Apple TV+ ‘Severance’ Season 2 Episode 4 Review - It Was Helena All Along

If you, like me, were eager to know what would happen to Mark after that reintegration procedure, then be ready for some disappointment. Woe's Hollow mainly serves as a filler episode. It opens with Irving lying in the middle of the snow. Soon, he realizes he is not alone. Mark, from the top of a mountain, asks Irving to climb up. On his way, he meets Helly, and Dylan joins them a few minutes later. All the four severed employees, utterly confused, notice a television, click the play button, and a video starring Milchik informs them that they have been taken outside for an outdoor retreat and team-building occurrence (ORTBO). Trust Severance to provide a fun activity like this with shades of creepiness - nothing here is ever quite normal. As the characters navigate the snowy region, they come across their doubles, who guide them through the forest. Moreover, the slow transitions give you the impression of watching people trapped in the realm of the horror genre. But when have I ever completed a Severance episode without asking logical questions?

How was electricity provided to that television? I couldn't see any switches or wires. How were those doubles hired? Are they severed employees or actors? Why don't Mark, Helly, Dylan, or Irving try talking to them? All that walking on an empty stomach makes Irving a paranoid person. He suggests eating a dead animal and begins to suspect Helly's behavior. Do his suspicions also emerge from feelings of jealousy, given that Mark and Helly have each other while the colleague he loved no longer works at Lumon? Episode 4 offers a vague indication, but overall, it fails to give Irving's suspicion (or call it paranoia) a solid foundation. This development seems more like a result of the style that director Ben Stiller chooses for Woe's Hollow. A group of people in a forest, and that too in a horror genre? Of course, one of them - if not all - is destined to become mad. Otherwise, where will the drama come from?

At the camp, Milchik narrates weird tales of Kier. He wants the severed employees to see that Lumon's founder was a great man. But when Helly and Mark crack a joke about his penis, Milchik gets offended and throws all the marshmallows in the fire. The more fragile the idol, the easier it becomes to offend his followers. Milchik already looks as scary as a strict school teacher. The dark shadows give his stern countenance more menace. One feels he is close to beating Helly with a stick and punching Mark. Hell, he could have thrown them into the fire with all those marshmallows. Helly is first hit with Milchik's bitter gaze and then Irving's question. He doesn't buy the innie Helly's account of what she saw outside Lumon. Both characters hurt each other, though only one ends up sleeping alone in the cold. While Helly and Mark have sex with each other, you think about all the complications that would arise from this action in the future, especially upon Gemma's return. Severance, however, goes one step ahead and breaks down all the ethical doors. The episode, during its final moments, reveals that...it was Helena all along. Throughout this snowy trip, it was the outie Helly who was walking alongside the others in the forest. This forces you to wonder whether there were other moments when Helena Eagan swapped places with Helly R. What will happen to Mark and Helly's relationship from this point onwards? Is Irving now entirely out of the picture? I don't think so. Milchik might have fired Irving, but Severance will bring him back for more adventure. Or maybe...not?

Final Score- [5/10]