Sweet Vitriol

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!

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!!

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.

I can take a slow burner every once in a while in a series like this one. We are going into the depths of the character of Harmony Cobel. Some of the elements that seem to have "bored" some reviewers were put in place to reflect the despair of the character. Details in the episode were helpful in creating a more believable and consistent universe. Some viewers actually like this. The story developed slowly, but by the end of the episode I felt quite satisfied.

I am giving it an 8. But the actual score of this episode also depends on how developments, revelations and the character building will affect the overall story. So we'll be able to evaluate it better after the season ends.

...this episode would be the lowest rated of the entire show.

It contains single character focus on Cobel and none the 4 main "employees", no "office" scenes, very slow and deliberate establishing shots and 1 percent action (one character slaps another). This episode is very slow and unremarkable out of context.

The greatest shows are always the best on a rewatch and Severance is continually setting itself up to reframe everything we know. If you take what you get out of this episode and apply it to the historical record, it explains Cobel in ways that only showing, not telling, reveals.

While the ending is slightly rushed, the episode gets to the point and rockets forward with what is going to be an explosive finale. Nearly every character's tension level has turned up to 11. And I think the setup is complete, just like last season. Now it's time to watch the fireworks show.