Severance Ep 4 Recap. “The YOU YOU ARE”
All I can be is sorry and that is all I am.
We Meet Helly where we left her, staring into what must be a really hot light and reading the compunction statement. It’s 5:15, and as we walk Helly out to the elevator, I get my hopes up for us to meet outtie Helly again and maybe spend more time with her but they are swiftly dashed as we meet Helly right back at the elevator but in different clothes(One day, we will talk about Helly’s work fashions, which I kinda like. Maybe power rank her outfits, don’t hold me to that). We go right back to the Break Room.
Mark hides Petey’s old cellphone in a box before he heads out to work. He is in a bathroom looking over at the map that Petey left him, then he heads back into MDR, where we get an appearance from Burt while Dylan hilariously brandishes a stapler to defend the team. Burt came to MDR to drop unreleased tote bags. Is this like getting unreleased sneakers? It’s probably the same feeling for Irv. Wonder if Irv’s outtie is a sneaker head.
Burt leaves reverse directions to Optics and Design on the tote bags and in a feat of desert level THIRST, he immediately makes his way to O&D. He meets Burt and they get to fanboying over Kier art. In a tender moment, they quote scripture(that’s essentially what the handbook is) to each other, and hold hands over the painting. I had no expectations of romance in this show, but they’re people after all, the only thing that was taken away was past memories. Lumon provides somethings for severed people, food, shelter, purpose to an extent, “wellness” if you can call it that, and in some cases friendship. Love?? That’s an entirely different thing, I wonder how this show will deal with that going forward. Also, I would like more info on how that lady got pregnant on a severed floor.
On his way back, Irving discovers a book, “The You You Are”, while in the office Helly finds the map Petey left and confronts him about it leading him about being a hypocrite which leads to the mark shredding the map. Irving burst in and alerts the team about the book.
Helly finds a paper cutter, and threatens to cut her fingers off if she does not get a meeting with her outtie. I really thought after the break room, Helly would chill out. Repentance does not mean you are done with sin. Helly is most certainly not broken and that makes me wonder about how the other team members and other severed staff adjusted to hell.
Helly returns quickly with a different recording to her innie, where she says some frankly disturbing stuff that echoes what work can feel like in our world. There’s a dirty underbelly to work in a capitalist world, that asks many people to exists for no other purpose than to work and just like in severance we hide those people where its comfortable for us, where we cannot see them with very little options to get out of that system. It’s another brilliant Britt Lawer scene, the determination we see in her on the inside manifests in a different way on the outside but it’s still her.
Cobel summons her wile and makes her way to Petey’s funeral and she runs into Mark who she claims as her “date”. Maybe I’m crazy but does Cobel want to fuck Mark?? Probably just to gain even more access. It’s probably just me.
Mark meets Petey’s ex- wife and daughter and gets scolded about severance. Cobel goes into the other room to retrieve Petey’s Chip, while a touchin video of Petey and June playing and Singing enter Sandman descends into some sort of anxiety attack for Mark.
Mark drives out to a tree late at night, I think I may be missing something, but did his wife crash into that tree or something??
We get into the final moments of the episode back at Lumon, Cobel recommends wellness for Mark after the funeral. Irv and Burt meet again and clear up whatever misunderstanding happened in O&D. They walk and talk about their shared passion. Kier. Rooting hard for these two.Innie Mark is up to chapter 9 of Rickon’s book(or did he just skip) and encounters some interesting anti work sentiments.
We end out Severed adventures today with Crosscuts across what our four friends are doing, Mark is in the wellness center, sculpting what looks like a treeman to depict how he feels at the moment, while being treated to the scent of Gemma’s Candle, Irving thirsty as ever makes his way back to O&D and discovers there is a lot more to O&D than he’s been told. I knew they wouldn’t just throw Christopher Walken in here for vibes. All of this while we get a voiceover of Dylan reading Ricken’s not so bad poem called Destiny. Helly?? Helly is relentless and now even in the face of her outties threat’s she will seemingly stop at nothing to get out, even if it possibly means death.
I don’t think Helly is dead, that would be drastic and I’m not sure where that would send the show, I think she intends to scare her outtie, but the elevator door is not closed and I don’t think she pused any buttons so I would not be surprised if she turns up dead. This only raises my interest in the question of what got her here? I’ve said this in pretty much all my recaps and I’ll say it again, I want to get time with the other outties. PLEASE.
Something, I’ve been thinking about a little with this show is personality, my understanding is memories get erased but personality and concepts don’t. That’s why Helly knows American states but does not know her moms name, it’s why Irv and Dylan know what Muscle shows and muscle groups are and why Dylan knows what a MILF is. Concepts stay with you and seemingly so does your personality, Mark is kinda the same person on the inside and out, gentle, mostly softspoken and a little cheerier inside. Helly’s determination to get out is probably what keeps her coming back, the show has a lot of runway to play with these Ideas and I’m very excited to see where it takes us with them.
Bits and Bobs
259 readings yesterday.
What’s that voice?
We’re back to the vibrating phone w blocked calls
Office mark is looking at the map
The office banter is still hereeeee. Dylan fucking kills me
How many Times? 1072
My outtie’s love made with a MILF or two
If you want a hug, go to hell and find your mother
Vision. Verve. Wit. Cheer. humility. benevolence. Nimbleness. Probity. Wiles.WILES.
Does Cobel/Selvig have an actual shop??? What is a hibiscus wrap?
If possible I would kill for like 2 30minute workplace sitcom episodes of this show, the show has the comedic chops to pull it off. The streaming era is as good a time as ever to mess with the structure of a show and the nature of an episode. PLEASEEE I need it.
