From awkward dinners full of really dark theological discussions to emotional affairs with your own spouse, Severance season two’s sixth episode had a whole lot to dig into. What stood out the most and what new problems did it raise for Innies and Outies alike? Here are the biggest revelations and questions from “Attila.”
Revelations From Severance Season 2, Episode 6, “Attila”
Dylan Told His Colleagues About the Testing Floor and Irv B.’s Map
Innie Dylan’s meetings with his Outie’s wife Gretchen are keeping him in line, but only to a point. While he’s still not being totally honest with his coworkers, he did tell them about Irv’s secret map to the Testing Floor.
Helly was ready to go grab it and get down there (a moment that feels like possible foreshadowing that the map is already gone), because she assumes that’s where they’re keeping Ms. Casey. Only, Dylan and Mark weren’t exactly eager to get going. That could change quickly, though, as Innie Mark finally started to see his Outie’s life thanks to reintegration.
Milchick Is Taking His Performance Review Very Seriously
Seth Milchick clearly blames Miss Huang for the highly specific criticism he received during his performance review. He’s also taking it very seriously. He spent hours putting paper clips on the “right” way before he practiced speaking in a simpler manner. By the end of that exercise he seemed to be giving himself an angry pep talk about the need to “grow” so he can rise even higher at Lumon.
Mr. Milchick’s story has been one of the best and most surprising during Severance‘s second season, but rather than realize Lumon is manipulating him with this absurd performance review he’s fully embracing the company. Considering he’s also “tightening the leash” on MDR he could become as evil as the still MIA Harmony Cobel.
Mark Finally Told Helly What He Did With Helena
After initially keeping the truth about his tryst with Helena-pretending-to-be Helly, Mark S. finally came clean about what he’d done with Lumon’s future CEO. It was yet another violation of Helly’s autonomy by her Outie and also the worst. After taking this upsetting information poorly, Helly responded by refusing to let Helena steal Mark’s affections from her. So, rather than wallow, Helly asked Mark if he wanted to have sex with the real her, which led to a very tender moment in a makeshift “tent” in an abandoned office on the severed floor.
It was a loving moment in an episode full of romances that could end badly, but it caused Outie Mark problems later when he saw himself sleeping with (what he thought) was Helena Eagan. Everything Mark is doing and risking is for his wife Gemma. Now he also has to deal with knowing his Innie had sex with a woman keeping his not-dead wife locked up in a basement.
Mr. Drummond Found Irving’s Lumon Intel
Mr. Drummond and his little frolic hand tattoo broke into Irving’s Lumon-owned home and found Irv’s intel on severed employees. Those papers have some curious handwritten notes and markings. Irv underlined random letters in names and speculated on whether someone agreed to severance because of a car crash settlement, something that stands out when you remember Gemma Scout “died” in a car crash herself.
Why did Drummond break into Irv’s house at all? Irving is working with someone, but that person he’s calling from the payphone could be a double agent. It’s also possible Lumon has every payphone in Kier tapped. Whatever reason Drummond had for investigating a former employee, Lumon now knows what Irving knows. And unlike us, Drummond probaly knows exactly what those notes really mean.
Helena Eagan Is a Sociopath Who Pushed Mark To Risk His Life
After finding out Helena Eagan stole her identity and slept with Mark, Helly said, “It’s probably another tactic.” She thought it was another way to divide MDR and control them, but we know Helena Eagan hates herself and her life and was jealous of her Innie. Now it seems she’s also a sociopath who wants to also have sex with Mark’s Outie. She came on real strong after Mark was done shoveling Chinese food into his face.
He played the whole interaction very cool considering he was meeting with the woman who has his “dead” wife locked up at work. That is until reintegration forced him to reckon with the fact he knows Helena already. BIBLICLY. That led him to run home so Dr. Reghabi could flood his severance chip, speeding up his reintegration.
That….that didn’t go so great.
Questions From Severance Season 2, Episode 6, “Attila”
Wait…Is Mark Going to Die from Reintegration?
“Attila” ended with a bang. Specifically, Mark’s reintegrated head banging on his kitchen floor. He was already losing huge chunks of time before he let Reghabi flood his severance chip. His Innie had already also started to see his home life. But the procedure proved too much as Mark fell unconscious and began frothing at the mouth as his horrified sister Devon looked on.
So, uh, is Mark going to die like Petey? That might seem like an absurd question since Adam Scott’s character is the show’s main character, but we aren’t asking if they’re going to kill his character off. We’re asking if Mark is going to die and be brought back to life by Lumon as the company possibly did with Gemma.
Ms. Casey is weird. Miss Huang is weird. Possibly because both died and Lumon brought them back as severed employees with no Outie. What if Lumon does something similar with Mark? On Severance, that’s not an outrageous possibility, even if it’s obviously far more likely Reghabi will save him before he actually dies.
Was Mark a Good Husband to Gemma?
Mark’s conversation with Reghabi at the episode’s start felt like a partial confession by Mark. who talked about all the things he was willing to “bargain” with to get his wife back. That emotional moment is the first time we’ve wondered if Mark’s drinking problems and everything they cause began before his wife’s passing.
If it did, what if she was out of the house the night of her “fatal” crash because of his actions? What if he’s been coping with both grief and guilt this whole time? It would make an already heartbreaking story even more brutal.
Is Burt Really a Lumon Shill?
Burt said he used to be a “scoundrel” who was so bad his own husband doesn’t think his Outie can get into Heaven. Burt also lied in the previous episode when he told Irving he’d been fired from Lumon for a romantic relationship. (If he had, he wouldn’t have willingly made a happy retirement video for his Innie.) He is also seemingly lying about how long he has worked for Lumon, with his employment going back well before he claims. And while he was busy fibbing, Mr. Drummond just happened to know that specific night was the perfect time to both break into Irv’s house and take his time rummaging through Irving’s secret intel.
So is Burt secretly a loyal Lumon mole? Is he a scoundrel doomed to eternal damnation because he’s done evil things for an evil company? The evidence certainly pointed that way even before that last ominous shot of him watching Irving leave.
Is Lumon Really Going to Destroy Dylan and Gretchen’s Marriage?
“I sometimes wonder if you’re just not happy.” We know Gretchen was talking about her Outie husband when she said that to Dylan G. However, we’re going to respond as if she was speaking to us because we are not happy watching Lumon’s manipulation possibly destroy a marriage.
With Dylan G., Gretchen can emotionally (and physically) cheat on her own husband with her…own husband? And that’s leading to lies at home with her actual husband, all of which is undermining what seems to have been a loving marriage before.
Is this really going to happen? Is Lumon’s desire to control Dylan G. in service to “Cold Harbor” really going to breakup a family? We really hope not because this arc is especially hard to watch unfold.
If Helena/Helly Gets Pregnant, Who Is the Baby’s Mother?
Severance raised some truly amazing, deep and deeply troubling theological and philosophical questions about the human soul in this episode but we’re already wondering about a potential issue that could come up very soon: If Helena/Helly R. gets pregnant with Mark’s child, which one of them will be the mother?
We’ll hold off on speculating in case it never happens…but it’s definitely going to happen, right? And if it does, we know which of them we hope gets maternal rights. Spoiler alert: it ain’t the sociopath.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist who isn’t sure what his Outie does. You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.