Warning: This review of Severance season 2 episode 5 will contain spoilers.

Last week‘s bombshell reveal raised a number of questions for the plot of Severance going forward (some of which are addressed here), but episode 5 truly soars when it digs into the existential meaning of being severed. Irving (John Turturro) is gone. Helly (Britt Lower) was really Helena, an outie posing as an innie. Not to mention Mark (Adam Scott) and the situation with his missing/dead wife.

The world’s most confusing love triangle gets even more twisted in “Trojan’s Horse”, once Mark and Helly deal with the fallout of Helena’s deception. Innie Mark is at his lowest here, resigned to give up the resistance after finally realizing the iron grip that Lumon has on virtually every aspect of their lives. But it’s likely more emotional than that; he had finally “moved on” from Gemma/Miss Casey (Dichen Lachman) and fallen for Helly, but that version of Helly was a lie. Will he ever tell Helly what happened at the ORTBO, or will she have to find it out for herself?

Helly is rightfully going through her own existential crisis after learning the truth, expressing fear and disgust at her outie using her body. Britt Lower continues to impress across season 2, fully showing the differences between Helly and Helena and how clear it probably should have been to the innies all along that they were being fooled. For now, she’s essentially the outsider on the severed floor, as the innies express their distrust in Helena’s tactics, even when the know that Helly can’t be fully held responsible.

Episode 5 even goes out of its way to show Milchick’s (Tramell Tillman) identity crisis. He’s still conflicted over the Kier paintings he was gifted earlier in season 2, and tries to confide in Natalie (Sydney Cole Alexander) to see if she felt similar before his performance review. But she swiftly shuts him down, betraying zero emotion or indication of how she feels on any kind of personal level. Do we sense a bit of doubt in Milchick’s iron-clad Lumon devotion? His monthly performance review, while the funniest chunk of the episode – he’s reprimanded for his use of big words, and incorrect application of paper clips – maybe indicates his slipping faith in the company he’s devoted his life to.

For now, at least, he’s “tightening the leash”, and immediately lashes out at Mark in the elevator, intimidating him by letting him know he knows about his sex with Helena at the ORTBO. I understand the desire from Dan Erickson and the creative team to explore more of Milchick this time around – and you won’t see me complain about Tramell Tillman’s performance – but I wonder sometimes where Severance is going with this development. Unless the show finds something new to say about how middle management is essentially identical to the menial workers in the eyes of corporate (especially a Black middle manager), or finds a new direction for the character, it sometimes feels like time we could be spending with the innies.

This didn’t click for me until late in the episode when Ricken (Michael Chernus) is drafting his innie version of “The You You Are”, but “Trojan’s Horse” is mostly about how far we’ll go to get what we desire. For Ricken, it’s warping his inspirational text in the bizarre hopes that it’ll spark a revolution – but the money helps, too. For Milchick, it’s enduring the criticisms and debasement by Lumon brass in the pursuit of Kier’s good graces, whatever that may mean. For Helena, it’s subjecting herself to the severance procedure to please her father.

Severance was likely going to slow down after such a big week last week, but episode 5 has no less meat on its bone. The plot doesn’t necessarily advance much until Dylan (Zach Cherry) finds Irving’s hidden message to find the black hallway, and again in the final moments when Mark’s realities begin to blur. At the very least, the episode is a welcome reminder that the show can do both existential drama and solid character developments in-between its wackier moments. I can’t say I’m left with an immediate urge to see what happens next – or perhaps not on the same level as I have been in previous weeks – but there are plenty of moments and scenes within “Trojan’s Horse” which will carry me over until then.

• You Got Your Lost in My Severance!: The cold open is kind of fascinating in the way it’s shot, even if it’s frustratingly obtuse as to what exactly is happening. episode director Sam Donovan really doesn’t want us to know the ominously whistling man’s identity, but I don’t know who it could potentially be that would be so shocking. What I can’t help but wonder though is who Irving is calling at the pay phone late in the episode. There’s a theory which I’ve recently become aware of that Irving once had Milchick’s job before he was severed, which could help explain how he has the names and addresses of Lumon employees. Could it be someone still at Lumon, or someone else who we haven’t met yet?