Severance season 1's penultimate episode is a masterclass

[Editor’s note: In anticipation of Severance‘s upcoming second season, The A.V. Club is recapping season one of the show for the first time. Expect a new recap to drop daily through September 2.]    

What does it mean to sacrifice for the greater good? It’s a morality question most people might struggle with at some point. This is also a broad quandary, so let’s look at it from a narrower, Severance-specific perspective. I bring it up because, by now, the series is clearly not a paint-by-the-numbers thriller about work-life balance, shady corporations, and revenge. It’s attempting to make grander points within this polished genre framework. This a story about the human spirit—and what can shatter it, make it, rebuild it, and comfort it (besides slogging all day, every day, of course). 

From what we know of outie Mark, he’s broken because of grief. It’s hard to know what’s going on with Helly, Dylan, and Irving’s outies. (I hope season two gives us the nitty gritty on their real lives.) Still, it’s enough to know their innies because, through them, the writers craft a soulful story in an incredibly clinical yet relevant, timely setting. Yeah, it’s got elements of suspense and espionage to keep us hooked; this episode had my pulse rising with every passing minute. But at its core, Severance is about peeling back the layers of what makes humans survive against the odds. 

Lumon gives its innies a clean slate when they start with wiped memories. Their uncorrupted minds know nothing unless their bosses have told them about it or they’ve read it in a Kier handbook. Do you know what that breeds? Curiosity. It’s going to happen either on day one, like it did with Helly, or on day 730, like with Mark. It looks like Irving has been inquisitive several times over the six years he’s been with Lumon. Is that why, as this hour reveals, he keeps getting sent to “the testing floor"? How many times has his innie been to this level, which exists somewhere below the severed floor? What is he the test subject of? I guess they're doing further procedures to perfect severance on him, which might explain why he was so devoted to Kier in the early episodes. 

Irving has been down there enough times that it’s left a lasting imprint on his mind because Outie Irv is obsessed with painting the narrow, dark passage to the elevator that goes to the testing floor. Once Irv is done with work, his outie maniacally stays up all night, gulping cups of coffee and drawing that hallway with black oil paint. It's a memory that tortures him, but he can’t quite place why. One might say this has broken his spirit. It explains the “black goo” that Innie Irv kept seeing in his dreams and why he kept dozing off at work. (Side note: Dreams are a way for innies and outies to uncontrollably merge, right? They have different personalities but share the same brain!)

Ms. Casey, who we now know is Mark’s not-dead wife, Gemma, is also sent to the testing floor in this episode. Of the many horrible things Lumon does, the whole business with her might be the worst and most cruel. They’ve kept her for two years, but her innie has only lived for 107 hours. It’s fucked up. Ms. Casey has only been alive for a little over four days, most of which she spent doing half-hour wellness sessions and going to the break room. She tells Mark that the hours she spent with MDR are her “good old days.” My gosh, and to think she kept offering Helly a hug when she probably needed it the most to feel something. 

If you look at the first time we see Ms. Casey, she’s surrounded by calm music and trees. It’s to lull the innies, including her, into a peaceful state of mind, but that idea is an illusion. They want innies to think there’s no death, war, politics, or strife here—that it’s all egg or melon parties, Rwandan coffee, and meeting a quota—but that’s not true. They’re being suffocated. What happens when you’re on the brink and have to claw for survival? Well, Mark, Helly, Irving, and Dylan show us exactly that in “What’s For Dinner?” In a matter of days, they’ve formed an unshakable bond. The MDR crew is rising in rebellion for a "a taste of air"—literally and figuratively. They’re tighter than ever because they have a common goal. Plus, they’ve grown to truly like each other. (Take it from me, having three work friends you can joke around with but also genuinely rely on for anything is crucial).  

So they cheer for Helly when she completes her tasks, leading to MDR meeting their end-of-quarter deadline. This was the plan because now a member of their team gets the waffle-party reward after work hours. (Mark chooses Dylan to receive the honor so he can activate Overtime Contingency after the remaining three have left and are outside.) This isn't a normal reward with a delicious meal. It's Lumon, so expect something gonzo. Milchick escorts Dylan to the Perpetuity Wing, specifically to the replica of Kier’s house. He does get some waffles, but soon after, he heads to the founder’s bed and wears his mask. Four people walk in,  clad in sexy lingerie, and perform an erotic dance for him. Oh, their masks are of the four tempers, and the scene is a reenactment of the painting Irv and Burt admired together of Kier with a whip. Is this meant to be an orgy? Yes, it sure is. After a Music/Dance Experience, it looks like Lumon’s upgraded perk is to let innies relieve pent-up sexual energy. However weird I thought this would get, Severance surpassed my expectations. 

