ll get to later. But here we get some insight into the aftermath of season 1, learning our crew of innies have become public celebrities and the face of severance reform. Not only that, but Dylan, Irv and Helly’s outies all refused to return to Lumon, while Mark’s insisted on it. Immediately something doesn’t sit right here, given what we know about their outies.
Back with our new crew of Macrodata imposters, we learn that they’ve been brought in from other MDR facilities. Mark W mentions he is from Branch 5X, which shut down presumably due to incompetency (as we learn later). This begs the question how many MDR groups there are spread through the building. Mark, growing ever impatient, decides to forge a letter in order to get Mark W caught and removed from the equation. The ploy doesn’t quite work, but the contents of the letter are hilarious, with Mark making fun of Mr. Milkshake (Milchick) and finding great joy in it. He’s like a kid who got in trouble for making a joke, but the joke was so funny that it was worth it. Nevertheless, he makes a last-ditch effort to contact the Lumon board, which he does so seemingly successfully, before Mr. Milkshake sends Mark up the elevator with an ominous, knowing grin.
The gang’s all here
When Mark exits the elevator back into the severed floor waiting room, which is now decorated by a creepy painting, he’s joined by Dylan (Zach Cherry), Irv (John Turturro) and Helly (Britt Lower). For all of them (presumably) this is the first time they’ve been awake since the OTC shutdown. Immediately I was reminded by one thing I love most about the crew – their banter, particularly in regards to Dylan. His deadpan sarcasm is one of the series’ highlights, and he drops some great one-liners throughout the episode. They all venture to the Break Room, only to see that the dark, prison-like vibe has been replaced with a brighter setting fit with a TV and cushioned seats. Either Lumon has gone through a change of heart, or this is all part of forging their ‘good guy’ image.
When they sit down, they’re met with an animated video narrated by the Lumon building, who is voiced by a certain famous Baba Yaga. Indeed, Keanu Reeves is unmistakably the voice in the video, but he’s strangely uncredited. Either it’s just a fun little easter egg for fans to spot, or there’s something larger at play that’ll see Reeves make an appearance. I think it’s the former, but never say never. The video itself is as creepy and manipulative as you’d expect, but it does let us learn a little more about Lumon. We see that this is Branch 501 and there are Lumon facilities spread all around the world, presumably each with their own severed employees. It’s a neat bit of world building that reveals the Eagan family has a much stronger grasp on the world than was initially believed. The video also details the events of last season’s climax as The Macrodat Uprising, using the event as a smokescreen to explain to new employees how they’ve improved the workplace with new incentives and benefits.
All this unsettling positivity from Lumon and Mr. Milkshake in the wake of last season’s events leads us to believe that whatever they’re up to is even more unnerving and unsettling than we anticipated.
An imposter among us
At the conclusion of the video, Mr. Milkshake informs the crew that they can each make the decision to stay at Lumon or quit. Given the innies’ strict inability to do so across season 1, this change of heart has me thinking a few things. Either they’re so good at their MDR jobs that Lumon needs them (unlikely), or it’s just another way that Lumon is trying to give the innies the illusion of choice to keep them happy (that’s the one). This is followed by Mark letting the crew know everything he saw when he was in the outside world – including about Ms. Casey being his wife, the Wellness Centre disappearing and Ms. Cobel hanging out with his family. I love that we didn’t have to wait for this information to be divulged to the crew as it puts us all on (mostly) the same page.
This is where things get juicy – as Helly goes to recount her experience in the outside world, she starts blabbing on about a night gardener and saying nothing about what actually happened. Now this could be Helly lying about who she is on the outside so the other innies don’t learn that she’s an Eagan, but this moment was a big ‘AHA’ moment as it basically revealed that this isn’t Helly we’re seeing, it’s Helena Eagan. The way it’s presented makes me think the series isn’t really trying to hide it, since it’s quite obvious (or maybe that’s a smokescreen). Nevertheless, it’s the most likely explanation to what’s going on here since I find it hard to believe that Helena would voluntarily go back to severed life now that her gallery project is over. Basically, we have a mole in the building. Helena must be in there to spy on the innies since she has their trust, and report any unruly scheming so Mr. Milkshake and crew can stay on top of things.
