Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Severance Season 2 Episode 9.
It was all Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette) all the time in last week’s episode of Severance. Her return to Salt’s Neck revealed much about both Cobel’s background and her surprisingly pivotal relationship to Lumon and the severance procedure. It turns out that key severance technologies (if not the entire process) were her invention, going back to her upbringing in the Wintertide program (and, therefore, were essentially child labor that she didn’t patent or benefit from). Through the program, she was raised by Lumon despite not being an Eagan (and kept away while her mother died), and it’s easy to see now why her ouster from the important Macrodata Refinement floor hurt so much.
The introduction to this episode is Helena Eagan (Britt Lower), who swims for quite some time before, in full professional dress, walking down a corridor and into a large room. Her father, Lumon CEO Jame Eagan (Michael Siberry), is waiting for her in this ultra-modernist space. “A momentous day,” he says. She asks if he’d like to eat, and he says he’ll watch. She slices a hard-boiled egg into six sections, which she proceeds to dissect slowly with a fork and knife. “We’re seeing to Mr. Bailiff,” she ominously says. Jame simply replies, “I wish you’d take them raw,” with a pointed look at the eggs before standing up. After Helena’s look of displeasure, the scene changes to her being driven down a long road and away from the boxy, isolated complex, before the camera pans out to reveal the massive Lumon water tower looming over the surrounding trees.
Miss Huang Graduates in ‘Severance’ Season 2 Episode 9

Image via Apple TV+

Seth Milchick (Tramell Tillman) is now in a meeting with Miss Huang (Sarah Bock), revealing an Eagan bust similar to the one of Kier that Cobel recovered in Episode 8. This one is being awarded to the recipient of the Wintertide Fellowship for the Year of Vision, Eustice Huang, and Milchick observes that today marks the end of said fellowship. Milchick continues to explain that “Your bed will be moved from your parents’ home to the Gunnel Eagan Empathy Center in Svalbard, where you will work to steward global reforms.” “I thought I’d be finishing the quarter,” Miss Huang meekly replies. “Empathy awaits, Miss Huang,” he smugly says, before letting her know she can finish the day’s tasks before leaving at dusk. “But first, lay the game on the table,” referring to her Lumon handheld ring toss game. He reminds her that the company’s handbook mentions a material sacrifice from Wintertide graduates, and he’s chosen her game as an appropriate totem. She sets it on the table, and Milchick demands she destroy it. Miss Huang picks up the Eagan bust and smashes it over, and over, and over at his request, as Milchick looks on, clearly still smarting after his performance review.
The scene changes to Dylan’s outie (Zach Cherry) and his wife Gretchen (Merritt Wever) at home as they get ready for their respective jobs. With a guilty look, she suddenly confesses the truth to Dylan about kissing his innie, earning a confused look from him in response. “I saw your innie again at Lumon, and right before I left, we ended up kissing for about a minute,” Gretchen adds, and Dylan outwardly wonders how something like that could even happen. “You’ve been adrift, you know that,” she responds. “He reminds me of how you used to be.” Angrily, Dylan replies with, “I’m gonna go to work and earn a paycheck to feed our children.” (It’s worth noting that Dylan’s innie is the one earning said paycheck; at best, Dylan is his innie’s chauffeur.) “I’m gonna respectfully request that you don’t follow me there and use my own body to f*cking cheat on me.” Right before he heads out the door, he continues, “Since I would have no way of knowing if that’s happening or not, maybe I go in, and I quit, and I just end his existence.” As Dylan storms out, Gretchen looks heartbroken.
Irving (John Turturro) enters his apartment to find his dog Radar staring oddly at something in an adjacent room. It’s Burt (Christopher Walken), sitting in Irving’s home and reading his notes on Lumon, beginning with the speculation that Lumon is connected “to several recent disappearances or deaths.” He continues to read Irving’s theory that “Goodman may have participated as a low-level Lumon enforcer or goon.” Burt laughs. “Lumon goon… that stings. We never used words like that. With Lumon, it’s very specific language.” Irving explains that his speculation is based on the past, and he knows better now, but Burt ominously responds by asking Irving if he’ll accompany him on a car ride.
Helly Is Insubordinate in ‘Severance’ Season 2 Episode 9

