Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for Severance season 2, episode 9.Severanceseason 2 manages to bounce back from last week’s episode with a solid hour that feels very much like the calm before the storm. The new episode continued one of the very few elements I found to be interesting fromSeveranceseason 2, episode 8. While I have no problem with slower episodes, andSeveranceis a show that is not meant to be action-packed by any means, I felt like last week’s episode was simply boring, no matter how you put it. The idea of doing a bottle episode about Cobel so late into the season was confusing.
I understand the ending’s major reveals were where the team behind the sci-fi series wanted to arrive, and I did find the twist that Cobel was the one who created severance and many Lumon procedures exciting. However, the rest of the episode was severely lacking. Aside from how Cobel is revealed to know everything about Lumon, I was excited by her decision to pick up Devon’s call and how she was set on revenge against the Eagans alongside Devon and Mark. This part of episode 8 is nicely expanded bySeveranceseason 2’s latest entry.
Dylan And Irving Face Intriguing Developments
Episode 9 Has Compelling Side Stories
Severanceseason 2’s penultimate episode focuses on Cobel, Mark, and Devon. However, it still has more than enough time to touch base with other important characters, and I quite liked how their stories played out. Among the minor players whose storylines developed were Miss Huang and Mr. Milchick. The first got to the end of her Wintertide Fellowship, the same program Cobel had gone through when she was young. I was surprised by how the show never revealed much about Huang, only to seemingly send her away on a Lumon bus.
Milchick is getting erratic as we go into the season 2 finale, and I want to see how unpredictable that makes him.
As for Mr. Milchick, I enjoyed how his story in episode 9 is about reclaiming power. He is one of the show’s most fascinating players, as he tries to follow Lumon’s rules but is clearly against some of the things they make him do. Not in a way that helps others, but a self-serving one. I’m a fan of having Milchick break throughout the episode. He starts by celebrating that Huang is going away in a more contained manner, but later in the episode, he tells the scary Mr. Drummond to “eat sh*t” to his face.
Milchick is getting erratic as we go into the season finale, and I want to see how unpredictable that makes him. As for Dylan and Irving, their stories were of a romantic nature. Ever since they met, I have known that Gretchen and Dylan’s Innie were destined to kiss, and that would complicate things with her husband. However, I was still heartbroken all the same when she inevitably cut off the blossoming relationship. Burt’s darker side was revealed, and he did work for Lumon, as many theorized. That said, him letting Irving go showed their love got to their Outies.
Severance Sets Up The Season 2 Finale With An Unconventional Alliance
Anything Can Happen In The Next Episode
Episode 8 ended with Cobel picking up Devon’s call after having ignored her throughout the episode. That set up her meeting with Devon and Mark in episode 9, and their dynamic was as interesting as one would have expected it to be. The mystery surrounding Cold Harbor, the only room Gemma still had to enter in episode 7 and the project Mark had been working on, gained a very interesting update this week. According to Cobel, if Mark had finished it, that would mean that Gemma was already dead. However, there is only one way to know.
Mark has been going through a season-long arc of reintegration with the hope that it will lead him to his wife.
WhileSeveranceseason 1 did a great job of separating the characters' Outies and Innies, season 2 fully dived into the connections of both sides of the same person. Helena pretended to be Helly and fooled the others. Dylan G. started an affair with his Outie’s wife. Irving’s Innie was killed while his Outie found Burt on the outside. Finally, Mark has been going through a season-long arc of reintegration with the hope it will lead him to his wife. I loved how episode 9’s ending hits the throttle with its use of Mark S.
With Dylan choosing to quit and going into the elevator, there is a chance that he is now “dead” like Irving.
When Mark enters the mysterious cabin Cobel takes him and Devon to, he turns into his Innie. This is a genius situation that could lead to an explosive finale. They now have a way to talk directly to Mark’s Innie without needing Lumon to know. However, I’m curious to see if they can jump by a major hurdle first, as Mark S. is now face-to-face with Cobel for the first time since he found out she was lying about who she was to his Outie and that Gemma was his wife. The finale should prove itself revealing.
Severanceseason 2 episodes stream on Apple TV+ every Friday through March 21.
Severance
Severance is a psychological thriller series featuring Adam Scott as Mark Scout, an employee at Lumon Industries who undergoes a “severance” procedure to separate his work and personal memories. However, as work and life personas mysteriously begin to collide, it quickly becomes clear that not all is as it seems. Created by Dan Erickson and directed by Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle.
