Finally, our faithful Macro Data Refiners get a much needed break. A vacation? Maybe not that. Perhaps it’s best to call the weekend by its Lumon acronym: an O.R.T.B.O. We couldn’t title this review “Severance Season 2 – Episode 4: O.R.T.B.O.” (though the thought did cross my mind).
Now, if you’re not a faithful and severed Lumon employee, the idea of spending a weekend as a team of employees, unpaid, alongside your coworkers sounds pretty awful. I like my coworkers enough, but I’m not seeing those people 7 days in one week unnecessarily.
And for MDR, that’s the issue. This O.R.T.B.O. is necessary. It’s necessary to refocus. It’s necessary to reconnect. And for those brave innies, it’s necessary to realize once again that Kier guides their path, through thorns and thickets, across ice so thin, and down the rocky path towards balance and temperance.
Well, at least that’s what Mr. Milchick had hoped for.
Weekly Vibe Check
Like our MDR team, Foreigner was willing to sacrifice. Hit play, and keep reading.
There’s No ‘UGH’ in Team
Throughout Severance Season 2 – Episode 4, we see the team at varying states of cooperation, altercations, and admiration. Cold at times, we can see a fire burning within each of their hearts for their chosen paths and goals.
While Irv is hell-bent on ascertaining the exact details of Helly R.’s O.T.C. (OverTime Contingency), Dylan G. just wants to complete what he believes is ‘the mission.’ Mark S. is content to giggle and snicker, rather than guffaw, at some of the more earnest details and stories being shared by Mr. Milchick, as long as it curries favor with Helly R.
Speaking of Helly R….well, there’s not as much speaking from her as there is responding and reacting to the group, and mainly Mark, over the weekend.
Weeding at Night is Very Cool
That is, until Irv confront her once more about that unique O.T.C. recollection. The gardener. The *night* gardener.
You see, if you’ve reached Severance Season 2 – Episode 4, and you’d forgotten all about the O.T.C. and the tales to be told just a couple episodes back, this is a great reminder than Irv’s got your back. He’s on the case. Like Lumon’s own Sherlock Holmes, Irv will apply reason, distrust, and a healthy helping of candor to his investigation.
Helly R., for one, doesn’t take kindly to it. In fact, she lashes back with a razor-sharp tongue of her own. And when she does, it hits Irv right where it hurts.
“But What About ____?”
Now, if you’ve already watched Severance Season 2 – Episode 4, you’re wondering to yourself, “why hasn’t this review talked about x, or y?” You’re not wrong to ask, and this is a great reminder that spoiler-free reviews are the best reviews. Or at least that’s what we’re supposed to say right now. Like a good Lumon employee, we refrain from any speech which might jeopardize the sanctity and surprise of a first-time viewer.
A Close Comp That’s Bound to Be Made
There are times in Severance Season 2 – Episode 4 that will remind you of a certain trilogy-gone-super-franchise of movies and shows. Well, at least of one scene in particular from The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
Our young Tatooine-born moisture farmer turned rebel has blood on his hands, and a fire in his heart. The Death Star employed what, 400,000 people? More perhaps? It was the size of a moon! (Yes Ben, it was in fact, “no moon,” don’t rub it in).
Now if I’ve lost you, please, just scroll down to the next bold subheadline. You’ll thank me. This isn’t about Severance Season 2 – Episode 4 per se, but it kind of is?
Regardless, he heads off to a swampy bog planet filled with eclectic eels (not electric), common garter snakes, iguanas for some odd reason, and one coked-out anti-social hippy frog who likes carrots more than most adults.
After a heated exchange with the frog man, a schizophrenic argument with the aforementioned and ghastly Ben Kenobi, and dressing down to a dirty tank-top and the coolest flight pants the late 70’s could dream up, Luke begins training. Now, this isn’t modern-day incel MMA training regiments. No, no. This is bog planet parkour. This puts the ‘dag yo’ in Dagobah.
Now if I’m losing you here, please, for the love of Kier, keep scrolling to the next subheader. Severance Season 2 – Episode 4 is exciting enough, but I’m on a roll.
