Picture this: you’ve had a stressful week – between work and personal life, you’ve got a million things on your mind and are just focused on taking your days one step at a time. The Super Bowl is coming up and Sunday can’t get here soon enough. Finally, Friday is in your sights as work comes to a close on Thursday and then…. you remember. Severance comes out tonight! Forget that AppleTV still puts Friday’s dates as the release of the next episode – that’s a load of bull! These are THURSDAY episodes and how lucky are we that they chose to do it this way?
Anyway, after remembering that the newest episode of the best show on TV is coming out; the worries of our week fade away and are replaced by the worries we’ve been carrying in our hearts since last week’s episode. . “How is reintegration for Mark going to go?” “I really feel like Irv is seeing straight through Helly’s act… how is this going to develop over the whole season?” “Damn, what I would do to have a beer with Dylan’s innie” were the 3 most prominent thoughts in my head after episode 3. Just to be clear, I’ve intentionally avoided Severance episode trailers and recap video rabbit holes because they’re so spot on sometimes that it takes away much of the surprise. Plus, if I’m recapping this, it’s gotta be MY opinions rather than the millions of other viewers discussing on Twitter/X (if you wanna discuss though, follow me at @CakesBLNT). After the first 2 episodes, I should’ve known that most, if not all, of my expectations would be wrong. Then episode 3 happened and continued to prove to me that these writers know better than us – never would have anticipated Mark’s reintegration this early in the season. So Cakes… surely you learned your lesson about how Severance works and didn’t waste time theorizing about what was to come, right? Wrong. And again for the most recent episode this season, I was wrong. Enter episode 4.
As soon as Irving started the episode on the ice, I had to immediately scrap all my thoughts about what was to come in this one. These writers have a vision and whatever it is, there’s no doubt in my mind it’s far more beautiful than any I can come up with. The next 50 minutes were pretty exhilarating to say the least; and to be honest, I’m still trying to figure out Lumon’s rationale for allowing that disastrous “ORTBO” to take place – maybe they meant to do more to intimidate MDR but Irving just beat them to it? Who knows. I believe I said it in my first Severance blog (and by no means is it a prediction that’s setting the world on fire) but Irving B is the #1 hero of this season and I’d bet the whole show in the end.
Before diving in further on Irving (who will deservingly have a sizeable chunk of this recap dedicated to him), here’s the other highlights from our favorite MDR Superheroes:
Dylan G’s innie would apparently make a better husband (and citizen) than his outie. Obviously we haven’t gotten very much impact from Dylan’s outie yet, so how his character develops out there remains to be seen – I’m officially team no-comment on what I think happens with his outie. As for Dylan’s innie… I’m gonna make the case right now to hang this character in the AppleTV rafters. He adds so much humor, such little bullshit, and absolutely RIDES with his team. I look back to his tough guy act against Burt/O&D in season 1 and how he volunteered to activate the OTC switch as key moments which showcase how loyal he is. I think Dylan G is supposed to be an example to us viewers about what it means to be a good, productive human (which is expertly contrasted with his lazy, unmotivated outie). He works his ass off at work to put up great numbers, cares deeply for the people closest to him, and is as loyal/trustworthy as they come. He and Irv are best friends, but he was still lightning quick to call Irv out when he thought Helly was being treated unfairly while also still respectful enough to not betray Irv’s trust regarding his outie experience. Standing on the side of good means standing on the side of Dylan G.
To this point, the Helly we know and love from Season 1 is still MIA, but DAMN is Helena Eagan good at playing both sides. She really has felt like Helly R for most of this season, but never lasts too long before a flash of Eagan comes out. I figured there was almost no shot we’d get to see Helly R until the finale, so BlockBusterBuzz and I started to craft a theory that Helly Eagan would come to realize the human aspect of the innies and end up flipping against Lumon… then she had sex with Mark and followed it up by blowing her cover when Irving “The GOAT” B. attempted to drown her. Ummmmm WHERE DO THEY GO FROM HERE!!!! Is Helly Eagan firmly back to public enemy #1? I have to believe yes, but I already shared my less than perfect track record when it comes to my Severance predictions. Hoping next week gives us immediate resolution to the fire drill that Lumon HQ will be scrambling to solve.
