Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Severance Season 2 Episode 6.
Last week’s installment of Severance was a major episode for everyone inside Lumon’s creepy halls. Milchick’s (Tramell Tillman) performance review went about as well as expected, Dylan G. (Zach Cherry) discovered Irving B.’s (John Turturro) directions to the Exports Hall, Mark S. (Adam Scott) and Helly R. (Britt Lower) were at odds, and Irving’s outie earned the privilege of a dinner date with Burt (Christopher Walken) and his husband Fields (John Noble). There are many potential points of entry for Episode 6, “Attila,” but we enter it with Mark Scout recounting his vivid recollection of Gemma/Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman) to Dr. Reghabi (Karen Aldridge). His talk with Gemma “didn’t feel human, it felt like a nightmare,” Mark says, before asking why his wife was “rattling off a bunch of facts.” “All I know is she’s essential,” Dr. Reghabi replies. Mark discusses the bargaining stage of grief, where one would do anything to bring someone back into their life, “but for me, it might actually happen,” he realizes.
The episode cuts to Dylan G. describing Irving’s sketch to Mark and Helly as “a black hallway with a black elevator that only goes down.” Mark and Helly surmise that Lumon must be keeping Ms. Casey on a lower floor, and Dylan notes that there were directions… and that he left it behind the poster in the Break Room, because he doesn’t want to get in trouble right now, presumably so he doesn’t run the risk of losing out on those visits with his outie’s wife, Gretchen (Merritt Wever). Helly volunteers to collect it, clarifying whether “it’s behind the poster of [him] actually being brave,” but Dylan just walks out, and Mark isn’t willing to commit to a search. “Did everyone sever their balls in the elevator this morning?” Helly exclaims, but Mark is too hungry for a retort. When he opens the fridge, his vision warps between rows of Lumon-approved snacks and his outie’s stash at home.
Mark Fesses Up in ‘Severance’ Season 2 Episode 6

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Milchick is pensively sitting in his office when Miss Huang (Sarah Bock) enters. When she asks about his performance review, he replies that “many valid concerns were raised, which I look forward to addressing.” Before Miss Huang can leave, Milchick turns in his chair and gets serious. “I feel I should remind you,” he says, “you cannot graduate from this fellowship until I have deemed you Wintertide material. This will mean: using your time well, focusing on your own duties, and eradicating from your essence childish folly.” She says she understands, and Milchick notes that he’ll be otherwise occupied today and asks her to keep an eye on the severed floor… from her desk. Her face drops, though she thanks him.
Huddled in conversation inside a Lumon bathroom stall, Helly and Mark have moved on to discussing Milchick’s elevator threats. “They’re trying to intimidate us, divide us,” she surmises, while Mark tries to get a sentence out. “It’s so that we won’t work together, because they know what will happen if we do.” Mark finally fesses up to what Milchick had been threatening him with: “Helly, we shared vessels.” Understandably, she doesn’t comprehend his meaning, so he clarifies, just as awkwardly: “We had, uh, sex.” She takes it in stride, thinking he’s referencing Ms. Casey, but when Mark clarifies that it was Helena, Helly’s expression changes. “It’s probably another tactic, something to drive a wedge between us,” she muses before declaring her need to go on a walk and leaving Mark in the bathroom alone.
Milchick works alone in the darkened supply closet with a massive stack of papers and a jar of paperclips; his performance review is clearly still weighing on his mind. Meanwhile, Dylan G. and Gretchen are having another meeting in the Outie Family Visitation Suite, where he’s trying to guess the first date she had with his outie (it was Thai food). Despite his incorrect guess of “scuba,” Gretchen admits that his outie did take scuba lessons — but also that he’s “had a lot of phases,” including woodworking. Dylan’s assessment is that his outie must want to find something he excels in, but Gretchen outwardly admits that she wonders if he’s “just not happy.” Dylan has a hard time believing that since he’s always happy to be with her. “I wish we could really be together, all the time,” he confesses, a statement Gretchen seems confused by at first. When Dylan asks if they can try hugging again, Gretchen agrees, and the two embrace warmly at first before hugging turns into kissing.
Milchick Gives Himself a Pep Talk in ‘Severance’ Season 2 Episode 6

