When I began my Severance rewatch recaps last year, I immediately mentioned Lost. The ABC hit’s influence is all over the show with its nonlinear narrative, puzzle-box mystery, and corporate control with the Lumon/Dharma parallels. Of course, Severance creator Dan Erickson has spun the format into its own impressively unique material. He’s sprinkled in tiny direct nods along the way though—Helly, Irving, and Dario’s lockers or the Salt’s Neck signage having Hurley’s winning lottery ticket numbers, for example. The visual and thematic tributes to Lost come in the most hot and heavy in episode four. Or should I say cold and dreary?
“Woe’s Hollow” maroons our finest refiners in the middle of not a remote island but in the snowy wilderness. The innies get a rare breath of fresh air as part of Lumon’s outdoor retreat and team-building occurrence. The sight of them traversing the vast space, unsure of what lies ahead, is enough of a Lost reminder—not to mention a waterfall, animal carcass, or the campsite chitchat. But the perplexing, beautiful scenery is only the start. “Woe’s Hollow” amplifies larger psychological themes of logic vs. faith, community, sacrifice, and second chances. Sound familiar?
A noticeably different Severance outing successfully tests both the show’s experimental scope and our patience. After all, we don’t see the full aftermath of Mark’s reintegration cliffhanger. This might drive a few people bothered by the show’s pacing crazy, but “Woe’s Hollow” is one of the show’s best episodes. It mixes absurdity (the nonsensical Eagan family history) and tenderness (all things Mark, Helena, and especially Irving) with a surprisingly healthy dose of humor and answers. And to think, season two has six episodes left to unpack everything that goes down during MDR’s revelatory excursion.
Mark, Irving, Dylan, and Helly wake up in an isolated national forest instead of the brightly lit hallways when the bell dings. They’re to spend two days in the woods where Kier Eagan tamed the four tempers and learn more about his life from his book that they have to also find. This trip feels less like a fun break and more like batshit homework. As Mark, Helly, Irving, and Dylan explore, they are periodically given directions by a hazy vision of their doppelgängers (What Lumon technology made these lookalikes happen?) Eventually, they stumble upon a leather-bound book in a grotto that reveals Kier had a twin brother, Dieter. Ah, that puts the doppelgänger schtick into perspective. (It also harkens back to Helena Eagan’s quote about seeing Helly R. as her sister.)
The four innies learn later that Dieter took Kier to live in the woods like paupers, never wanting to return home despite his brother wanting to leave. It sounds like Dieter then succumbed to something and met a gruesome death. (“Moss tore from his bleeding scalp” and “An eye came out driven by a sudden torrent of puss” is how Kier describes it.) Overcome with grief, Kier encountered Woe, whom he hallucinated (?) as a gaunt bride half the height of a natural woman. Here’s what he claims of this interaction in his book: “She spoke to me from the eyes and said, ‘This is your doing. Now he’s no one’s brother, only chaos’ whore.’” Um, what the fuck?
Suffice it to say Severance deepens its mythology with this quirky tease. Did Kier kill his brother and is it because Dieter was jerking off? What does chaos’ whore imply? How did Kier “tame” Woe? There are endless questions raised about how much of this Dieter arc is fictional or real. However, I can’t help but think of Lost’s Jacob and The Man In Black while breaking down their saga: twin siblings pushed together in an open space that starts to feel claustrophobic, spiraling them into potential madness. Their mysterious actions in the past lead to disastrous long-term consequences for our present-day protagonists. Again, the parallels are hard to miss.
Heck, even John Locke’s “Two players, two sides. One is dark, one is light” feels applicable here. The innies and outies are two sides of the same coin, both more complex than initially anticipated. No one is a better example of this than Helena Eagan. A query since season two’s premiere is whether Helena or Helly R. stepped back onto the severed floor. Is Helly being cagey about her real identity to not alienate her MDR pals? Or is it Helena spying on them to stop any future rebellions? Everyone in the comments has differing opinions—and, well, the “It’s Helena” folks are vindicated. By the end of episode four, everyone learns Helly R. never came back after OTC and it’s been Helena all along.
