Severance season 2 has all of us on the edge of our seats, and they’re once again teasing us with weekly releases. Episode 3 of one of the best Apple TV Plus shows is finally here, and it packed a lot into its hour-long runtime. Most notable were, of course, the goats, but we’ve also had our first look at Gwendoline Christie’s new character and witnessed Mark making a shocking decision about severance. Elsewhere, Dylan’s latest perk could prove to torment him.
If you need a reminder for previous episodes, check out our Severance episode 1 recap and Severance season 2 recap to bring you up to speed.
Cobel’s job offer
The episode sees Cobel still on the road after abruptly driving away from Mark, who confronted her outside her home. When she reaches an unknown place called Salt’s Neck, she decides to turn around and head back, but like most things Cobel does, we don’t quite know why.
Cobel heads to Lumon, where she meets up with Helena after considering the job offer. She says if she returns, she wants to keep a close eye on MDR so she can watch Mark complete Cold Harbor, one of the biggest Severance mysteries. She’s also not pleased about Milchick running the show and wants him gone, but Helena pushes back on this.
Not for the first time, Cobel abruptly leaves the meeting and drives off, so she’s been constantly running away from her problems and fears recently. Something weird is going on, and I want to know what!
Meeting a new department
By this point, Mark is now fully back to work at Lumon. We see him timing how long it takes to get into Lumon to the point where he’s severed, where he obviously switches into innie Mark, abruptly stopping the countdown.
He’s on a mission, printing out flyers of a Ms. Casey drawing, and asks Helly and Irving to pass them around the Lumon departments. It’s also important to note that Helly is still acting weird around Mark and not like Helly at all. Nevertheless, she helps Mark on his quest to find Ms. Casey.
They come across a small hallway. They crawl through it and find it leads to a large room full of goats on what seems to be artificial grass. We then meet a brand new team led by Gwendoline Christine, who is immediately suspicious of MDR and asks if they’re going to kill her (not a normal question to ask at work, but okay…). She reveals that this department is called Mammalians Nurturable, and hey presto, we’ve got a new department – and it’s linked to the goats, who have intrigued fans enough to inspire plenty of Severance goat theories.
Mark and Helly talk to the woman, asking her if she knows anything about the Wellness department or Ms. Casey. Mark reminds her that if they can make Ms. Casey disappear, any one of them could follow, including their goats, and it seems to do the trick. She eventually admits that Ms. Casey used to conduct wellness sessions in their “husbandry tanks.” She and her staff all seem to have liked her; they believe she retired but tell Mark they won’t get in the way if he thinks otherwise. So that’s something, at least.
Milchick’s disturbing gift from The Board
Natalie arrives at Milchick’s office to present him with a gift from The Board. But he is left visibly uncomfortable when he realizes they’re a series of paintings recontextualizing Lumon’s history with Black versions of Kier and his subjects. With her earpiece connected to the mysterious Board, Natalie reels off some corporate-approved messaging, saying: “The Board austerely desires for you to feel connected to Lumon’s history. To that end, please accept from the Board these inclusively re-canonicalized paintings intended to help you see yourself in Kier, our founder.”
She also claims she received the same gift and was “moved” by it, but when the Board terminates the call, Milchick and she exchange an uncomfortable glance before she goes back to her forced smile. Natalie’s facade has slipped for a brief moment, and I’m excited to see if she starts to rebel against Lumon, too. Milchick, understandably, packs up the paintings and puts them away.
Dylan’s innie and Gretchen
In a very emotional scene, Ms. Huang comes to get Dylan and leads him to the former security room, which has now been turned into the Outie Visitation Room. Turns out, Milchick was right when he teased these plans to Dylan and it has the potential to be one of the most twisted “perks” Lumon has come up with.
Dylan learns he’s “earned” an 18-minute visit with his outie’s wife, Gretchen, where they discuss their three kids and get a bit closer. As Dylan’s session with his wife ends, she tells him she’s proud of him and loves him. He doesn’t know how to respond but feels great. Later, Dylan’s outie watches the kids and when asked about the visit, Gretchen tells him it was “weird but good.”
Mark’s big decision and a surprise visit
Natalie visits Devon’s home to discuss Ricken’s book, which became an unexpected hit after it was found on the severed floor. Lumon wants an “innie version” of the book, given the fact they liked it so much, but it’s pretty suspicious that Lumon keeps rocking up to Devon and Ricken’s home.
Devon is equally as suspicious of Devon as she is of Milchick and leaves to meet up with Mark. They try to burn an image into his retinas to take into Lumon, but as we’ve seen before, previous attempts to sneak messages in and out have not gone well.
Asai Reghabi shows up and stops him from going through with this bold idea. She tells him that his wife Gemma is alive and there’s only one way to get information in and out of Lumon: reintegration. Now, reintegration is a controversial choice, considering it killed Petey in Severance season 1, but since Mark is desperate, he decides to go through with the procedure to hopefully stitch his memories back together.
Asai and Mark begin the reintegration process. and this episode ends with the two sides of Mark’s persona blending together, insinuating that the reintegration process may work this time around, but now I’m pretty fearful for Mark’s mental and physical health.