Mark…. I feel like the below tweet perfectly summarizes his character’s plot to this point. I HAVE to believe next episode will be pivotal in helping us figure out the best theories of what’s to come for him. Re-integration and perhaps the most complex love-pentagon any of us have every seen will undoubtedly take a toll on our boy and I’m pretty concerned about his reintegration being found out by Lumon. I’m even more concerned about how the hell he is gonna work things out with Helly R/Helena Eagan and Ms. Casey/Gemma (not to mention the fact he has 2 consciousnesses to sort out too). When he glitched out in the middle of the birds and the bees I couldn’t believe Helly didn’t notice that sign of re-integration. For now, I’m just relieved it was a minor hiccup and Mark had the wherewithal to continue to let nature run its course while he sealed the deal with her.
Now for the main event – Irving B. Where do I start? I want this man’s number retired. I want this man to have statues erected in his likeness across the world. He should be immortalized… and I’m not playing. Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Irving B – end of list. Irv went from a no-questions-asked, rule-following Lumon puppet to a brave, heroic martyr who wasn’t afraid of Lumon and was willing to (for all intent and purposes) DIE just to bring back Helly R and expose the truth to his friends.
It was no secret that Irv was onto Helly from the start this season, but it coming to a head so quickly really gets me excited. The pace of Severance is perfect – and the fact that it seems to be moving more quickly than season 1 makes me believe we’re just getting started this time around. I’m fully expecting the remaining episodes to feel like a dead sprint to a somehow BIGGER cliffhanger than season 1. When Irv asked Helly point blank about the “night gardener” she saw, we all sat up a little straighter and locked in a little harder than we already were. Irv was not leaving that retreat without answers, and I couldn’t be prouder of this character we’ve all come to adore. From bootlicker to spearheading the rebellion – Irving B is that dude.
The final scenes of this 4th episode were a mini-version of the dead sprint I’m anticipating for the rest of Season 2. Irving sleeping in the forest and having that dream to finally put 2 and 2 together about his suspicion towards Helly was a great moment. “Helly was never cruel”… bars. “YES, DO IT, SETH”… BARS. No, I’m not sure how Irving didn’t snag himself a Grammy last week.
Irv breaking Helena and forcing Milchick/Lumon to bring Helly back was poetry in motion. What a send off for Irv’s beloved innie… a self-sacrifice to give his friends a chance. RIP King, now finish what you started in the outside world! I think we’re all holding out hope that innie Irving B comes back somehow, but I’m treating last night as our goodbye to him. His outie has clearly been working on some important shit, so this “death” will move the needle a ton in terms of plot development. Looking ahead to next week, I’m expecting a heavy dose of outies – there’s way too much turmoil going on outside the walls of the severed floor to let it sit another episode. My general predictions:
- Not that much time with Irving B next ep (if any). Let us sit with this ending and mourn him a little longer – they say distance makes the heart grow fonder and I think that plays here. Maybe they give us a little taste of Irv at the tail end of episode 5
- Mark grapples with reintegration on the outside (and inside?). I think we’re pretty due for some Devon time now that Mark’s outie is fully invested. Those two need to start connecting some dots ASAP. I wonder if he still has separate consciousness – if so, I could see him grappling with his 2 selves over which version of him gets their way. This is a season-long struggle though, not expecting quick resolution to this.
- Dylan G innie > Dylan G outie is going to be on full display more and more in the eps to come. Outie Dylan doesn’t know how good he has it and his innie is gonna either win the battle for existence or at least somehow inspire change within outie Dylan. That said, innie Dylan is about to go NUTS after watching his best friend get removed from existence. Expecting confrontation everytime he so much as smells Milchick.
- Helly/Helena… how long is Helly R gonna be allowed to stick around? In my eyes she never comes back again because based on logic, how could Lumon risk something so dangerous to its existence. BUT she is currently back, so I don’t expect her to immediately get ripped away from us and MDR. Hard to predict here because literally anything could happen. I’ll settle on her getting REALLY pissed at her outie and also being MDR’s best asset aside from Irv going forward… but again, I can’t figure out Lumon’s logic for allowing her to continue.
As I type these predictions, I keep finding myself thinking “well IF this happens, this would be my prediction”. I’m also starving so I’m calling it here. Excited to look back and see how close any of these predictions end up. Intentionally making them pretty broad because I need to get back to picking winners. If you made it this far – thank you for reading. Tag me in tweets about Severance or let me know what predictions you have for the rest of this season – would love to discuss.
Last note – eyes PEELED for every little detail from here out. So much foreshadowing and little clues hidden everywhere in this show: