SeveranceEpisode 6, titled “Hide and Seek” takes theApple TV Plusseries in a direction it hasn’t gone before in that it seems as if as much, or more of the action takes place outside the Lumon building than inside. There’s still plenty of creepy goings-on inside the building as well but it appears that whatever the company is up to is quite a bit more far reaching than what the audience has had any reason to believe before now. This latest installment in theApple TVseries also adds quite a bit more action and quite a bit more questions than the last several episodes combined.
Since thefirst couple of episodes ofSeverance, the name of the game has really been to keep people off-kilter. For the most part, the show has masterfully done that by using the weirdness of the situation. There was definitely a rather odd undercurrent when it came to Lumon but the viewer could almost believe that it’s really more of just a bunch of people being secretive about what it is that goes on inside the company. As this episode starts the march towards the end of the season (series?) things are ramping up. When it comes toSeverance, that ramping up means that there is quite a bit of tension injected into the latest episode.
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A Real Mystery Grows
One of the brilliant moves forthis episode ofSeveranceis that it really does deftly move from “ok things are a little weird” to “is everyone going to come out of this alive?” Of course, no one has really had their lives threatened yet. Though there is the fact that the company is actively painting over the fact that an employee tried to kill herself. Still it’s more the fact that as the tension rachets up and the reach of Lumon grows, and there are some hints that things are much bigger than just what’s going on in the company, it feels like it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that people in this firm would be willing to kill to keep its secrets.
After all, one of the biggestmysteries inSeveranceso far has been “what exactly goes down in the Break Room?” It’s certainly not a place where people want to go, despite its name. In fact, while most people think of the Break Room as a place to go and relax, it seems likely that this particular area is more about breaking people, maybe even bones.
Where the mystery really grows however, is outside the walls of Lumon. For the first timesinceSeverancekicked off, the show actually showed the audience the home life of one of the office workers besides Mark. Granted, a journey to Dylan’s house doesn’t present a particularly great look at what his life is like as the episode mostly just gives a glance of his son and a closet in his home. That relatively short scene does its job well, leaving viewers wondering just how much reach Lumon has and why exactly Milchick is allowed to go into an employee’s house without that employee finding it strange at all. It appears this might be a similar situation to Ms. Cobel though perhaps quite a bit more intimate. and that alone rachet up the tension. At least when she was doing her weird snooping and sneaking, she was doing it out of eyesight of Mark.
Speaking of Ms. Cobel, it appears that her sneaking and snooping goes much further than Mark as she’s now seemingly ingratiated herself to Mark’s sister Devon. The sense of foreboding that is alwaysa part ofSeverancetakes on a stronger tone as well in this episode thanks to the Artetas. It turns out that the pregnant lady that was plenty weird in her own right that seemed destined to make another appearance, did indeed make another appearance. However, the fact that the baby’s name was different than what she told Devon it was going to be, and the fact that she didn’t seem to know the person she’d met just a few weeks earlier does a great job of making it clear that the weirdness that envelopes Lumon doesn’t stop at its employees.
That is a must when it comes to making it clear that there is real danger involved here. The show has previously made it clear that at least Petey thought he wasn’t safe even though he’d technically left Lumon. However, there hadn’t been any real demonstration that the company’s reach extended to the outside world. Other hints about something darker and deeper going onin the townSeveranceis setare reinforced and allowed to click into place because of “Hide and Seek.”
Unlikely Alliances
Inside the company walls, things are also taking a turn and quite frankly, this might be the only place where the show struggles a bit. Mark, Dylan and Irving are not new to Lumon. While it’s certainly fun to watch them band together with O & D and really start to rebel against whatever is going on in the company, the timing seems a little off. The question as to why the Innies are suddenly willing to doubt everything they’re told and everything they see when they were perfectly happy to accept everything at face value just a few weeks ago is never really explained. Perhaps it’s Petey’s departure or the arrival of Helly, but it’s never really spelled out. It’s important to note that the weird things that Mark has experienced outside the office, and the stuff he’s been told by Petey don’t apply to his Innie who is not remotely aware of them.
Of course, thatthis Apple TV showdoesn’t spoon-feed the reason why the Innies are suddenly feeling a bit adventurous is one of the reasons why it’s so good. There’s enough weirdness in the office that it’s believable Mark and Helly both deciding they’ve had enough, is in turn enough to get Irving and Dylan to start rebelling as well. Finding other employees who are also weirded out about everything that happens at the office is a believable reason for the change as well. And then of course, there’s the rather heavy-handed way Cobel and Milchick deal with the slightest deviation.Severanceis good enough that it’s believable this would all start happening just as the audience joined the story, it might have just been a bit better if there was a specific event that caused long time employees to suddenly wonder why the things they accepted without question were a bit … off.