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Back with the rest of MDR, Helly’s curled up in a corner of Lumon’s infinitely white hallways while Mark stares blankly at a computer. While Gretchen and Dylan G. smooch, Mark and Helly reflect on their own intimate moments, and there’s a verifiable makeout montage before Helly and Mark rendezvous in the hallway. Helly’s decided that she’s mostly mad that Helena used her body and stole that experience, but then rattles off a laundry list of why she’s angry with her outie — “that she used me to trick my friends, used my body to get close to you, that she dresses me in the morning like I’m a baby. That she controls me, and this company, and all of us. It’s disgusting.” Mark asks if she wants to know what happened at the ORTBO, but Helly doesn’t want Helena’s memory of having sex with Mark; she wants her own. “Would you like that?” she asks. “Yeah, I’d like that,” he shyly replies, “but how?” Helly takes him to an office full of unused, plastic-covered desks: “Ta da, a tent.” They crawl under one, excited but nervous as they start to kiss, disrobe, and make their own intimate moment — together.
We return to Milchick, who has finished paperclipping so many papers that his hands are shaking. Rereading his performance review, he focuses on the criticism that he “uses too many big words.” He turns on a light, looks into a mirror hidden at the back of a shelf, and repeats what he said to Miss Huang into it. “You must eradicate from your essence childish folly. You must eradicate from yourself childish folly. You must abandon childish things,” he tells himself with increasing anger. “You must grow up. You must grow up.” Each phrase becomes simpler and angrier before being reduced to repetitions of “Grow!”
Mark and Helly are glowing as they walk down the hallway, having had a much better day than Milchick. “Was it different with me?” she asks, and Mark only answers her with a kiss before both of them realize his nose is bleeding. After they go to get him examined by Miss Huang, she asks if Helly punched him. “Not today,” Helly replies. After a few more questions about his symptoms, Mark suddenly phases back home as his outie under Dr. Reghabi’s care. “Are you at Lumon or in your basement with me?” Reghabi asks. Mark can’t remember. Reghabi points out that the crossover memory is a good sign, especially such a recent one. She wants to “flood” his severance chip to speed reintegration along by way of the pre-existing hole in his head, but Mark, frustrated and disoriented, storms out to find something to eat.

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Outside Lumon’s walls, Irving waits nervously in his car before his dinner date with Burt and Fields. When he finally knocks on the door, Burt pretends not to know who Irving is… he kids! Irv’s first meeting with Fields is cordial but odd: the old husbands call each other “Attila” and Fields teases Burt about “feeding him a pile of loose corn.” “What your innie ever saw in this Philistine is beyond me,” Fields says before shaking Irv’s hand, who apologizes for the earlier disruption at their house during the Overtime Contingency. “Nonsense,” Fields replies. “What’s mine’s yours,” he says, before peering over to Burt.
As the three sit down for dinner, Burt curiously explains that Jesus led him to Lumon. After Burt’s earlier, wild years, Fields asked if Burt thought he was going to heaven… and knew the answer was no, so the two eventually sought out a Lutheran church. That day’s sermon happened to be on severance, and the pastor explained that innies were considered to be complete and separate individuals with individual souls that could go to heaven separately, prompting Burt to become severed so his innie could spend the afterlife in heaven with Fields. While they’re having this conversation, Drummond (Ólafur Darrl Ólafsson) breaks into Irving’s apartment. Meanwhile, at their apartment, Dylan’s outie asks Gretchen about how her latest visit to Lumon went, and she lies and says it was canceled.
Mark Scout, Meet Helena Eagan in ‘Severance’ Season 2 Episode 6

