Severance season 2 episode 2 recap and review: “Goodbye, Mrs. Selvig”

In last week’s episode of departure, we only saw one side of the equation. We spent the entire Season 2 premiere within the fluorescent confines of Lumon’s Severed Floor. This week – as I suspected – the coin flipped. In ‘Goodbye Mrs Selvig’ we spend the entire episode in the world of the Outies.

Spoilers ahead.

In Episode 2, we get moments after the events of the Season 1 finale. The Outies of Mark S. (Adam Scott), Helly R. (Britt Lower), Dylan G. (Zach Cherry) and Irving B. (John Turturro) they are all back to themselves. Lumon, meanwhile, is trying to figure out how to do better damage control.

We learn very quickly that Milkchick (Tramell Tillman) was lying to Mark when he told him that five months had passed and that Macrodata Refiners had become the “face” of the Severance reform movement. No one outside of Lumon learned anything about the Overtime Contingent. Helena Egan even makes a short video that she sends to Lumon employees and others who attended the gala explaining that she mixed a prescription drug (from a non-Lumon facility!) with alcohol and it impaired her judgment, leading to her ill-advise. “joke.”

Meanwhile, by the time Milchick tells Mark S. that it’s been months, it’s actually only been a weekend. This becomes even more apparent when the new MDR employees are fired and we see Mark W threatening to sue Lumon as he is escorted off the premises as Mark Scout enters the building.

Lumon’s damage control is interesting for several reasons:

• Milchick rides his motorcycle to Dylan and Irving’s houses and fires them both. Neither takes the news well. Milchick doesn’t explain the rationale to Irving at all, and tells Dylan that he was the “aggressor” in a physical altercation at work—leaving out the important details, obviously.
• Milchick yes NO fire Mark, however. Instead, he encourages her to get back to work, first at the home of Mark’s sister Devon (Jen Tullock) and her husband Ricken (Michael Chernus) and then when he brings a gift basket—with a pineapple for drink – at Mark’s house. and offers him a raise.
• For whatever reason, Lumon needs the sign. And it’s about a mysterious project codenamed Cold Harbor. We don’t get much more information than that, but it’s clear that Mark’s presence is essential to the completion of this very important, very secretive project, while Dylan and Irving are considered expendable.

Of course, it turns out that’s not exactly true. Mark S has such a fit that they decide to bring back both men as well as Helly R, although at this point I think it’s safe to say that everyone is wondering if it’s really Helly R or her “Outie” having considering the lies she told. in last week’s episode. We also see some footage of Helena Egan watching security footage of Helly R and Mark S’s interactions, almost as if she’s trying to understand how her “Innie” operates and learn the dynamics of the relationship between her and her co-workers. What’s so interesting about this is not only that she’s probably doing research on how to act down there, but the fact that she looks almost sad as she watches, as if the romance between Helly R and Mark S looks sweet. Maybe as an Egan and a powerful corporate owner in her own right, she had no time for such frivolities.

We also see what Mrs. Cobel is doing in the outside world. Or should I call her Mrs. Selvig? Ricken suggests “Cobelvig” as a useful nomenclature. O Ricken, never change. She is offered a new position at Lumon in charge of the division’s affairs, but she does not want it. She wants to be back in charge of the Severed Floor. She tells Helena she’ll think about it, but when Mark runs into her outside their townhouse, she’s clearly leaving town. When she finds out he’s going back to Lumon, she asks if their return offer “included a pineapple,” which is hilarious. She also makes fun of him for being so easily swayed.

When he confronts her about Gemma (Dichen Lachman), however, she remains silent. He crushes her on the spot and she screams, driving her car at him and forcing him to swerve. It’s a clear admission that yes, this all involves his dead wife, who may not actually be dead.

This is a truth that Mark Scout doesn’t want to accept for most of the episode. When he and his sister and Riken are talking earlier in the episode, they all agree that his Innie must refer to the baby that Mrs. Selvig had left behind when she ran away from home earlier that evening. Only Devon seems to doubt it. Ricken is obedient, but Ricken is a fool. Mark – who has spent two years grieving and making peace with his loss – simply cannot accept the possibility that somehow his wife is alive and has been kidnapped by Lumon. When he meets Devon for dinner, he becomes extremely defensive when she presses the point.

When he storms out, we see Drummond (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) sitting at a nearby table listening to everything. Clearly, Lumon wants to find out what they know inside and outside the Severed Floor. (I knew Ólafsson from Eurovision Song Contest, in which his character really wanted to hear – over and over – Ya Ya Ding Dong. This is a very different role).

Beyond all that, we learn a little more about Dylan and Irving. Dylan, we’re not entirely surprised to learn, is having a hard time finding a new job. He has a disastrous – but extremely awkward – interview at a door manufacturer called Great Doors (like the big ones out, I guess) where the interviewer, played by Adrian Martinez who looks almost like Dylan’s twin, turns out to have very strong and very negative. feelings about the dismissal procedure.

Meanwhile Irving goes to a phone to make a mysterious call. A car pulls up and someone looks inside. A moment later we see who it is: Burt (Christopher Walken) who looks at Irving with a very curious expression on his face. Something strange is happening.

Anyway, this was another great episode Leaving work. It’s interesting to see everything from Innie’s perspective last week, and then see how events unfold from the outside this week, especially because it shows how duplicitous and manipulative Lumon is when it comes to their treatment of Innie. We’ve got plenty of mysteries to devour: What’s going on with Helly R? What’s going on with Burt? What on earth is going on with Mrs. Casey / Gemma? And what is Cold Harbor, exactly? Oh, and where is Mrs. Cobelvig going, and is she really leaving Lumon despite her zeal and religious devotion to Kier?

Lots to think about over the next week as we wait for Episode 3! What did you think of this week’s episode?

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