The Severance season two premiere took place five months following the Macrodata Refinement team’s act of defiance against their employers. But what happened in that missing time span? “Goodbye, Ms. Selvig” fills in the details regarding to what happened to our protagonists, and their outties, during that gap.
So far, the series portrays Lumon Industries as mysterious, shady, and eccentric. The characterization of the company goes to another haunting level with the ruthless efficiency of the damage control. It can be frustrating to see how easily Lumon can control the narrative and not be destroyed by their actions. Not uncommon of what big corporations can do in the real world.
Helping to emphasize this corporate intensity are the boots they have on the ground. New Severance character, Mr. Drummond (Darri Ólafsson) is an intimidating fixer type helping guide the company through the rough times. More impactful is Mr. Milchick as the company hatchet man. He’s already a distrustful person, but viewing the actual events after the story he gave Mark S. about the team in the previous episode, confirms he was lying. Also, it’s creepy how he references his personal relationships with the innies to exploit situations with the outties.
Another interesting aspect of the episode is the further exploration of both Irv and Dylan’s outties. The former may be less developed, but it doesn’t make the revelations less significant. Not only might love transcend the severance process, but Irving may be working with his innie (you’ll need the closed captioning on to catch)?
One of the more memorable scenes from “Goodbye, Ms. Selvig” is a short job interview with outtie Dylan. It’s impressive how Mohamed El Masri’s writing can make a conversation about doors so entertaining, and Zach Cherry brings an unexpected charm, especially for a brief moment you feel his character dropped the ball. Outtie Dylan’s lack of confidence paints a curious picture of how the two personalities can contrast even though they are the same person. The scene also works on another level as it shows an outsiders perspective on Lumon and their unique program.
In addition, the narrative ties in with Severance’s overarching mystery surrounding Ms. Casey. She helps link the two worlds since she is pertinent to both. Outtie Mark travels on a compelling, yet difficult journey of acceptance. His ex-wife is an understandable touchy subject, and he may not always be the nicest person, but his is a natural transition after following the clues. That could explain why Mark decides to stay at Lumon and search for more answers.
“Goodbye, Ms. Selvig” slows the pace and provides tons of information to fill in the 5 month gap from the premiere. It paints a menacing picture of a company in crisis and a desperate man searching for answers.
New episodes of Severance air Fridays on Apple TV+.
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