Dylan doesn’t stick around for the main event. He rushes out to do another critical task: to wake Mark, Helly, and Irv's innies now that they're back home. There’s a rising apprehension throughout the day amongst them because once Dylan starts the Overtime Contingency, the other three have no idea what they’ll wake up to in the outside world. Will they be driving, skiing, or in the middle of a grocery store? What if they're with someone else? Mark and Helly joke about being married as outies, a twist in the gut because we now know where Mark’s wife is. 

We’ve seen a glimpse of Helly’s outie, and she’s quite self-serving and vicious. Still, anyone who chooses to undergo the severance procedure isn’t doing it because they lead a happy life. The innies know they’re walking into a risk. Their heroic act might be worth it, they hope, if they can find someone they trust on the outside and tell them what’s happening inside Lumon. Technically, even they wouldn’t know what to say about what they do, but they could communicate that it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. There are baby goats! A diabolical break room! Blind worshipping of Kier! They are willing to sacrifice for the greater good and step into the unknown, even if it means never coming back or seeing each other again. This is why Helly gives Mark a sweet kiss before leaving: “In case we don’t see each other, or in case we do.” Poor Mark. The man’s got Helly, Gemma, and even Alexa to worry about.

There's a fourth woman who could make or break his spirit further. Why, it's Harmony Cobel, of course. His boss/neighbor has a no good, very bad day because the board found out she kept Helly's suicide attempt a secret and befriended Mark's sister. They swiftly fire her. Cobel's world comes crashing down because the institute she dedicated everything to has abandoned her. Arquette's excessive, loud cursing in the car and devastating breakdown at home, which includes smashing her Kier shrine, is visceral. She later heads to Ricken's book reading to keep up her Mrs. Selvig appearance, and when Mark confides in her that he's thinking about quitting Lumon, she hugs him both in relief and encouragement. Her pet project can be free!

Just as the two embrace, Dylan presses both the switches that awaken his innie—and the screen fades to black. Reader, despite knowing what was coming, I yelped. ("I NEED MORE NOW!," I wrote in my notes.) There's a brief glimpse at what Outie Helly and Irv are also doing—she's at a fancy party, perhaps the Eagan family gala, and he's painting. Meanwhile, Innie Mark is surrounded by his creepy boss and the author of a book that seems to save him. "What's For Dinner?" is a a flawless penultimate episode that leaves you longing for more while paying off on some season-long suspense. It's up there with the pre-season-finale outings of Game Of Thrones, Breaking Bad, etc. 

Stray observations

• • Outie Irving, it’s nice to meet you, even though I’m deeply concerned about your well-being. He lives in what looks like another Lumon-sponsored community called Leonora Living. As we know, a past CEO of Lumon was named Leonora Eagan.
• • Ms. Casey told Irv’s innie in episode two that his outie “likes the sound of radar.” That’s a sneaky hint because his outie has a dog named Radar. So are these "outie facts" true? Does Mark’s know how to set up a camp in less than three minutes and can he tell “a beautiful rock from a plain rock"? (That one made me chuckle, but now I’m wondering if it’s wordplay for something else.)
• • Once Helly achieves her 100-percent target, her old PC displays an animated video of Kier congratulating her and saying “I love you” before flying off from atop the mountain peak he’s standing on. Weird all around.
• • Patricia Arquette’s deranged, full-bodied laugh as she sits across Adam Scott to celebrate MDR’s success is so, so good.
• • Isn't it odd that Lumon would so casually fire Harmony, who knows several secrets, without a proper conversation? I'd assume she signed an NDA but still. And what kind of, ahem, severance package did she get?
• • A dissolved Harmony’s response to Mark inviting her to Ricken’s book launch is that she’d rather drive there on her own so “I can leave if I’m uncomfortable or afraid.” That’s the vibe I bring to a party.
• • The little zoom-in to let us know Ms. Casey was crying as she headed back to the testing floor broke me. On the plus side, Dylan requesting a glass cube with a photo of his MDR teammates warmed my heart.
• • "A man whose mind is as sharp as his incisors.” You just know Milchick’s extra pause and stare at Dylan when he said this equals to him murdering him in his head. As always, Tramell Tillman nails it.
• • Well, it’s already time for the finale. I can’t wait. Let’s go find out what’s for dinner, folks.