'Severance' Episode 2: Helly tries to leave with everyone being made to toe the line
Spoilers for 'Severance' Episode 2 'Half Loop'
Apple TV+ finally had its premiere of the Ben Stiller thriller drama 'Severance' and the series is already off to a strong start as viewers are transported to the world where memories can be surgically altered for efficiency.
The Apple TV+ show fiddles with the idea of a work-life balance that has been established in a unique way via a brain implant that separates memories. In the first episode of 'Severance' we see Helly (Britt Lower) joining the company after Mark's (Adam Scott) best friend Petey (Yul Vazquez) mysteriously and suddenly is no more part of the workforce. Later on, we learn that Petey manages to bypass the implant as he gives the outside version of Mark news about everything not being like it seems. So read on to know what happens in the second episode of 'Severance'.
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Episode 2 begins as we see the new employee Helly's induction into the Severed floor of Lumon Industries after undergoing surgery to put in the memory-altering chip. For her welcoming party, the four-person group is made to play a dull game controlled by fixed rules. Milchick (Tramell Tillman), one of the heads is shown to mask his controlling nature under sweet smiles as he makes it clear to Mark to follow protocol. The implant is programmed in such a way that they cannot take hints of work from their innies(inside selves) to their outies(outside selves) which Helly learns the hard way.
Unable to deal with the rules she makes an attempt to escape by writing a chit asking her outie to resign but the elevator detects it with her unable to leave and trapped. This incident attracts the attention of another head, Graner who comes to correct her deviant behavior. But Mark saves her in the nick of time and takes responsibility with an excuse causing him to meet Cobel (Patricia Arquette). Later on, when another colleague named Irving (John Turturro) dozes off, we learn that the implant causes him to have nightmares that wake him up as he had dozed off before, thus setting up an internal punishment for him. We also saw them subtly quell any feeling of animosity by offering incentives like telling the person a bit about their outie, to make them feel special.
It also turns out that Mark who had been given the envelope by Petey is being monitored outside as well when it is revealed that the head, Cobel is his neighbor, and goes by the name Selvig, but he, of course, doesn't know that. She secretly snoops around his house on the pretext of a friendly, neighborly visit as they are getting suspicious of Petey. Thus the second episode establishes the control Lumon Industries has over the workers inside as well as outside. Leaving is not an option and everyone must toe the line or face the consequences.
Episodes 1 and 2 of 'Severance' are available to stream with new episodes to drop each Friday on Apple TV+.