Severance Show Explanation Episode 4 and 5. If you haven’t read my episode 1, 2 or 3 write ups, you can do so right here! More importantly, if you have no idea what a Severance show even is!? Trust me on this one, you gotta check it out. Sort of reminds me of Maniac maybe? (Which I adored.) But the high level overview is that the company, Lumon, has made it possible to psychically sever the connection between work and family. So, when you come onsite, you forget your personal life; when you go home, you forget your work life. Seems like it might be a solution to every problem you thought you might have had regarding your work/life balance… but trust me, if someone gives you this opportunity, do not take them up on it! Hahahaha.
You can catch the show over on AppleTV. And trust me, it is totally worth your time.
Severance Episode 4 – “The You You Are” explanation
Alright – this is a dual episode, so we are going to be more succinct than in the past. Ep4 kicks off with Helly just getting worked over, day after day, in the “break” room. And we see Mark missing the call on Petey’s phone and as he’s hiding it away, he notices that there are other missed calls too. The following day, Irving visits Optics & Design – Irving and Burt sort of hit it off… and Irving finds Ricken’s book that was left by Milchik when Helly attempted her escape. He promised to return the book to management, but does he? Nope.
Helly? She returns from the “break” room after being forced to read her apology thousands of times. And yet, in spite of the torture she just endured – (or because of?) – she grabs a paper cutter and tells Cobel that she will hurt herself unless she is granted a chance to record an audio resignation request. (You realize that if the workers harm themselves, it will show up for their outtie selves… and will need to be explained away. If you remember back to the first episode, we saw that happen. And a free dinner coupon, too.) She makes the recording of her request – but her outtie is abundantly clear. Nope. DENIED.
Out-land, Mark gets a notification that Petey had died (which I predicted would happen a few walkthroughs ago) due to some weird, “unknown ailment.” Cobel (aka Mrs. Selvig) attends the funeral, and gets the severance chip before his body is cremated. (They must be really valuable! hahaha. No no, it wouldn’t do having a severance chip in amongst his ashes! Right right.) Afterward, Cobel orders a “wellness” check on Mark, wherein Casey asks Mark to make a sculpture of his emotions. What does he sculpt? A tree. It’s a tree that his outtie self visited after his wife died.
Elsewhere, Irving figures out that O&D has seven, if not more, employees. And all of them are working in a enormous back room that has no designator, or identifier. Dylan later finds Ricken’s book that was hidden in Mark’s files. And, the episode ends with Helly (poor poor Helly), smuggling out an extension cord… which she uses to hang herself in the elevator shaft. BOOM. What an ending.
Severance Episode 5 – “The Grim Barbarity of Optics and Design” explanation
So much going so fast. Gotta go faster. hahaha. Helly is unsuccessful in her suicide attempt! PHEW! She’s injured, but ultimately is alright. And, after three days out, she returns to work. Mark continues to read Ricken’s book which, obviously, is highly critical of establishment ideals. Out in Out-world, Mark visits a lodge where Devon gives birth. Back at the office, after Helly returns, Cobel tells Ms. Casey to keep a very close eye on Helly.
Later, Irving, having had more visions of the black slime, decides to go visit Burt in order to calm down. But when he does, instead comforting him at all – he tells him to print out another copy of the manual. ??? And when he complies, instead of the manual, the copier churns out a painting of O&D employees, horrifically cutting down MDR employees. Dylan and Irving go and ask Burt what the hell is going on, and he admits that he lied about the size of the department. Why? Because the MDR department has historically been seen as completely untrustworthy. Simultaneously, Mark sneaks Helly out of MDR, and tells her that he has been systematically recreating Petey’s map. Helly promises to help with the effort after they discover a completely unknown department as a result of the map. What happens in this department? Great question – well… it happens to be a department consisting of a single employee that feeds baby goats. Yes, you heard me correctly. Baby goats.
After Irving and Dylan walk Burt back to O&D they discover another copy of the massacre painting, stashed away and hidden. But, in this painting, they notice that it is actually the MDR employees killing the O&D employees. What is this? Deep-seated anti-departmental propaganda?? And afterwards, Burt takes Dylan and Irving to the unlabelled back room.
Guess on Where Severance is Going
Good lord. Four and Five seem to me to be heading into the wild land of mythic and global parable. It’s turning into a warning – a glaring and flashing red light that is warning Russia and the Ukraine. It’s a tale of systemic hate and propaganda. I thought I had an idea where this show was going to go. But now I’m really curious as to what this company is all about. What is it that they are doing here?!?!? I literally don’t even have a guess. I mean, a department of baby goats? It’s like a post-modern art installation gone wrong! hahahah. And I love it.
Could it be that the departments are proxies for global governments and sovereign powers? Or that they guide and protect world powers? And that these proxy wars happening here within the walls of the company shadow the global terrors and conflicts around the world?? I really have no idea where this show is going to go.
THiNC. Severance Episode Discussion List:
| No. | Title | Original release date |
| 1 | “Good News About Hell” | February 18, 2022 |
| 2 | “Half Loop” | February 18, 2022 |
| 3 | “In Perpetuity” | February 25, 2022 |
| 4 | “The You You Are” | March 4, 2022 |
| 5 | “The Grim Barbarity Of Optics and Design” | March 11, 2022 |
| 6 | “Hide and Seek” | March 18, 2022 |
| 7 | “Defiant Jazz” | March 25, 2022 |
| 8 | “What’s for Dinner?” | April 1, 2022 |
| 9 | “The We We Are” | April 8, 2022 |
Edited by: CY