Severance
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Dissociation was once described to me as the experience of driving a car on autopilot.
Ive done this approximately 1 million times.
Maybe you have, too.
Reaching a destination and not remembering the specifics of getting there feels disconcerting yet almost thrilling.
This week,Severancedrives this point home in several different ways.
First, Dylan is experiencing a lot of cognitive dissonance from the memory of his son the night before.
And the more he expresses his emotions, the more Milchick tries to shut him down.
Milchicks idea of waking Dylan up in the real world was a very terrible plan.
Did Milchick expect him to forget?
To let it go?
Theres no way to put that tiger back in its cage.
And furious tigers tend to bite.
The management on the severed floor has gone entirely off the rails.
Burt from O&D to retire, shes off teaching Devon how to breastfeed.
Graner is dead (well get to that).
And Milchick is on his own to clean up the mess.
I havent talked much about Tramell Tillmans performance as Milchick in these recaps yet, and thats my bad.
As inhabited by Tillman, Milchick cuts an exceptionally menacing figure.
(See: when he drops Marks coffee at his desk after escorting him to MDR.)
So when Milchick comes into the MDR department with a long-sleeved white turtleneck on, we know somethings up.
From a list that includes options such as buoyant reggae and tearful emo, Helly chooses defiant jazz.
Milchick starts undulating around like a sexy octopus, and Helly oddly gets into it.
Mark and Irv also start to enjoy themselves, both doing variations on the middle-aged white dude dance.
Everyone seems to be having a nice time everyone, that is, except Dylan.
Irv and Mark hold him up on either side while Helly cradles his arm in her hands.
All they know is something is wrong with their friend, and its Milchicks fault.
After Milchick leaves, Dylan drops his bombshell.
They can wake us up, he says.
Hes my son too, he declares.
Conveniently, Mark has Graners all-access key card, so they decide to go snooping.
Theres a huge melon party complete with heaps of watermelon!
It looks like an Edible Arrangements exploded.
But despite the general levity and merriment, a sense of dread settles over Irv.
Once Burt leaves, hes gone.
Earlier in the episode, Burt tells Milchick his experience in the break room was quite enough.
As the other department head involved in that situation, Mark left his break-room session with bruised knuckles.
And now it seems as if hes being forced to retire.
As Irv realizes the gravity of the situation, a fire builds in him.
When Milchick tries to diffuse the situation, Irv shoots back, You smug motherfucker.
Eventually, Irv and Burt have a sweet farewell moment.
Theres also the distinct possibility that Burt and Irv know one another and could even be together!
in the real world, so c’mon dont despair, Burving shippers.
He signs on to the plan, snarling, Lets burn this place to the ground.
Everyone else nods in tacit agreement.
In the outside world, were treated to another huge bombshell of information.
The night before the Music Dance Experience, Mark ducks out on Alexa to visit Peteys contact.
In an effort to encourage him to reintegrate, she drops a lot of innie guilt on him.
Unfortunately, Graner busts in and breaks up this conversation.
Mark does every wrong thing in the book as he flees the scene.
He vomits in the alleyway, then proceeds to dump his blood-soaked clothing in his own overstuffed trash can.
Have you ever listened to a crime podcast?
Or even watched an episode ofDateline?
You just assisted in the murder of one of your co-workers!
But Marks mind is still clouded by grief and whiskey.
When Alexa comes to pick up her wallet the next day, Mark is bonzo drunk.
Alexa (rightfully) bolts, leaving Mark to emote like a madman in the street.
He goes back into the house and starts to tape up the picture.
She was allergic to nutmeg.
And he loved all of these things about her equally.
Gemma is Ms. Casey.
Ms. Casey is Gemma.
There are so many questions.
Did Lumon stage Gemmas death?
(It sure seems like it.)
(No clue.)
Are Gemma and Mark part of some larger severance experiment?
(Its likely!)
To paraphrase Wilde and Wonka: All I know right now is the suspenseSeveranceis building is terrible.
I hope itll last.
Severed Sentiments
Milchick seems to take pictures only when an event focuses on Helly.
He took them on her first day at her orientation and now again during the Music Dance Experience.
Watching Burts retirement video made me feel very disoriented.
How do you say good-bye to people you dont actually know?
Burt has been severed for seven years?
Compared to Marks two years and Irvs three, that seems like a lifetime.
you’re able to find ithere.