Image via Apple TV+

We’re back at Lumon, where Dr. Mauer (Robby Benson) is still observing Gemma, a Lumon Band-Aid now taped to his head, and calls up Drummond (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) to complain that the Cold Harbor, file stuck at 96%, isn’t moving. Drummond calls up Milchick, who speculates that Mark S. is likely just running late. “The final quota was promised today. Get him here now,” Drummond demands. Meanwhile, Helly R. excitedly arrives at work to see an empty MDR office space. Cut to Devon (Jen Tullock) driving Mark (Adam Scott) across a wintery road. He’s convinced Devon’s plan to ally with Cobel is a mistake, while she responds that she can’t quite understand him over “the wind… whistling over the hole in the back of [his] skull.” Mark makes a fair point, though, when he says that they told Cobel everything and “she told us sh*t,” and Devon superficially agrees before parking at their designated meeting spot. Mark asks if it’s a trap, given that Cobel is nowhere to be seen, and Devon says they need her regardless, but their conversation is interrupted by an incoming call from Milchick. Mark doesn’t answer it.
Speaking of Milchick, Helly bursts into his office and demands to know where Mark is. “This is the second day in a row he’s not here. Is he coming in?” Milchick cites Lumon’s non-disclosure policy about their employees, and Helly cites his previous nosebleeds, asking if he’s okay. Milchick asks her why she’s so concerned, and Helly notes that he’s MDR’s department chief, though Milchick brushes that defense off because “Dylan is, in Mark’s absence.” “Kinda like you and Cobel,” she retorts. “Replace one part with another.” He chides her, “That’s enough, Helly R.,” but Helly dons her most authoritative face and walks closer to Milchick’s desk, tilting her head to the side. “Don’t you mean Helly E.?” He acknowledges that “Helena Eagan is my employer,” but “you are my subordinate, and this behavior constitutes insubordination.” She bluntly replies, “Yeah, no sh*t,” and closes his door on the way out despite Milchick’s insistence that she leave it open.

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Over another visit in the Innie Family Visitation Suite between Gretchen and Dylan G., she admits she told his outie about the kiss they shared. Dylan innocently asks whether his outie was happy for them — to which Gretchen says, “Of course not.” “Well, he should be,” Dylan G. says, “because I’m making you happy… and he’s not.” Unfortunately, Gretchen then tells Dylan G. she can’t see him anymore. His outie has already threatened to quit, she explains, and “maybe if I tell him that this is over,” he won’t. Dylan follows her out the door, pleading, “Gretchen, my life started when you came here.” Before she can leave, he nervously gets down on one knee to propose to her, pulling out a paper ring he’s made at work. “I know I’m just an innie, but I love you all the way. I do… I made this for you.” She cries, apologizes, and leaves him on his knees shouting after her, looking absolutely devastated.
Burt Chauffers Irving to Places Unknown in ‘Severance’ Season 2 Episode 9

Image via Apple TV+

Back on the MDR floor, Helly says that Dylan should save the ring for someone he meets at the office (giving new meaning to the phrase “work spouse”). She also clarifies that Gretchen isn’t Dylan’s wife, she’s his outie’s wife, “because no one would treat someone they love the way she’s treating you, like all the outies treat us.” Helly then reminds Dylan that Irving was his family, leaving him a message about that black hallway before he was terminated, and that “I don’t know if he knew where it leads, but he thought it was important, and they convinced you to turn your back on him for some outie woman you don’t even know.” Dylan turns the tables, telling Helly, “You know it’s your fault we’re down here at all, right?” Digging the knife deeper, he asks why no one could tell Helena was masquerading as Helly if innies and outies are so different. “Irving could,” she replies. “Mark couldn’t,” he retorts, before coldly walking off.
Outside Lumon, Cobel finally arrives at the spot where Mark and Devon are waiting. There’s a clear tension between Cobel and Mark, and he’s sarcastic about his basement brain surgery. She reminds him that they’re “allies now,” but he doesn’t trust her. Devon asks if they can go to the birthing cabin yet, but Cobel advises they wait for night because it’s “perilous,” adding that they don’t know if Mark’s completed the Cold Harbor file yet, “and if you’ve completed it, well… she’s already dead.” Mark threatens her, arguing with both Devon and Cobel, but Cobel advises that he call Milchick back so that he doesn’t suspect any “chicanery” and end up locking his innie out of the building. Devon tells Mark that “there is literally no other option than to do what the f*ck she says right now, for Gemma.” Cut to Helly sneaking into the Break Room and searching behind the “Hang In There” poster to retrieve the directions to Exports Hall, while elsewhere, a tearful Dylan decides he’s officially done with Lumon. As Irving drives around with Burt, the latter reveals, “I never hurt anyone, I want you to know that. I drove people places… I didn’t ask what happened to them once they got there.” Irving asks, “Is that what today is?”
Everyone Seems To Be Departing in ‘Severance’ Season 2 Episode 9

