“The After Hours”

• Creator: Dan Erickson
• Starring: Adam Scott, Britt Lower, John Turturro, Zack Cherry, Tramell Tillman, Patricia Arquette, Jen Tullock, Michael Chernus, Dichen Lachman

Grade: B+

Warning: The review of Severance season 2 episode 9 will contain spoilers.

So many television shows use the penultimate episode of a season to produce the biggest shocks, but Severance episode 9 is all about building suspense for next week’s season 2 finale. With Mark’s (Adam Scott) completion of Cold Harbor imminent, our major players are coming together – or going apart, in some cases – as they seek to destroy or protect Lumon. Unlike so many of season 2’s installments, “The After Hours” moves along at a breakneck pace, so let’s get going on one of the show’s most densely packed offerings.

“Sweet Vitriol”

• Creator: Dan Erickson
• Starring: Adam Scott, Britt Lower, John Turturro, Zack Cherry, Tramell Tillman, Patricia Arquette, Jen Tullock, Michael Chernus, Dichen Lachman

Grade: B

Warning: The review of Severance season 2 episode 8 will contain spoilers.

Whenever a TV show veers away from its main story to focus on a secondary character, or an understated plotline, it can often feel like the show is spinning its wheels, filling out the network’s episode order mandate. I’m reminded of the season 2 Ted Lasso episode “Beard After Hours”, where the creative team had no plans to write an additional episode, but was thrown a curveball when Apple ordered one more. But episode 8 of Severance doesn’t feel quite so purposeless as it explores the mysterious origins of Ms. Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette), even as we edge closer and closer to the season 2 finale.

“Trojan’s Horse”

• Creator: Dan Erickson
• Starring: Adam Scott, Britt Lower, John Turturro, Zach Cherry, Tramell Tillman, Patricia Arquette, Jen Tullock, Michael Chernus, Dichen Lachman

Grade: B

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.

“Woe’s Hollow”

• Creator: Dan Erickson
• Starring: Adam Scott, Britt Lower, John Turturro, Zach Cherry, Tramell Tillman, Patricia Arquette, Jen Tullock, Michael Chernus, Dichen Lachman

Grade: A

Warning: This review of Severance season 2 episode 4 will contain spoilers.

There’s a number of reasons I’m glad that Severance isn’t streaming on a binge streamer like Netflix, but episode 4 is further proof that the weekly drop is the perfect model for the show. It’s not that dropping the entire season all at once entirely prevents showrunners from making the kind of left-field episodes like “Woe’s Hollow”, but they’re typically more inclined to push the narrative in continuous ways. The episode comes essentially out of left field based on where the show ended last week, but it’s one of the best episodes of the series so far.