'Severance' Episode 4 Review: Sticking to the rules pushes Helly over the edge
Spoilers for 'Severance' Episode 4 'The You You Are'
Apple TV+'s latest thriller 'Severance' by Ben Stiller is slowly proving to be one of the best new watches out there with its unique plot and haunting events that will most definitely leave you wanting to distance yourself from the mysterious Lumon Industries.
Previously on 'Severance', we saw Petey close to death as he experiences unknown symptoms after being reintegrated which confuses and shocks Mark Scout even more. The workers are limited in the Macro data Refinement division which sees the 'new girl' Helly, who is Petey's replacement trying to constantly resign from this hellish workplace. But things aren't that easy, so read to know a bit about the events of the fourth episode and our thoughts on it.
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The fourth episode begins with Helly (Britt Lower) still in the breakroom being forced to read out a statement of apology and is monitored by Milchick (Tramell Tillman) who makes her keep going till her polygraph test proves she means the words. But the poor lady who has read the lines 259 times, doesn't seem any closer to being free from her ordeal. Meanwhile, the mystery regarding the calls Mark (Adam Scott) keeps getting from the unknown phone keeps building.
Episode 4 has a somber note throughout and we can feel the fatigue and frustration exuded by Helly when she finally passed the lie detector test after 1,072 tries. Lumon Industries hides a dark almost abusive side behind its rules that is being made clearer each episode. Tramell Tillman as Milchick does an excellent job as the sinister rule imposer who hides behind straight smiles and will easily induce anger in you. A very interesting relationship that is developing is the one between Irving (John Turturro) and Burt (Christopher Walken) the chief of the Optics and Design division, who seem unusually drawn to each other. Now is it romantic or just a meeting of the minds? It's unclear as of now but quite intriguing. The episode later resumes a calm demeanor which will leave you with bated breath, wondering what's going to go wrong. We also see that the powerful head Ms Cobel (Patricia Arquette) isn't above the system as she takes the desperate measure of drilling into a dead Petey's (Yul Vazquez) head at his funeral to extract his chip with company pressure building regarding his unseverance.
When Helly's outer self betrays her inner self by refusing to resign, the shocked yet later calm manner of Helly will confuse you as she is not one to give up. But sadly this foreshadows the drastic step she ends up taking. The episode saves the worst for last as it ends on a disturbing note of Helly hanging herself as a way to escape it all. A serious episode, it makes clear that the workplace is just going to get worse.
'Severance' returns with a new episode each Friday on Apple TV+.