Sweet Vitriol

An overall muted but incredibly important episode. One people are gonna hate on from the outset, but I think this episode will end up more beloved over time. We get Cobel / Selvig lore and a big reveal that makes sense and definitely recontextualizes the entire story so far (aka Severance's bread and butter). We also get probably the biggest glimpse of life outside of the town / area where most of our characters live in when visiting Salt's Neck. Here we see Lumon has a long and pretty apparent history of destroying entire livelihoods in the name of power and fortune. This feels like a good set up to have our characters come together for the final two eps, while not overstaying its welcome (clocking in at a solid 37 mins). Looking forward to see if how they stick the landing.

This felt like an odd episode. Cinematography was absolutely gorgeous as always, and Patricia Arquette does an amazing job as Cobel. However, nothing really happened in this episode. We did get one reveal about the origin of Severance, which is very interesting, and raises a lot of questions, however, this story could've easily been told in a two minute cut scene.

Overall, I'm not freaking out just yet, but I really do hope that the endgame plan for this season is strong. So far all of the clues in the season are very interesting and I'm excited to see where the trails will lead us. Interesting that Ben Stiller directed this episode as well because he usually directs the most important episodes so maybe there's some important details we missed.

Looking forward to next week's episode!

This is a good episode, but just considering the length and how disconnected it is from the over arching story so far, this shouldve been wrote as a B plot that spanned over 2 other episodes rather than it's own episode in full. Cinematography is great, the acting is great, and we learn more about Cobel and the general backstory of Lumon. I definitely would not call this episode a skip and I think it does a good job at expanding the world, but I do also feel like it didn't need to be it's own episode, especially with how short and slow moving it is. This episode really could've been condensed into 20 minutes of B plot, but I still appreciate the world and character building.

This one was different and it touched on a lot of things that I think people will appreciate more as time goes and story is revealed. I can't call it a misstep. I think it's important and too premature to call it out so much.

There are a lot of deep themes that those who were raised in deeply religious communities will relate to and that we'll find out as the show progresses and fans will see and appreciate it more in its own merits. Patricia played the part beautifully and this episode is artistically a whole vibe in itself of the emotional emptiness one feels when they're questioning with their deeply rooted religious beliefs. I didn't love it, but I really liked it and believe that I'll love it when future events are revealed. Solid bridge.

I was going to give a really in-depth, well- written review but couldn't nail down all the detail I wanted to include. Patricia Arquette did an amazing job. Her personality is such a contrast to her character - though I can see her madness bleeding through. Loved the episode. I was aware of the shortened episode length a week ago so it didn't upset me. Love the detail, the coherent world-building. I appreciate that they're doling out plot and development in measured steps. Beautiful episode and story-telling. My only qualm is I wanted my girl to get a "waffle party" of her own. Nerd girls in STEM we up!!