Image via Apple TV+

Now sitting at a Chinese restaurant, Mark has just finished a massive amount of food before he glances up and spots Helena Eagan sitting at a nearby booth. She clearly knows who he is, and comes over to introduce herself. “I hope they’re feeding you at work,” she says, in reference to the massive amount of plates in front of him, and sits down, saying she’s “heard good things” about his work. “Thank you, I’ve heard nothing at all about my work,” he replies. She apologizes for the earlier Overtime Contingency fiasco and promises it won’t happen again. He asks whether she knows all about it, and she retorts, “I’m, like, the head of the company, Mark.” He apologizes, and she flirtingly replies with, “You should be sorry,” before the pair banter back and forth.
Although Mark attributes the severance procedure to her, Helena clarifies that it’s her father’s (Michael Siberry) invention. “You should meet him sometime,” she suggests. “You wanna take me home to Dad already?” Mark asks. “Yeah, I think it’s finally time,” Helena jokes, and he agrees. When Helena admits that she’d love to hear about his experiences, she stumbles over her words to specify the trauma of the Overtime Contingency — “and I know you’ve already been through so much with losing your wife and all… Hanna.” Helena’s still feigning ignorance and empathy about Gemma’s accident, but all the flirtatiousness is gone from Mark’s demeanor as he corrects her on his wife’s name. He starts coughing and excuses himself politely, but before he can leave, the two stare at each other for a long moment before Mark strides out of the restaurant with a clear drive.
Back at Irving’s apartment, Drummond searches through Irving’s collected information on Lumon, his list of severed employees, and so on, focusing on Burt’s name and address. Meanwhile, Burt is explaining that he and Fields used to call each other “hon” before, “about ten years ago,” it became Attila. Fields clarifies (against Burt’s protestations) that it wasn’t ten years ago, it was twenty, “because I remember we were having drinks with your Lumon partner, quite startled him.” “Didn’t the first severed office open 12 years ago?” Irving asks, and Burt agrees, before trying to cut Fields off from wine. Fields then bluntly asks if Burt and Irving’s innies had sex at work, but clarifies his belief that “innies deserve to experience love,” and hopes that Irving and Burt’s innie relationship was a beautiful one.
Burt May Have Been Severed Before It Was Cool in ‘Severance’ Season 2 Episode 6

Image via Apple TV+

Mark runs back down the stairs into his basement, apologizes for abruptly leaving, and says he wants to resume the reintegration procedure immediately. Dr. Reghabi inserts a massive needle into Mark’s brain port to do so, promising the reintegration will be fast once the chip is successfully flooded. Immediately, his perception alternates between seeing intimate moments with both Gemma and Helly. He needs to stay still, but Devon (Jen Tullock) knocks on the door, so he rushes upstairs against doctor’s orders, greeting his sister — who has another “dumber” idea to try and get a message to his innie, if burning images into his retinas failed. A visibly sweaty Mark tells her he’s “trying something else” and that she doesn’t need to worry about it. Shortly after that, he sees pulsating visions, gets angry, and claims to smell something odd before realizing he’s having trouble establishing a grip on his water glass.
Mark falls, and Dr. Reghabi emerges from the basement as Mark seizes, his mouth foaming. Elsewhere, Irving and Burt say their goodbyes, and the latter apologies for Fields drinking and getting “fuzzy” on the details — “like saying I worked at Lumon 20 years ago, which is, of course, before severance even existed.” (You’re awfully obsessed about carefully solidifying that timeline, Burt.) Irving suggests they meet for dinner again sometime, and Burt asks if he means all three of them — or just the two of them. “Either way,” Irving replies, although Burt’s face is unreadable as he watches Irving walk away,
We’re left with a variety of questions at the end of Episode 6, but first and foremost: will Mark survive the reintegration procedure? That foaming at the mouth did not look promising. What is Burt hiding about his history with severance and Lumon? What’s Drummond looking for, exactly, and what is Helena’s plan for Mark (assuming he survives)? She was awfully flirty, and it’s an interesting development that he has a standing invitation to meet her father. Dylan G. clearly has a sense of purpose that his outie counterpart lacks, and Gretchen appears to be increasingly enamored with him… so is she going to cheat on Dylan with himself? The episode absolutely leaves us hanging on what happened with Irving’s drawing and instructions to the Exports Hall, not to mention Milchick only focusing on the first two criticisms in his performance review. If that’s any indication, expect Milchick to come out swinging with a harsher managerial style next week.
New episodes of Severance Season 2 are available to stream every Friday on Apple TV+.

Severance

An exciting episode sees romance hopes rise for Mark, Helly, Dylan, and Irving while introducing new wrinkles in the bigger mystery.

Release Date

February 18, 2022

Showrunner

Dan Erickson, Mark Friedman

Writers

Dan Erickson

Pros & Cons

Adam Scott, Britt Lower, and Zach Cherry all get some exciting material this episode, and Scott in particular delivers a fantastic performance.
It’s a well-written and surprising episode, and the dinner scene between Irving, Burt, and Fields is excellently written and directed.
The episode concludes with some exciting setups for where the next episodes may go.

While significant events occur, major events from Episode 5 are entirely shelved for now, a decision that doesn’t fully work in practice.