Severance – Attila

By starrymag | February 28, 2025

By: Kelly Kearney

 

 

Get ready to be bombarded with more answers, character development, and jaw-dropping moments than you ever imagined—because Atilla delivers reunions, infidelity, reintegration, and romance all within the first half of the episode! With episodes like this, it’s no wonder Severance has skyrocketed to the #1 spot on the streamer (sorry, “Ted Lasso” fans). Each week, the show somehow manages to outdo itself, and Atilla might just be the most explosive episode yet.

Mark’s Second Chance

We open on a disturbed Mark (Adam Scott) confiding in Dr. Reghabi (Karen Aldridge) about his brief experience integrating with his Innie. He’s troubled—not just by the disorienting connection between his two selves, but by the fact that Gemma (Dichen Lachman) didn’t recognize him. The thought weighs heavily on him. As he processes this, he becomes introspective about death, grief, and all the things he would do differently if he ever got his wife back—like quit drinking and truly listen to her. Now, that possibility is real, and he’s struggling to make sense of it. That chip she implanted in his brain is doing more than uncovering Lumon’s secrets.

Speaking of, at the Lumon offices, Innie Mark, Helly (Brit Lower), and Dylan (Zach Cherry) quietly discuss the hidden note Irving left for them. It’s not just a sketch of that ominous hallway—it’s also a set of written directions to the floor below them. Helly, still holding onto her hall pass, offers to check it out, but Dylan wants no part of their plans. He’s trying to stay on Milchick’s good side to avoid losing his Family Visitation Sessions with his Outie’s wife. Besides, their investigation will have to wait—Mark is still experiencing random moments of integration, and his Innie is growing increasingly confused by it. He covers well, but not well enough, as Helly notices something is off with him and follows him to the bathroom when he complains of a headache.

Behind a closed stall door and away from Lumon’s all-hearing-ears, Mark finally tells her the truth: “Our vessels connected. We had sex.” Helly’s mood shifts instantly. She tries to remain strong, but it’s clear the news unsettles her. She leaves abruptly, telling Mark she needs a minute. She understands that Helena tricked him—but that doesn’t erase the feeling that she has been violated.

Big Words Equals Big Shame

Fresh off the heels of his disastrous Performance Review—which took an entire day plus a lunch break—Seth Milchick (Tramell Tillman) is seething. The Board found his paperclip usage excessive, but what’s really eating at him is their criticism of his vocabulary. Milchick is an English teacher’s dream, a walking thesaurus who likely aced his SATs. He weaves multisyllabic words into every conversation, and for the Board to mock that? It feels personal.

Not that he says so. His frustration is all in the tightness of his jaw, and the simmering anger behind his usually composed expression.

Lumon’s micromanagement is unparalleled, and thanks to Miss Huang (Sarah Bock), Milchick is under constant scrutiny. In a tense interaction, he reminds her that she cannot graduate from her fellowship without his approval, deeming her “Wintertide material”—whatever that means. From his tone, though, it’s clear he disapproves of her relentless tattling. As a subtle punishment, he sends her back to her desk, stripping her of her self-appointed authority just as she was settling into the role of boss-for-a-day. The tension between them is palpable. The look Huang shoots him as she returns to her seat suggests that their silent power struggle is on the verge of spilling over.

Later, we see what Milchick had in mind for his day off—standing in front of a mirror in a Lumon storage room, berating himself over his word choices. “You must grow up,” he repeats, over and over, like some twisted pep talk meant to cement Lumon’s cult-like brainwashing. He’s determined to simplify his speech, but as he struggles in that dimly lit room, it’s clear—this is a compulsion that won’t be easy to break.

Innie/Outie Hookups

After meeting his Outie’s wife, Gretchen (Merritt Weaver), in the secretive Family Visitation Suite, Dylan is left unexpectedly smitten. Though he shares a body with Gretchen’s husband, the severance procedure has split his consciousness into two separate personalities. The growing attraction between them—one that Gretchen seems to share—raises an unsettling question: if acted upon, would that be infidelity?

As we saw in her interactions with Outie Dylan, Gretchen is unhappy and unfulfilled in her marriage, but Innie Dylan seems to fill in the missing pieces his Outie half can’t. Where his Outie lacks ambition, seemingly indifferent to how it affects his wife and children, Dylan—at least before the Overtime Contingency Plan—was one of Lumon’s most dedicated employees. He also provides Gretchen with emotional support, which leads to the two of them sharing a kiss, further complicating the situation. But at Lumon, every so-called perk is just another manipulation. If Milchick or the Board catches wind of this budding relationship, the consequences for love will almost certainly be cruel.

Dylan isn’t the only one testing the boundaries of Innie/Outie romance. After taking time to process Mark’s shocking Woe’s Hollow confession, Helly wants just one thing: to experience what Helena did with Mark. That hookup was supposed to be hers, and she asks Mark if he’s up for a repeat. Of course, he is.

The two sneak off to an empty office, where they have sex again—adding yet another layer of complexity to Lumon’s already tangled web of relationships.

