Severance drills down on relationships as the Innies, Outies and Others all explore what they mean to each other. The result is a slow episode where every moment counts. Of all the episodes this season, "Attila" may be the one most lacking in plot momentum. It's also one of the best.
That's because the relationships we're talking about are really interesting and played by really great actors. The simplest, if you can call any relationship on this show simple, is the one between Mark and Helly, who's now returned to the severed floor. Mark and she have been making moon eyes at each other since the middle of the first season, and although "Woe's Hollow" threw a serious wrench into their courtship, Mark has moved past that block and tells Helly what happened during the retreat in Episode 204.
Now it's her turn to feel adrift and betrayed. Helly's conflict is so interesting because she's the only Innie who actively hates her Outie. Dylan G. wants to think the best of Dylan George. Mark S. and Mark Scout could probably get along. But Helly wants to purge Helena from this world, and is disgusted that she "stole her body" to have sex with Mark. I don't think Helly feels jealous of Helena; I think she feels violated.
She regains her sense of autonomy by having her own sexual encounter with Mark, and it's very sweet. The two are like high school lovebirds, smiling and holding hands and making out in the halls. I'm rooting for them, which probably means they're in danger. After all, if Mark is spending time with Helly he's probably not working on Cold Harbor, and the newly motivated Mr. Milchick may not like that.
If the relationship between Mark S. and Helly is too sweet for words, the one between Mark Scout and Helena is twisted beyond belief. Helena conveniently shows up at a restaurant where Mark is eating and chats him up. She's talking to him on the pretense of apologizing for the overtime contingency incident at the end of season 1, but it's pretty clear that she's into him. She smiles, makes jokes, and flirts, and I am very uncomfortable. We already knew that Helena was willing to cross lines when she slept with Mark S. How far is she willing to push things?
I was also horrified to see that Mark seemed to be flirting back, at least until Helena brings up Gemma and he turns to stone. He remembers why he's trying to reintegrate himself and heads back home to Reghabi, insisting that they continue the process. It works almost immediately, and Mark ends the episode on the floor of his home with a worried Devon hovering over him. Part of me wants to complain that it's taken awhile for the reintegration plotline to get off the ground, but the show has given us plenty to chew on while it ramps up, so I shut that part of me up.
Love shapes
Is Mark S. in a love triangle with Helly and Helena? Or is it a love square now that Mark Scout is involved? Hard to say. But we definitely have a triangle with Dylan G., his Outie Dylan George, and his wife Gretchen.
Dylan is the most brash and boastful of the Innies, so it's been very touching to watch these intimate visits with Gretchen, who sees something in Dylan G. that isn't there in her husband. We visit her home later and learn that Dylan George is apparently thinking about buying one or more new cars even though the family is strapped for cash. If my partner was contemplating doing something so stupid, my eye would probably wander too.
Is it cheating for Gretchen to kiss Dylan? With Helly and Helena, there is a clear division between Innie and Outie; besides both liking Mark, they couldn't be more different. But Dylan G. seems to think of himself as an appendage of his Outie. When Gretchen told him about her husband's struggle to hold down a job, Dylan G. was disappointed, like it reflected badly on him. In this episode, he hears about Dylan George flitting from interest to interest and says he's probably just trying to find out what he's great at; because Dylan George is him, and he wants to have a good reason for doing the things he does.
So...is it cheating when the lines between Innie Dylan and Outie Dylan are blurred? I actually don't know, but I know my eyes went wide when they locked lips. Everyone is crossing new personal boundaries in this episode.
Severance review: season 2, Episode 6, "Attila"
But somehow the highlight of the episode is Irving Bailiff's visit to the home of Burt Goodman and his husband Fields. These two have been together so long that they've developed little in-jokes, like calling each other "Attila"; they used to call each other "hun" and things snowballed from there. They feel like a real couple in their golden years...but this is Severance, so there are a couple of weird twists.
We find out that Burt worked at Lumon for many years, which throws up some red flags. We have yet to meet anybody at Lumon management who isn't working some kind of very creepy plan. Was Burt's presence on the severed floor part of that? I can't help but notice that he seems to have a very nice home, much fancier than Dylan George's humble row house. Did Lumon pay him more than it did the normal severed grunts, and if so, why?
If we believe the story Fields tells us, Burt was inspired to undergo the severance procedure after hearing a sermon about severed people at the couple's Lutheran church. The plan, which at least Fields seems to be taking entirely seriously, was to sever Burt so that some part of him could get into heaven; he'd been too much of a scoundrel in his youth for it to happen naturally.
So Burt and Fields are trying to make an end run around Christian dogma, which is weird on its face. Irving seems to think so too, although Burt lightens the tension with a joke. Does that mean Burt doesn't subscribe to the religion of Kier, which seems so widespread at Lumon? Honestly, I was a little surprised to hear that other religions even exist. We spend so much time with the hermetically sealed Innies and the Kier-worshipping Outies that I almost forgot this show was set in our own world.
What's clear is that Burt G.'s connection with Irving B. on the severed floor has caused pain in Burt's marriage. Fields believes that Innies deserve love, and he hopes whatever happened between Burt G. and Irving B. was "beautiful." But you get the idea that he's fighting the tears to get that out.
You also get the idea that Burt may not take his marriage as seriously as his husband. He wants a chance to spend some time alone with Irving, and there's something predatory about the way he watches Irving walk to his car. Even after all these decades, no one can stand in a doorway and glower menacingly like Christopher Walken. Burt Goodman feels very different from our innocent Burt G.
I said it before and I'll say it again: relatively little happens in "Attila," but I think it was my favorite episode of the season so far. We were really marinating in the juices in this one. It moved with the slow sure confidence of a show that knows exactly where it's going.
Severance Bullet Points
- We get a quick scene of Lumon security chief Mr. Drummond — identifiable by the "frolic" tattoo on his hand — leafing through a list of severed employees, including Dylan George. Why? Unknown.
- Milchick, stinging from his performance review last episode, looks at himself in the mirror and says "Grow up" over and over. I don't know what Milchick's damage is but I know he creeps me out.
- I didn't expect a jazzy version of Cream's "Sunshine Of Your Love" to play over the credits but I can't say I didn't enjoy hearing it.
Episode Grade: A-
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