You know what would be terrifying? Coming to consciousness standing on a frozen lake, a wintery forest surrounding you, and you've never seen the sky before.
Severance's choice to have it always be winter in whatever town where it takes place (I think it's supposed to be Michigan? Or perhaps pointedly not told to us) has always reinforced the malevolent, menacing nature of the corporate weights bearing down on its characters.
The MDR team awakens in this forest, finding a TV and video with a message from Mr. Milchick that they're there for a... convoluted acronym. It's basically a company retreat, but it's also taking place in a forest owned by the Eagan family, and named for a dubiously historical twin brother to "Eternal CEO" Kier Eagan.
The team finds a "Fourth Appendix" to the holy books they've read as severed employees, which tells the tale of Dieter Eagan, and a recounting by Kier of going off to live in the woods with his twin brother, only for Dieter to be horrifically transformed into a tree after he masturbates. And it's in this tale that Kier meets the first four of the "tempers" that he sorts human behavior into, Woe.
We start the episode with Irving, who sees Mark at the top of a cliff, and eventually he links up with Helly and Dylan as they find Mark. Irving has a problem: while he and Mark were both honest about what they saw during the Overtime Contingency break-out, Helly's story didn't add up. Why, after all, is there a gardener working at night?
He's worried that Mark is not listening to his skepticism because of the budding romance that Mark and Helly are enjoying, and he becomes more and more alienated from the group as his skepticism toward Helly pushes them away.
After Helly explains away Irving's questions by bringing up his grief over losing Burt, Irving walks into the forest, where he nearly freezes to death. But, as he is wont to do, he has a dream, and sees in Helly's place at their workstation the figure of Woe described in Kier's book.
As he wanders off, Helly comes into Mark's tent, and they have sex, and she confesses that she didn't tell the truth - that she was ashamed of what she was. Mark tells her that she doesn't have to say more.
However, in the morning, Irving confronts Helly - he's put it all together. Helly was acting cruelly the previous night in a way that he didn't think she was capable of. He thinks that she's actually her outie in disguise, and then discerns that only an Eagan would have the power and authority to do such a thing. And, as I predicted in the season's first post, Irving is right - this has been Helena Eagan, not Helly R, the whole season.
Irving shoves Helena's head under the water at the eponymous Woe's Hollow, where Dieter supposedly underwent his horrific transformation, demanding that Milchick switch her mind over to that of the real Helly. Without a choice, Milchick complies. Irving apologizes to Helly, but the inevitable follows: Milchick fires Irving, effectively condemning him to death, and promising to purge all records of any contributions or relationships that Irving had had in the company. Irving accepts his fate, serenely closing his eyes as Milchick activates his outie, presumably for the last time.
A few takeaways:
First off, while we now truly have Helly back, there are a lot of questions as to Helena's motivations. She clearly wanted to keep tabs on the MDR team, but I also get the impression that she really has struggled with human relations. In Mark, she saw a partnership she clearly had never experienced in her life outside. At the same time, though, it's deeply, deeply fucked that she slept with him. The question of whether Innies and Outies are truly separate people or the same is one of the biggest philosophical questions that this show asks, but this definitely feels like a violation of Mark's consent.
Second, man I hope that this doesn't mean Irving's leaving the show. John Turturro is a fantastic presence. It's a great arc - a man of principle who begins as a true believer in the wisdom of Kier, only for him to follow his integrity to a place that can no longer abide what Lumon is doing to them. But I'd be really sad to lose Turturro's presence. Given that his Outie looked like he was doing some sleuthing about Lumon, I hope we'll see him again (also, what was with Burt pulling up and seeing him calling from that pay phone?)
I will say I was surprised that this episode didn't immediately follow up on the ramifications of Mark's choice to undergo reintegration at the end of the last episode. It's actually quite jarring - almost as if the episode order got messed up or something (though given the consequences of this episode, last week's "Who is Alive?" couldn't have come after this one).
The one flash of it we get is when, after having sex with Helena, Mark briefly sees Gemma/Ms. Casey instead of her. But given the way that last episode ended, I really expected to pick up immediately on that cliffhanger.
In fact, this was kind of a Mark-light episode, primarily focusing on Irving and the reveal of Helena's deception.
Still, surely we can't brush past what has happened with Mark, right?
Visually, this episode was a real departure, thanks to its wilderness setting. Notably, it didn't have the usual opening titles, really establishing what a departure it would be.
The mythos of Kier Eagan is fascinating. My instinct is that it's pure fantasy, though I don't think it's purely produced for the severed folk, given that Ms. Cobel seems to have been raised in some kind of Kier-worshipping camp or society. The "four tempers" certainly seem analogous to the four humors in Alchemy (I think they might even be the same colors - Black, Yellow, White, and Red). And given the oddness of Helena's father, I'm inclined to believe that the Eagans are raised to believe all this crap as well.
What's funny, though, is how Helena laughs as the story about Dieter. Milchick goes on to punish the MDR team for laughing at the story, even though he knows that that's Helena Eagan leading the subversive charge. I get the sense that Helly's rebellious streak is not exclusive to her innie persona, but that perhaps the outie version has had a bitter, cruel edge introduced to it thanks to her fucked-up upbringing.
As a final note, the musak-like end credits music after what is possibly the final moments of Irving B. is kind of perfect.
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