Threesomes At Dinner Are Awkward

While fan theories have long speculated that Burt (Christopher Walken) might have a darker role in Lumon’s web, never has it been more obvious than when Irving (John Turturro) arrives for dinner with him and his husband, Fields (John Noble). From the moment Irving steps through the door, the evening unfolds with strange and unsettling moments. Beyond the inherent awkwardness of introducing your ‘work-husband’ to your actual husband, there’s something off about the couple’s home.

A goat’s head sculpture sits ominously in the living room—questioning what exactly was Burt’s real role at Lumon? We already know he was involved in whatever lurks beyond that long, dark hallway, but why does this dinner feel like a setup? And why, while they’re serving up an appetizer of awkward, is Mr. Drummond (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson)  rifling through Irving’s apartment. Did Burt have a hand in making sure Irving was conveniently occupied? What does that mean for the sweet later-in-life romance between him and Irving that ignited the fans’ love for the characters? Nothing is what it seems. There is a stark difference between Burt’s shy and romantic Innie and the predatory glint–like a wolf tracking injured prey, in his Outie’s eyes. He almost seems to relish in the uncomfortable moments between Fields and Irving, but he also retains a softness for the man he tracked down in the streets last week. .Irving seems torn too. He feels guilty over Fields’ obvious pain but those were choices he had no control over. It is a complicated situation, love always is, but when Lumon is pulling the heartstrings, even a fluttering heart can be cause for suspicion.

Adding to all of these bad vibes is Burt’s husband, Fields, who also goes by the nickname ‘Atilla’—and has a jealous but jittery way about him like a lamb, ironically, caught in that wolf’s teeth. Throughout the meal he drinks heavily, and with bitterness seeping through every word, he finally blurts out a shocking revelation: Burt hasn’t worked at Lumon in 20 years.

How is that possible? Irving knows the first Severance office only opened 12 years ago. Something isn’t adding up. The rest of dinner is uncomfortable, until Burt walks Irving to the door to say goodbye. Their connection appears real, and unless Burt is some Main Boss Villain of the series, it seems too heartbreaking to think about their love being another Lumon plot to control the severed.

Surgical Reunification

Mark has been hesitant to complete his reintegration, haunted by what happened to Petey after the procedure. He allowed Doctor Reghabi to plant that chip in his mind and since then, he has been slipping unpredictably between his Innie and Outie selves, with no control over when it happens. From random nosebleeds to relentless hunger—and now Miss Casey/Gemma’s voice echoing in his Outie mind—Mark is struggling to keep his grip on reality. Still, he is desperate to get back to the Severed floor and find his wife, and Reghabi believes Mark is the key to taking Lumon down all together, but this chip is taking too long. To speed up the transition, Reghabi suggests flooding the chip—a process that could fully integrate him, but at a small risk of brain hemorrhage.

“So, I could bleed to death?” Mark asks, instinctively pulling away as she examines his head for a surgical site. Finding his wife is his goal, not dying before he gets a chance to see her again. He gets angry and storms out of the house, telling the doctor he won’t go through with it.

Mark heads to a diner where things take a darker turn; Helena has been stalking Outie Mark and she slides into the booth across from him for a friendly and flirty chat. Did her experience with him in Woe’s Hollow soften her feelings toward him, or is this just another calculated move to keep him under Lumon’s control? She attempts to reassure him that Lumon is improving workplace safety, and her whole work-wife vibe gives Mark a little mood boost.

No matter what actual emotions she might be wrestling with beneath her chilly exterior, one thing hasn’t changed—Helena is an Eagan. If history tells us anything, it’s that she will do whatever it takes to protect the company and make her father proud.

After the initial panic wears off and his belly is full, Mark decides to go through with the dangerous procedure Reghabi mentioned. With a gruesome slice to his head, the doctor carefully stimulates his brain chip, and at first, nothing seems out of the ordinary. The surgery is painless, and Mark wonders when he’ll feel the effects.

Then, suddenly, it hits…A surge of memories from his Innie life crashes into him. The two versions of himself violently collide, and the reintegration is excruciating. His scream is cut short by a knock at the door and he is forced to answer when he realizes it’s his sister, Devon (Jen Tullock) and his car is in the driveway. She is barely through the door when she starts bombarding him with her own suspicions about Lumon and that unsettling encounter she had last season with that wealthy pregnant woman who seemed to have forgotten her.

Devon is onto something, but Mark is overwhelmed, and he brushes her off, claiming he’s sick and he looks at it. That only pushes her to press him for more answers and in his frustration, he nearly lets slip his own mission to expose Lumon. This angers Devon over him leaving her out of this secret plan, and that’s when panic sets in. Mark can’t speak, he can’t lift a glass of water to his parched lips. Something POPS! in Mark’s brain and a flood of images—Helena, Helly, Gemma, Miss Casey—overtakes him, drowning out his sister’s voice. His body seizes up, and he collapses into Devon’s arms, forcing Reghabi out of hiding to rush to his aid.

The reintegration is complete—but which version of Mark will take control? Judging by his body’s violent reaction, one thing is certain: the road ahead is about to get a whole lot more dangerous for him and anyone who gets in Lumon’s way.