The latest Severance episode was good, actually

The second season of Apple TV’s much-beloved Severance has been a rollercoaster. From discovering Helena (Britt Lower) had been posing as her innie to Mark Scout (Adam Scott) choosing to reintegrate upon learning that his late wife Gemma (Dichen Lachman) is alive, working as Ms. Casey on Lumon’s severed floor and stuck in the building, there’s been no shortage of conflict and intrigue. After spending the previous episode, “Chikhai Bardo,” with Gemma on the mysterious floor under the severed floor, where she’s being tested on in rooms named after the projects that Mark and the others are working on in MDR, surely we all eagerly anticipated returning to the status quo. Alas, this week’s episode took the audience on a journey with Ms. Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette) to the small, rundown town of Salt’s Neck, and the title, ”Sweet Vitriol,” could not have been more apt for the ridiculous reception it has received.

After fleeing from Helena and her shady associate at a speed previously unseen by humankind, Ms. Cobel has been notably absent for a large portion of the season. Here, we finally catch up with the delightfully morally grey antagonist and Lumon devotee, but Ms. Cobel has clearly changed since the “Overtime Contingency” fiasco and her unceremonious firing. She’s disheveled and, frankly, a little unhinged, arriving in Salt’s Neck on a life-or-death mission, knowing that Lumon’s people are on her trail. We quickly learn that Salt’s Neck is, in fact, Ms. Cobel’s hometown. It’s also where she became a devoted follower of the Eagans and a member of Lumon’s corporate cult, as Lumon had a now-defunct factory there. Salt’s Neck built up around it and many of its citizens worked there (even the children), but upon shutting it down decades earlier, Lumon left the town struggling, sick, and addled with an ether addiction.

Ms. Cobel reconnects with an old friend/colleague, Hampton (James Le Gros), and it is instantly clear that her return is neither welcome nor cause for celebration. Nonetheless, it doesn’t stop her from asking him for a favor, requesting he drive her to see Sissy (Jane Alexander) because Lumon could be watching and knows what her car looks like. And, boy, is Ms. Cobel and Sissy’s reunion tense, in addition to their scenes being loaded with much-needed backstory. We discover (or it’s at least implied in the show, said in post-episode interviews) that Sissy is Ms. Cobel’s aunt, whom Ms. Cobel blames for her mother’s death decades earlier, explaining the medical wristband and breathing tube we saw in Ms. Cobel’s house in the first season. More surprisingly, Sissy is an even more devoted Eagan worshipper than Ms. Cobel was, making her a pariah in Salt’s Neck.

After their tense reunion, the reality of this being her first time returning home since her mother’s death hits her, but afterward, she continues to search until finding what we ultimately learn is a notebook filled with her original designs for Lumon’s severance chip and procedure that Jame Eagan (Michael Siberry)—Helena’s father—received credit for inventing. So, in this single Severance episode, we have an outstanding performance from Arquette as the series, at last, digs into this mysterious woman, a major twist from what we’ve learned thus far regarding the severed procedure, and further exploration of this world and Lumon’s severe impact far beyond and pre-dating the severed procedure. Oh, right, and Devon (Jen Tullock) calls Ms. Cobel again and reveals that Mark has reintegrated. Does that sound like “filler” to you?

To call this a “filler episode” is simply laughable. It is the therapy speak of television criticism, used without understanding the definition and thrown around whenever a person doesn’t enjoy an episode (no matter the reason). To have a true filler episode is a rare occurrence; an episode used to delve into a character’s psyche, and in this case a series regular who has been present since the beginning, is absolutely, without a doubt, not “filler,” much less when it’s also expanding the story and the world the writers have created in general. This is a pivotal, well-written, and excellent episode, showcasing highlights of the medium that people just don’t seem to understand. (Maybe because they don’t actually enjoy television?)

Perchance it’s tied to shrinking attention spans, but too many complaints directed toward shows, especially those on streaming, is they aren’t moving the plot forward fast enough. They fail to understand (or don’t enjoy) that television is a journey, not a race. It should allow for time, such as these last two Severance episodes have, to dig deep and explore all of its characters and include plotlines outside of the central, overarching ones. If you want something short, to the point, and relatively uncomplicated, turn on a movie; leave television for those of us who adore what the medium offers, particularly in terms of increased time for plot and character exploration. Perhaps it’s not this deep, but I also have to think it goes hand-in-hand with our society becoming more isolated, cold, and less community-driven; too many feel a severe lack of connection and empathy for real people, so is it foolish to think that might extend toward fictional characters (especially when a “side” character takes the spotlight away temporarily from the ones that they have spent the most time with and feel at least something for)?

Shortened streaming seasons are, more often than not, killing what makes television great, trying to cut down whatever is deemed “unnecessary” to save money no matter the cost to the material, leaving less time to expand the world, story, and characters fully. In that sense, and despite its limited episode count, it’s wonderful that Severance is able to prioritize that. Personally, it was a joy to finally begin digging into the fascinating Ms. Cobel(vig); in fact, I’d go so far as to say the episode wasn’t long enough. It wasn’t filler, and it definitely wasn’t boring (though that’s just a matter of taste and I won’t be that self-righteous). This was an outstanding episode, plain and simple.

That said, while I wholeheartedly enjoyed both the Gemma and Ms. Cobel-centric episodes, there is an argument that it may not have been the smartest move to air these episodes back-to-back; maybe one episode returning to both the status quo and core four in between would’ve been better… if only that’s what most were complaining about.