Alright, so Luke and froggy Charlie Sheen are doing flips and sh*t, and then slow down to take a breather. Luke spots a nice little foggy cavern, takes a whiff, doesn’t smell any of that dank stuff, and wonders aloud why. Froggy Jerry Garcia provides an inane answer, fit for a reefer of his status, leaving Luke to venture off into the cave and face his questions head on. And his demons. Are they one and the same?
In this reminder as to why 60fps/120fps is much better for slo-mo than a 24fps/30fps camera, we have a realistic-enough bad trip in which Luke faces Vader. Not only does this 30 second skirmish provide the audience with the heftiest foreshadowing the series had seen to this point, it’s just a cool sequence. It’s a personification of looking inside and realizing *you’re the problem*.
Now, Luke experiences a moment of recognition, of revelation, and of horror. Is he somehow also Vader? Is Vader just his shadow? Is he a clone? Is there enough time in a blockbuster to adequately answer any of those questions? Nope, off to fight him instead of pondering a minute longer.
What follows is one of the greatest reveals in the history of modern cinema, and even after watching it 100s of times, it still hits. It still creates an emotion.
VaY-der? I Hardly Know Her?
Now, what did that Star Wars nerd’s attempt to playfully recount an iconic scene have to do with Severance Season 2 – Episode 4?
A little. We see Mark S. slipping into a cavern of deception and self-imposed ignorance. In what seems like an odd choice for the screenwriters, Mark’s character and persona seem to be off-kilter.
He mocks what others find inspiring. He smirks when Mr. Milchick looks to educate. He’s more interested in what could happen in someone else’s tent than he is his own.
And that’s when we see the team skate on thin ice. Irving, frustrated, stares into the abyss of his own MDR hell. Faced with woe, he braves solitude rather than submit to apathy.
Even when Dylan G. questions his resolve, Irv stands stubbornly at the foot of a great truth, just waiting to dip his toes in. Or someone else’s.I’ve said too much already.
Enjoy Severance Season 2 – Episode 4, and buckle up for a weekend the team won’t soon forget.
If you haven’t yet, check out our reviews for Severance Season 2 thus far:
SEVERANCE – SEASON 2
The highly anticipated second season of Apple’s Emmy and Peabody Award-winning workplace thriller “Severance” has made its global debut! From the unsevered minds of director and executive producer Ben Stiller and creator, writer and executive producer Dan Erickson, the first episode of “Severance” season two debuted on Apple TV+ Friday, January 17th, 2025, and one new episode will drop every Friday through March 21.
From Apple TV+:
“Severance” Season Two
In “Severance,” Mark Scout (Adam Scott) leads a team at Lumon Industries, whose employees have undergone a severance procedure, which surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives. This daring experiment in “work-life balance” is called into question as Mark finds himself at the center of an unraveling mystery that will force him to confront the true nature of his work… and of himself. In season two, Mark and his friends learn the dire consequences of trifling with the severance barrier, leading them further down a path of woe.
Season two of the broadly acclaimed workplace thriller from director and executive producer Ben Stiller, and creator Dan Erickson, reunites its ensemble cast of stars including Emmy Award nominee Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Tramell Tillman, Zach Cherry, Jen Tullock, Michael Chernus, Dichen Lachman, Emmy Award winner John Turturro, Academy Award winner Christopher Walken and Academy and Emmy Award winner Patricia Arquette, and welcomes new series regular Sarah Bock.
“Severance” is executive produced by Ben Stiller, who also directs five episodes this season in addition to directors Uta Bresiewitz, Sam Donovan and Jessica Lee Gagné. The series is written, created and executive produced by Dan Erickson. “Severance” season two is also executive produced by John Lesher, Jackie Cohn, Mark Friedman, Beau Willimon, Jordan Tappis, Sam Donovan, Caroline Baron, Richard Schwartz, Nicholas Weinstock. In addition to starring, Adam Scott and Patricia Arquette serve as executive producers. Fifth Season is the studio.
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