The ninth episode of Severance answers the most important question that viewers have been dying to know since the show's premiere: Can Helena, um, swim? YES! Watch her as she smoothly completes her laps in the swimming pool, though I must admit I quickly got distracted by that clock hanging on the wall because it reminded me that Severance doesn't waste any opportunity when it comes to offering its audience hilariously weird things. Most clocks generally have 1, 2, 3,..., 12 numbers. The numbers in the clock you see in Severance are 5, 10, 15,..., 60. But hold on, there's more. Milchik informs Miss Huang that she will be moved to the Gunnel Eagan Empathy Center in Svalbard, where she will work to steward global reforms. Here's the bizarre part: This promotion requires material sacrifice. What does Miss Huang sacrifice? Her ring toss game! She destroys the console with a trophy. Needless to say, Miss Huang is not happy, both with the promotion and the sacrifice. "I thought I'd be finishing the quarter," she inquires innocently. "Empathy awaits, fellow Huang," Milchilk coldly replies. This is what you get for snitching on your boss. I bet Milchik might have pulled the strings to remove this young girl from his office.
Workplaces can be toxic. Shouldn't they actually try to keep their employees happy instead of offering superficial consolations through empty gestures and promises? What steps can they take? For starters, if an employee doesn't want to work on a particular day, grant them leave from the office. When Mark tells Milchik that he can't check-in due to some stuff going on in his life, the manager of the severed floor approves his leave, but not before demanding a promise from Mark that he will return to his desk the next day on time. Even Milchik no longer feels okay with being treated like a replaceable machine. When his superior asks him to apologize for using a "big word," he gets so frustrated that he tells him to devour feculence (in simple words: eat shit). I think more people should start telling their toxic bosses to devour feculence. Demand respect - be like Milchik.
Oh, but what "life stuff" is Mark dealing with? Mark and Devon meet Harmony to take care of the reintegration thing. When Harmony takes a big pause before mentioning Cold Harbor, and when she does the same before revealing what its completion would mean, you practically feel like screaming. Just tell us already what the deal is with this mysterious file! How are Mark and Gemma connected to it? Well, you will have to wait for one more week. Am I missing something? Oh, yes. Irving and Burt bid each other a teary farewell, and Dylan's wife informs his outie about that kiss with his innie. The outie Dylan threatens to quit his job, and the wife breaks up with the innie. But hey, the innie Dylan, very heartbroken, himself decides to quit. Can innies really leave Lumon? It's the outies who are in charge, right? What if the outie Dylan chooses to continue working at Lumon? Will they create a new innie version of Dylan? This is possible, as was evident in that episode where we met Gemma and saw her routine torture. But my entire focus for now is on the last episode of the second season of Severance. It better contain some real, nasty surprises.
Final Score - [6/10]