Image via Apple TV+

We leave their car ride and find Dylan G. filling out his innie resignation paperwork in front of Milchick and Miss Huang. Milchick chides him, saying, “I’m sure you know this is very disappointing and reeks of ingratitude.” Afterward, Milchick is standing on a Lumon walkway with Drummond, who in turn lectures him for failing to tighten the leash as promised. “Our most vital refiner missing in the wind, on what was to be Lumon’s finest day.” Milchick defends himself, but thanks Drummond for his “remonstration,” which Drummond claims is a “needlessly complex word for a simple idea” and demands an apology. “I apologize,” Milchick responds. Drummond orders him to repeat it in a shorter fashion, to which Milchick says, “I’m sorry.” Drummond makes him repeat it, and Milchick pauses, then replies, “Devour feculence. It means eat sh*t, Mr. Drummond.” He then goes on, while Drummond stands wordlessly in front of him: “I am manager of the severed floor, which means two things. First, I am owed a measure of respect, even by my superiors. Second, and more obvious, said floor comprises the whole of my jurisdiction. To put that monosyllabically (Milchick breaks down each syllable here), it’s not my fault what Mark Scout does when he is not at work, it’s yours.”
After that exchange, Mark finally calls Milchick back, initially lying and claiming he’s been getting further medical treatment for his nosebleeds — but after a pause, he finally admits something closer to the truth: “I’m not sick. I just needed the day, okay?” When he elaborates further, he says his absence is connected to things going on in his life. “Isn’t that what Lumon’s about? Balance? I mean, work is just work, right? Do you know what I mean, Mr. Milchick?” Milchick pauses for a very long time, expression inscrutable, and finally replies, “I have your word you’ll report for work tomorrow?” Mark agrees.
Meanwhile, Burt has driven Irving and Radar to a train station and purchases him a ticket on a line that goes as far as it’s possible for anyone to go in terms of getting away from Kier, PE. Burt adds that he can’t know where Irving has disappeared to — and that Irving can’t ever come back. “You asked me why I severed,” Burt says. “I liked the idea that I could be innocent again, but then my innocent part fell in love with you.” Irving wants his own memory of their romance, telling Burt, “I’ve never been loved before, not really,” and insists he’s ready to experience it, but Burt regretfully declines: “Bon voyage… buddy.” Irving and Radar board the train, which is destined for places unknown. Back at Lumon, Dylan G. steels himself to leave Lumon for presumably the final time, boarding the elevator, while Helly sits in the darkened MDR office attempting to memorize the directions to the Exports Hall when none other than Jame Eagan shows up. “You tricked me… my Helly,” he says (to which she responds, “What the f*ck?”). Meanwhile, Cobel smuggles Mark and Devon into one of Lumon’s birthing cabins, activating his innie, and Devon asks the shocked Mark S. if he can remember what his last words to her were. “She’s alive,” Mark’s innie replies.
Severance Episode 9 is both thrilling and heartbreaking at the same time. It shows that Lumon is losing control (ironically, on the verge of their evident success). They’ve seemingly lost Helly altogether (though who knows what Jame is planning), and have at least lost Burt’s loyalty where Irving’s concerned. On the other hand, they’re also losing their hold on Milchick and Cobel. That doesn’t mean the latter are allies to Mark and co., but it does mean that Lumon’s power may be slipping. Then again, this episode confirms that Lumon disappears people, so who knows what they’ll do if anything interrupts their supposed greatest moment, Cold Harbor?
We’re also hit by a wave of apparent departures from Dylan G. and Irving, though Dylan may find out soon that the gamble to push his innie out, though successful, was a Pyrrhic victory. Much of this episode, however, is setup for conflicts to come. We don’t know if these departures will stick, what these acts of resistance will do, or what happens after Mark fully reintegrates. Can Devon and Mark trust Cobel? What will the Eagan family do? Why would the experiments on Gemma, whatever they are, kill her, or alternately, why would Lumon choose to kill her after they’re complete? Most importantly, how is John Turturro so good that he makes every scene more emotional, even after he’s “dead”?
The Severance Season 2 finale premieres next Friday on Apple TV+.

Severance

“The After Hours” centers around major character choices and fantastic moments, though it’s largely setup for the finale.

Release Date

February 18, 2022

Showrunner

Dan Erickson, Mark Friedman

Writers

Dan Erickson

Pros & Cons

This episode delivers two of the series’ most heartbreaking moments between Irving and Burt’s separation and Dylan G.’s doomed proposal, making for riveting performances.
Helly’s act of resistance, combined with the decline of Milchick’s deference, are also standout moments in an episode full of great character work.
This episode has great cinematography throughout, beginning with its first moments with that eerie, massive water tower.

While it’s littered with powerful moments, “The After Hours” is mainly high-quality teasing for what’s to come