Before we dig into how she’s exposed, which is the true twist of the episode, let’s talk about what Helena does in “Woe’s Hollow.” She spends plenty of alone time with Mark S., whom we know she’s intrigued by. In episode two, Helena watches the video of her innie kissing him. She probably longs for such a normal connection wherein she can joke and be physically affectionate with someone. As Helly R., she gets to let loose and even laugh out loud at her own family’s wild backstory in this episode.
Crucially, Helena sleeps with Mark S. in her tent without telling him who she is. Gosh, this opens up a fascinating can of worms about bodily autonomy, already a prevailing Severance theme. Mark assumes he’s giving into his feelings for Helly R., not recognizing the woman in front of him has been acting slightly off. (Irv is right, Mark is not objective). So Helena takes advantage of him and selfishly goes for what she wants. The most pivotal fact she tells him in a post-coital haze is, “I didn’t like who I was on the outside; I was ashamed.” Does Ms. Eagan feel guilt for her family’s crimes or is she indirectly saying she’s ashamed that her innie—another version of her—is such an insurgent when she’s not?
Mark may not have realized the truth, but Irving’s got his back. He voices his sneaking suspicion about Helena out loud to the group, but no one is on his side. Granted, he’s unnaturally rude when he calls her out and when he accuses Mark of being blinded by his feelings. But Irv is blatant because he’s got nothing to lose. With Burt gone, so is his attachment to the work he was devoted to. He’s disenchanted by it, and perhaps that’s why he can recognize that Helly R.—who was the most cynical of the lot—doesn’t carry that weight anymore. Irv figures out she’s an Eagan through a vivid dream featuring Burt and the grisly Woe from Kier’s stories.
When he catches up with Helena at the waterfall the next morning, he lays out that when she dissed him for his loneliness, that’s when he knew Helly R. could never be so cruel. If it’s not the innie, who has the power to let her outie invade MDR as a spy? To prove he’s right, Irv starts drowning Helena. Their screams are loud enough for Milchick, Mark, and Dylan to find them, with Irv blackmailing Milchick into bringing Helly R. back on. “Do it, Seth,” Helena yells. Milchick tells someone on his walkie-talkie to “remove the Glasgow block,” and just like that Helena is gone and Helly R. is back. It’s a record-scratch moment. Does Glasgow Block mean Lumon can halt the effects of the chip? Or perhaps it’s a version of OTC that can switch the outie on or off?
John Turturro crushes it in these electrifying final few minutes. This had better be the actor’s Emmy submission episode (ditto for Britt Lower). Turturro is anxiety-inducing and utterly heartbreaking in pushing Irving to the brink of no return. Milchick instantly fires him for almost murdering Lumon’s next CEO, saying it’ll be as if his innie never existed. He shares a tearful goodbye from afar with Dylan (“Hang in there,” he yells to his pal) and comforts/apologizes to Helly R. as he walks away from Milchick. The smile on his face tells us he’s accepted his fate after willingly sacrificing himself to expose Helena Eagan and bring his old friend back, even if he’s not around to see it. “Woe’s Hollow” turns into a heartbreaking homage to the Irving B. and Helly R. friendship. Sigh. R.I.P. innie Irv. I will riot if Severance doesn’t bring you back.
Stray observations
- • Why is there no other human in this episode? Did Lumon clear everyone out of a national forest or shut it down because they own it?
- •So when Irv’s outie wakes up while walking away from the innies at the end, does he get far enough away from them? It doesn’t seem like it when Milchick says “Now” into his walkie-talkie.
- • “I knew there was no actual ceiling but this is fucking insane,” Dylan’s innie says when he sees the gloomy blue sky for the first time in his life.
- • “Using your pupils to make love to her” is the creepiest way of describing two people sharing a pining look.
- • “Marshmallows are for team players, Dylan. They don’t just hand them out to anybody.”
- • Stiller beautifully frames the scene of Mark and Helena having sex under a red hue, the color most associated with outies. During their hook-up, Mark has a momentary glitch due to the reintegration and Helly turns into Gemma.
- •I know I spoke about the twins already, but another major possibility here—clones—would be interesting and tie into the goat-rearing, too.
- • The refiners are wearing furry black coats, while Milchick and Huang are in white. It’s another subversion of the light-and-dark theme, huh?
