Severance – Woe’s Hollow Review

Out of the six episodes of season two I’ve seen, “Woe’s Hallow” was far and away my favorite (and that’s saying something, as my pre-season review can attest: I loved all of these episodes). I’ll also admit that the first time I watched the episode, it was directly after finishing episode three, (which, you may recall, ended with Outie Mark seemingly waking up in a memory of Innie Mark’s first day at Lumon, with the reintegration seemingly successful) and I was so confused with the sudden shift in focus from that ending to seeing Irving waking up standing on a frozen lake that I immediately went back and re-watched the previous episode to make sure I hadn’t missed something. But no, I hadn’t – and no, you haven’t as well – as this episode more or less puts a pin in Mark’s reintegration (except for one brief moment we’ll touch on later) and brings the focus back on the Cult of Kier, Helena and Helly, and Irving’s continued disillusionment with Lumon and all it contains.

So, a big kudos to all of you who correctly predicted that Helly was actually Helena masquerading as her Innie as a means of keeping tabs on our trio. Aside from that reveal (which was absolutely spectacular on every level – both Britt Lower, who has been so damn good all season, and John Turturro were just mesmerizing there), I wanted to dive a bit deeper into what all of this seems to indicate about Helena. From what we’ve seen of her, Helena isn’t the most open or loving person. I mean, who can blame her with a father like that and the crushing expectations weighing on her. She was, after all, pretty much ordered to undergo the severance procedure (as a PR stunt to prove that it is safe) and work as an Innie on the severed floor. While it was her Innie who rebelled – in ways that Helena certainly doesn’t believe she ever could – that inner self was really acting out all of the unsaid desires that Helena has denied herself by virtue of her role both at Lumon and in her family.

Not exactly the make-up of a happy person, no? With no identifiable friends, romantic partners, and a father who clearly wants nothing to do with her when she isn’t being useful to him or Lumon, Helena doesn’t understand how to get close to people. But, as she saw from the video footage of Helly and Mark, Helly – Helena’s inner self – does. Which is why the assignment of impersonating Helly was both hard (she couldn’t replicate the easy comradery that Helly could, which is what set off the alarm bells in Irving from the start) and something interesting for her. She wanted these people to like her, to see her as Helly, someone who attracts people to her. But she also wanted to prove to herself – and Helly, should she ever resurface – that Helly isn’t better than Helena. That Helena is just as good, just as focused, just as likeable. And she wanted to stick it to Helly, prove to her that Helena is truly in control as payback for everything Helly put their body through in season one. Lest we forget, she thinks that Innies are animals who don’t deserve any sort of rights or any autonomy with the bodies of the Outies they inhabit, so why not prove herself to be superior in every way to Helly?

Which brings me to the decision to sleep with Mark. Clearly, she was curious just who attracted Helly so deeply, but it was more than that. This was a chance to take something away from Helly. To hurt her in the only way Helena knows how: by stripping her of her relationship with Mark, tainting it in a way that Helly can never fix. Helena will always be the one who got there first – all while duping Mark into believing this was Helly (which might be even more awful to Helly than the act of sleeping with Mark). It’s a power play (remember, she doesn’t think the Innies are human – even if she does have some level of jealousy when it comes to Helly’s freedom) but she’s also curious about just what it is about Mark that pulls at Helly. Such a complicated character, such complex motivations, and Lower was able to play all three version of the character (Helena, Helena as Helly, and Helly) so distinctly and sharply.

But this episode wasn’t all about Helly and Helena. We also got to see Mark flash briefly during his time with “Helly” to Gemma, indicating that the reintegration appears to be taking. And there was that incredibly strange story of Kier and Woe and his dead brother. I’ll leave that gem to others to interpret (it was so strange and definitely went beyond me). But the biggest move in the episode was the firing of Irving.

Oof. When Severance had their pop-up cube in Grand Central Station, I remember being intrigued that Turturro wasn’t a part of it. I had seen this episode by then and wondered if perhaps the series was tipping its hand and adding a spoiler for those who read into things. Because Irv is no longer part of the severed floor and MDR. Which is such a disappointment, but it does mean that we’ll get the chance to see just what Irving is involved with on the outside – which clearly has a link to taking down Lumon in some fashion. And, with Burt tailing him on his late night phone booth calls, perhaps we’ll get to see the duo team up in real life? We have been sorely lacking in Christopher Walken appearances (even though he briefly appeared this week during Irv’s dream).

I loved absolutely everything about this episode. The story, the revelations, the performances, the super weird Kier tale. Even if I’m wondering just how much the Outies were told about this particular field trip before agreeing to it – I can’t imagine they’d be cool with camping in the snow and possibly having their bodies freeze to death. This is Severance at its best – moving the story along while throwing in key revelations.