Grappling with loss is all over Severance’s latest episode. Everyone experiences it in different gradations but some form of it persists. It’s a reminder of how well the show uses a universally relatable feeling to study its characters and make its creepy sci-fi scenarios feel grounded. Yes, thrilling moments like the season-one finale, Irving (John Turturro) drowning Helena (Britt Lower), or Helly R.’s rebellions crank up the momentum. But Severance shines when it slows down to make its protagonists reflect—which, to be fair, happens fairly often. So “Trojan’s Horse” is a breather after the last few installments.
The obvious loss is the one faced by Mark, (Adam Scott), Dylan, (Zach Cherry), and Helly. They barge into Milchick’s (Tramell Tillman) office, loudly demanding answers for their horrible ORTBO adventure. Milchick confirms Irv’s innie is fired for, you know, trying to murder Lumon’s next-in-line leader. Their sweet pal is technically gone even though his outie lives on. How do you grieve someone who isn’t dead at all, even if the version of them you knew has ceased to exist? That’s the trouble this trio faces. Lumon erases him by removing his cubicle and editing him from the group photo, but it doesn’t take the pain away.
Like any normal human being in disbelief, Dylan suggests a funeral to bid proper adieu to Irv. Unlike Burt’s (Christopher Walken) retirement party from season one, they perform a different ceremony. Mr. Milchick and Ms. Huang (Sarah Bock) bring out Lumon’s bereavement kit, usually reserved for when someone dies “on the floor.” Hmm. It includes refreshments, mournful signage, a watermelon “from Malaysia” cut in the shape of Irving’s head, and blue cups with his face on them. Dylan also gives a eulogy that, per Milchick, is sweet and salty. (“For the least fun guy in the world, he was really fun.” “He put the ‘dick’ in contradiction.”) Dylan appears to be the most affected, particularly because he regrets not helping Irv with the drawings.
Despite their collective sorrow, the refiners are on shaky ground right now. Not only have they permanently lost a friend, but they’ve also lost trust in Helly R. Mark is understandably unwilling to open up to her again. He doesn’t know how to trust her, even though it’s not her fault at all that Helena took physical and emotional advantage of him by posing as Helly. He doesn’t tell her about the sex or his outie’s relationship with Ms. Casey (although Dylan blurts the latter detail out). Mark also knows Helena is aware he’s looking for Ms. Casey/Gemma (Dichen Lachman), so what’s the point of the mission if Lumon is one step ahead of him? Regardless, Helly passionately tries to convince him she’s the same person he knew before OTC happened, as is her wont. Their conversation brings up Severance’s favorite existential quandary: Who are you?
It’s still a pertinent question for Helly R., who is only a few weeks old, by the way. She doesn’t know what it’s like to have a fully formed identity yet and she’s already lost control over it. It’s an unfathomable circumstance to have someone “steal your body,” as she says. Plus, the man she trusts is being a jerk when her last memory of them together is their kiss. It’s a lot to process. Yet, Helly resiliently goes through the damn day and even lets Mark have it. Good for her. Gosh, it’s good to have her back for real, along with Britt Lower’s freer performance as the seething, outspoken innie. This isn’t a luxury Helena has, as seen in Lower’s relatively rigid and awkward performance.
Helena also loses something here: the chance to be carefree while in her innies’ shoes. Yes, she’s afraid of putting her body through being on the severed floor (at least twice now, her life has been in real danger). But she’s also experienced true intimacy and doesn’t want to give up on that. Natalie (Sydney Cole Alexander) and Mr. Drummond (Olafur Darri Olafson) shut down her suggestion to keep pretending, though, as per her father’s orders. Mark S. needing the real Helly R. to complete Cold Harbor takes precedence. Severance is really holding up a mirror to Helena and Helly R.’s challenges with bodily autonomy, huh? However, Helena is growing obsessed with Mark, secretly observing as he leaves work for the day. How long until she does something reckless to be close to him? This is what happens when you’ve been repressed your whole life and finally get a taste of freedom. It’s depressing that her brief independence is Helly’s purgatory.
