SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for Season 2, Episode 5 of “Severance,” now streaming on Apple TV+.
Things get real awkward between Mark (Adam Scott) and Helly (Britt Lower) — no longer Helena in disguise — now that they are finally catching up for the first time since the “Severance” Season 1 finale.
In the aftermath of “Woe’s Hollow,” the fatal “Severance” episode that saw Helena’s true identity exposed by a suspecting Irving (John Turturro), Episode 5 sees Mark wrestle with the reality that he couldn’t tell Helena apart from Helly, while Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman) takes the heat for Helena almost dying during the work retreat. (Irving, convinced that there was an imposter among them, held Helena’s head under the water until Milchick deactivated the Glasgow Block and turned her back into Helly. Irving was permanently dismissed, meaning we won’t be seeing his innie anymore.)
The next episode, titled “Trojan’s Horse,” opens with a man in a white suit shuttling needles and equipment down in an elevator, presumably where Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman) is locked up on the Testing Floor. We don’t know exactly what the man is transporting, but perhaps it has something to do with Irving.
Outside of Lumon, Helena refuses to go back down to the Severed Floor — describing the innies as “fucking animals” (in fairness, she was almost murdered). But Natalie (Sydney Cole Alexander) rightfully notes that Helena has to send her innie back down to the office in order to appease Mark. In all her cold creepiness, she says, “The board appreciates your sacrifice,” and that’s that.
Now, Helly is finally getting acquainted with the new office (in the same way that the rest of the innies do in Season 2, Episode 1), which includes seeing child boss Miss Huang (Sarah Bock) for the first time. Helly is mortified to learn that Helena hijacked her body and impersonated her. Mr. Milchick tries to justify Helena’s move as part of a “noble tradition.” When Mark and Dylan demand to know where Irving is, he admits that Innie Irving is dead. He unveils a new, three-desk set-up, complete with a new office picture that completely erases Irving. It’s as if he never existed. Dylan demands that he let them have a funeral for him.
So, Mr. Milchick and Miss Huang throw together a very awkward, very Lumon funeral (complete with a watermelon in the shape of Irving’s head), where Dylan gives a bittersweet eulogy about his fond memories working with Irv. After everyone else leaves, Dylan discovers a hidden note with one of Irving’s mysterious drawings of the dark hallway, plus a list of directions. In private, Miss Huang gives her “unsolicited opinion” about the funeral — that it shouldn’t have happened because it makes the innies feel like people — which Mr. Milchick quickly shuts down.
Helly pries Mark for details about Helena, and questions him for not feeling anything after Irving’s death. Dylan steps in with some old news that Helly hasn’t yet been told: Outie Mark’s wife is Ms. Casey. Everything is out of whack, and Mark, understandably, has a difficult time trusting Helly — to no fault of her own.
Before Mr. Milchick has his first performance review as department chief, he tries to connect with Natalie about those bizarre portraits they each received, replicating classic images of Kier as a Black man. Natalie, per usual, won’t engage. At the performance review, Mr. Milchick is given some silly feedback about how he “uses too many big words” and fastens paperclips the wrong way. The real punch, though, comes when he is scolded for his “kindness reforms,” like allowing Dylan to meet his outie’s wife. He is also, of course, blamed for Irving’s assault on Helena.
Board member Mr. Drummond (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) urges Mr. Milchick to focus on Mark’s completion of the Cold Harbor file, the mysterious macrodata project that is apparently of great importance to Lumon.
With a fire burning under him, Mr. Milchick tightens the leash, cornering Mark by the elevator and asking if he told Helly that he “fucked her outie.” The answer is no.
Back in the outside world, Devon (Jen Tullock) questions why Ricken (Michael Chernus) is essentially writing Lumon propaganda, and Outie Irving formally connects with Outie Burt (Christopher Walken). Burt suspects that Irving was the employee his innie had a fling with, so he invites him over for dinner to try and “talk through it all.”
As Outie Mark grows impatient with his reintegration process, he begins hearing the voice of his late wife. He’s confused — she’s listing facts about his outie. It’s a wellness session. Mark is hallucinating — or maybe it’s just reintegration. He warps into an unfamiliar office building, wandering down a dark hallway before being greeted by Ms. Casey.
