Severance season 2 is a completely terrific installment, however there are few episodes that I take into account to be my favourite than its most up-to-date one, aka ‘Attila’. One of the very best Apple TV+ reveals has carried out very properly this yr, drawing in new followers and beating Ted Lasso to grow to be probably the most streamed Apple TV+ collection and it is easy to see why. When you will have episodes nearly as good as this one, it makes you lengthy for extra reveals of this caliber.
‘Attila’ was wall-to-wall character growth when it got here to the macrodata refinement crew (MDR) – certainly, a lot occurred that it was arduous to recap every part, however I’ve managed to seize an important moments. We’ve obtained affairs, an ungainly reunion between Burt and Irving, and reintegration gone incorrect – and that is not even the complete story! Here’s my spoiler-filled Severance season 2 episode 6 recap…
Milchick’s disturbing monologue
Following on from Milchick’s disastrous efficiency assessment in Severance season 2 episode 5, we simply witnessed a brand new disturbing aspect to the severed flooring supervisor. He’s clearly been humiliated by the Lumon higher-ups, who flagged issues like “makes use of too many large phrases” and “makes use of paperclips incorrectly”, which is micromanagement of the very best stage. It’s no shock Milchick is embarrassed and, though he hasn’t mentioned explicitly, it is clear there’s some pressure between him and Ms. Huang who, as ‘Attila’ reveals, he assumes reported all these items to Lumo’s human sources (HR) crew.
After calling Ms. Huang into his workplace, he reprimands her and reminds her that she will solely graduate from her fellowship as soon as he has deemed her Wintertide materials. Like many issues in Severance, what Wintertide truly is stays a thriller, however it’s clear that the younger worker can not advance with out Milchick’s assist, and he isn’t above utilizing that as a weapon towards her.
He informs her he is taking the break day however, later, we see him standing in entrance of a mirror (in a Lumon storeroom) the place he berates himself by repeating the phrases “You should develop up” again and again. In certainly one of my earlier Severance season 2 theories items, I steered Lumon could also be a cult of kinds and Milchick’s obsessive habits actually backs up that declare.
Is this classed as dishonest?
Severance season 2 has launched an intriguing new idea: dishonest with an individual’s ‘outie’. It’s sufficient to offer you a headache, actually, however keep in mind, the severance process splits an individual’s consciousness, so a severed worker’s ‘innie’ will likely be very completely different from their real-life persona. It’s successfully two separate folks sharing the identical physique, and there are positively some ethical points that include that.
Dylan G and Gretchen are a major instance of this. On the skin, Dylan’s ‘outie’ shouldn’t be solely married to her, however they’ve kids. His innie self is technically not her husband, both, as he has no reminiscence of her till they’re launched in Severance season 2 episode 3 – a by-product of the Outie Visitation Suite that Milchick set as much as particularly hold Dylan G onside in Severance season 2 episode 1. We know Milchick has performed this after Dylan G by chance discovered he had a household when the additional time contingency (OTC) briefly awakened his ‘innie’ on the skin world. Dylan loves work perks and Milchick could not consider a greater one than giving him restricted entry to his personal spouse. It’s very sadistic and has fashioned certainly one of this season’s most intriguing subplots.
As this season has progressed, we have discovered Gretchen is sad with ‘outie’ Dylan and is rising nearer to her husband’s alternate self, an expertise that should be extremely complicated. In this episode, they kiss and specific that they get pleasure from spending time collectively, which may have big penalties for outie Dylan.
An identical theme was explored with Mark and Helly. In season 2 episode 5, Mark slept with who he thought was Helly however, in actual fact, it was her outie Helena pretending to be her. Helena used the corporate’s secret Glasgow Block course of, which permits the consciousness of the outie to be awoken on the severed flooring. With Mark and Helly feeling used and lied to, they comply with sneak off at Lumon and have intercourse once more, with Helly claiming she “needed her personal reminiscence”, not Helena’s. There are some sophisticated affairs happening right here at Lumon, and it was solely a matter of time earlier than office romances obtained actually sophisticated.
This is made worse when Helena continues to stalk outie Mark, discovering him in a restaurant and making an attempt to guarantee him that Lumon is “being higher.” After the disastrous season 1 finale, it appears she’ll do something to salvage the corporate.
An awkward banquet
Burt doubtlessly being a villain was not on my 2025 bingo card. However, when Irving’s ‘outie’ met Burt’s ‘outie’ for dinner in episode 6, he was very completely different from the person we would seen at Lumon. Something’s happening with him, particularly as we noticed Lumon’s senior worker, Mr. Drummond, rifling via Irving’s issues whereas he was away having a meal with Burt. In my colleague Tom Power’s Severance season 2 episode 6 theories article, he steered that Burt may’ve orchestrated the break-in with Drummond, and I’ll be so devastated if he seems to be a villain. The sophisticated office romances proceed, and as Christopher Walken mentioned on the Severance podcast, this dinner is mainly “introducing your husband to your boyfriend”. Yeah, that is awkward.
You’ll keep in mind that ‘innie’ Irving and ‘innie’ Burt had been beginning to fall in love earlier than Burt was compelled to retire from Lumon. Well, it seems ‘outie’ Burt has a husband named Fields, which simply made issues much more complicated. During dinner, Fields appears bitter about it, drinks plenty of wine, and blurts out that Burt has seemingly labored at Lumon for 20 years. However, Irving clocks that the primary severed workplace solely opened 12 years in the past, so how is that potential? Something’s not proper right here.
This whole dinner scene was one of the awkward issues I’ve seen on TV this yr and I’m determined to see what occurs subsequent.
A second try at reintegration
Reintegration sounds extremely harmful. The course of, which sees an individual’s ‘innie’ and ‘outie’ mixed to make them an entire particular person once more, appears to be the one method for quisitive Lumon employees (*cough* Mark *cough*) to find what Lumon is absolutely as much as. So far, reintegration has solely led to catastrophe, with Mark’s former colleague Petey dropping lifeless in season 1 after the method overwhelmed his mind.
Mark, determined to search out out the reality about his spouse Gemma, has agreed to crew up with Reghabi, a former Lumon worker who additionally put in Mark’s chip, to hopefully reintegrate him efficiently. Reghabi has gone rogue and needs to take Lumon down, so she’s agreed, however episode 6’s cliffhanger ending noticed Mark having a seizure, his destiny left unknown.
Will Mark efficiently reintegrate? Or has Reghabi’s experimental process simply induced extra hurt than good? Hopefully we cannot have to attend for a solution, however I get the sensation that the present’s subsequent episode will go away us hanging…