Things aren’t going smoothly for outie Mark either. His reintegration process is annoying him (and me!). Come on, Severance, let us see how his brain merges both of his worlds already. He makes a breakthrough at the end though. After expressing frustration to Reghabi (Karen Aldridge), who is now living in his basement, a switch suddenly flips. One second he’s in his house, and the next he’s walking across Lumon’s hallways. All the while, Ms. Casey’s “fun facts” from season one play in his mind. And then a memory of his innie standing across from his wife hits him. Adam Scott’s face as Mark processes Gemma in that bob haircut is a direct punch to the gut. The actor’s expression contorts from confusion to instant tears. Folks, it’s happening, his innie/outie mind is melding. I don’t see how he comes out of this unscathed with the complex love triangle involved. (Is it a six-way dynamic?)
Meanwhile, outie Irving is around—Turturro is thankfully here to stay even if his character’s innie is not. Irv goes back to the payphone to talk to a mysterious someone about his firing. “They know what my innie was up to,” he says. All this time, I thought he was talking to someone at Lumon about whistleblowing, but what if he’s talking to Reghabi? Was Irv secretly reintegrated somehow, and is that why Reghabi feels more sure about her surgical process? Those questions are left in the lurch when Irving spots Burt following him. At long last, Severance blesses us Burving stans with an interaction. It’s not the version of the couple we know and love, but it’s okay. Even their outies’ chemistry is irresistibly crackling in a way that needs to be studied. Burt deduces their innies were involved in an “unsanctioned erotic entanglement” because a part of his brain and heart probably recognize him, even if he doesn’t know why yet. He invites Irv over for dinner to meet his husband and clear the air about their current outie dynamic. Hey, I’m good with whatever awkwardness this brings as long as it means Turturro and Walken share giggles on my screen again.
Finally, Milchick’s arc in “Trojan’s Horse” is my favorite. He’s losing faith and growing disillusioned with the company day by day. First, it was those offensive paintings and now it’s a messed up performance review. Drummond knocks him down a few pegs for silly things before drilling him down for ORTBO’s failure, Irv’s termination, Helena’s brush with death, and the three transfers who didn’t last long. Milchick, who oddly was trying to be honest and show kindness to the innies (to the extent he is capable of), is reprimanded for it. Lumon cannot risk Cold Harbor, as we’re told repeatedly by now, so Milchick must go back to his old ways and “treat the innies as they really are,” i.e. soulless machines brought to life to press on their keyboards, per the company.
Tillman crushes it with his non-verbal acting as he processes everything, communicating with expressions how this scrutiny affects his character. Milchick shares another brief but pivotal conversation with Natalie alone, indirectly inferring that as Black employees, they face similar challenges. At the very least, Milchick is thinking about himself and not just Lumon’s needs. I don’t think he’ll turn his back on Lumon anytime soon, as evidenced by how rudely he talks to Mark S. in the elevator later. (“Did you tell her you fucked her outie?”). But with both of these characters, an otherwise repetitive “Trojan’s Horse” sets the stage for a momentous second half of season two.
Stray observations
- • Where in the world is Harmony Cobel?
- • Dylan G. blurts out an assortment of F-bombs in this episode: “I don’t give three dry fucks about his outie,” “What in the abominable fuck,” “Suck my own fuck.” The second one is particularly top-tier.
- • Dylan also finds Irving’s drawings of the hallways hidden behind a poster that says “Hang in there.” Those were the last words Irv told him in episode four as a little clue.
- • The long pause after Milchick asks the refiners if they know about the tale of the Swedish king who went undercover among his citizens proves yet again that Severance is a comedy.
- • Sorry to Ms. Huang, who lost her shot at playing the theremin this time. But also: Is Severance going to ever do anything else with this character?
- • This episode opens with a strange, mysterious old man whistling his way into O&D. Two Lumon employees, including Felicia, hand over a tray of syringes to him. He takes them in a cart down the dark hallway and in an elevator to a lower floor. We never see his face so let’s start guessing who it might be. (Update as of 2/15: Amending to add that the tools are, in fact, of a dental nature. Now I’m nervous for whoever will be the recipient).
- • Devon wisely tells Ricken she disapproves of his rewrites because they’re tailored to Lumon’s demands and negate whatever rubbish he had written before. I truly hope this subplot is going somewhere.
- • It’s funny that Drummond says the complaints against Milchick are “anonymous” when there’s only one person who works with him. Anyway, good for Ms. Huang for speaking her mind more than once in “Trojan’s Horse.”
- • For those keeping track, Cold Harbor is 81 percent complete. We’re reaching 100 by the finale, right? Right?