I’m hung up on Huang
What’s the deal with Ms. Huang? This is maybe the most pressing new question from this pilot episode. Her presence in the show wouldn’t be much of a mystery had she not been a literal child. The first and most obvious question is whether she’s severed or not. A little later in the episode we see her on the computer sorting a different kind of data, and since we’ve only seen severed individuals do that, that could be a dead giveaway. Additionally, she seems to stick very in line with Lumon protocol, much like how Mr. Milkshake is and was through the first season, and it’s hard to think an unsevered kid would be so dedicated. However, we did see last season that Ms. Cobel had a shrine dedicated to Kier Eagan and grew up going to the Myrtle Eagan School For Girls. So perhaps Ms. Huang has been raised in that school and indoctrinated to follow Kier’s teachings religiously. Also, I find it hard to believe the world would permit severing kids, but you never know with Lumon.
Back to work
Following the Break Room sequence, we get a wholesome heart-to-heart between Dylan and Irv where Dylan tries to console him following his learning that Burt is married on the outside world. I love the depth of Dylan’s character – he brings the laughs but also has some great emotional beats. In this sequence, Irv whispers to Dylan about how his outie was painting the eerie Testing Floor corridor, a mystery I’m sure we’ll see play out more as the season goes on.
Dylan is then called into an exclusive meeting with Mr. Milkshake where he finds out his wife’s name is Gretchen (at her request) and is taken into a hidden room. Before I go on, I want to say I love how many new and updated locations we’re seeing within the Lumon building, and we’re only through one episode. Mr. Milkshakes shows Dylan plans for an Outie Family Visitation Suite, where he’d be able to interact with his family. Once again, it’s a nice gesture, but it’s all way too nice and suspicious. There’s absolutely more beneath the surface, and unless this is another ploy to get Dylan to cooperate and stay in line, I think there’s something much darker going on. The episode closes out with the crew, including Irv, going back to the desks and getting back to business as usual… sorting numbers. But what are those numbers exactly?
The numbers, Mason. What do they mean?
The final shot of the episode points to the longest-serving mystery of the series and maybe gives us a hint or two. As Mark gets back to filing the numbers into emotions, there’s a quick cut to Ms. Casey on a monitor, indicating the work MDR is doing is impacting Ms. Casey. By no means can we glean any concrete answers from this, but at first glance my assumption is that in sorting the numbers, they’re altering Ms. Casey’s DNA, memories or emotions… or perhaps all of the above. Maybe when someone enters the Testing Floor, MDR is tasked with sifting through the numbers of that person’s DNA to grab wayward emotions and put them in their place. In a way they’d be building a new person within the body of another.
Or, here’s a wild theory for you. Maybe Ms. Casey did actually die, and Lumon’s severance tech works to revive them with an altered identity built by MDR’s emotion sorting. On top of that, maybe that’s the deal with Ms. Huang. Maybe she died and has been brought back through Lumon’s tech and given a wild new identity – hence why she says she was a crossing guard before this. Okay fine, I’ll take off the tinfoil hat.
Lingering thoughts
There’s two lingering, quite small moments from the episode I must highlight. Firstly, there’s a quick moment early in the episode when Mark finds the empty Wellness Centre where a man in a suit can be seen in the corridor watching him. The silhouette is akin to Mr. Graner, but he’s long dead by now. Maybe it’s some strange time loop thing and that’s another Mark from the future? Okay I’ll stop now. This is such a small, throwaway moment that I’m sure many will forget about it, but I bet it will come back to play at some point.
I also wanted to touch on another tidbit about the whole Helena Eagan imposter thing. There’s multiple times in the episode where it’s mentioned that ‘Lumon is listening’. Not only are they drilling it into the characters, but they’re drilling it into us. In saying that, there’s another throwaway scene where Helena points out the removal of the security camera in MDR. Now, why would that camera be removed if Lumon is stressing about how they’re always listening. Well that’s because Helena is the camera, spying on them and listening to their every word. If and when this all comes to light, it will make small moments like this all the more fun to spot.
In the end, this is an exceptional way to kick off the second season of a series that has not missed a beat. It doesn’t make us wait long, immediately progressing the story beyond the season 1 finale by dropping some light answers and plenty of hints at the bigger picture. We learned a bit more about Lumon as a company and the stage is set for our characters to make some huge progress in their fight for freedom. However the clear realisation that Helly is actually Helena poses a huge threat to that mission. The score, the music and the cinematography are all wonderful, and Ben Stiller’s directing is stunning. Absolutely no notes.
10/10
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