In Perpetuity – The show begins with Mark Scout (Adam Scott) checking on Peter Kilmer “Petey” (Yul Vazquez) who claimed to have slipped. Petey suggests Mark buy a bathmat. Mark assures him the robe was a gift from his brother-n-law. Petey suggests he stop ragging on it. When Mark offers it to him, he readily accepts. Petey questions if the transoms are sealed and the next-door house empty. Mark says yes before telling him about his neighbor, Ms. Selvig (Patricia Arquette).

Petey has a flashback of Irving “Irv” (John Turturro) saying mixers are not against Lumon Industries’ policies as he enters the restroom. Petey says he tried to convince Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette) to give them mixers. She refused, saying he must earn it.

When Petey returns to reality, he is standing in front of Mark who questions if he is okay. Vulnerable. Petey experiences temporary disorientation. Mark goes upstairs, leaving Petey in the basement.

Grabbing a glass of milk and pastries, Ms. Selvig takes a seat by the window.

Petey provides Mark with an explanation of how he feels there are two separate lives sewn together. He says what’s messed up is relativity. His memory goes back to when he was 5 years old. The present is altered by two different pasts. Someone assured him it would improve over time. Mark asks who assured it. Petey tells him about a group that is going to fight back against Severance. He denies the group has anything to do with the WMC. Mark asks what he wants from him. Petey asks if he is interested in knowing what type of work, he is doing at Lumon Industries. Mark verbally refuses to unsever. Correcting him, Petey says it is not unsever but reintegration. Mark claims Severance has improved his life, not ruined it.

Petey says at what cost before giving a fake scenario of him killing people at work. Petey claims Lumon Industries has a secret department that doesn’t let you leave. Confused, Mark repeats what he said about not leaving. He assures him people are down there now. When Mark asks if the people are restrained, Petey refuses to talk about it for fear of the monitors being bugged or Irving coming. Mark tells him they are not at work. After asking about the whereabouts of June, he covers his face with his hands and apologizes. When Mark asks him to identify June, he admits she is his daughter.

Ms. Selvig eats while watching Mark through a window. Concerned about Mark, she asks if he is okay. Mark watches a news segment about a newly severed company’s employee becoming impregnated at work. A news anchor recommends the woman identify herself, so she can have a real conversation. Another news anchor defends the lady because she risks losing her job if she goes public. The news anchors get into a verbal argument when the man very descriptively talks about the implant surgery.

After waking, Mark goes downstairs to tell Petey he is headed to work. He informs him of his decision to not reintegrate before saying his wife died in a motor vehicle crash. Petey recalls when Mark arrived at work with red eyes. They joked about it, saying he was allergic to the elevator. He always thought Mark carried his hurt.

Ms. Selvig greets Mark as he emerges from his house. He thanks her for bringing him cookies. She promises to bring more as she utilizes a hairdryer to melt the ice off her stoop.

Mark arrives at Lumon Industries. He receives a copy of the group photo from Helly’s party. Helly (Britt Lower) boasts about her ability to delete the scary things. Irv informs him of Dylan (Zach Cherry) training Helly in his absence. He questions if Mark was food poisoned. Dylan welcomes him back to work. Helly informs him about her resignation letter. He asks if she submitted it. She believes Lumon will no longer order them to the breakroom. Milchick (Tramell Tillman) tells Mark about talking to his outie yesterday. He describes his outie as sounding shattered because he wasn’t coming to work. Mark does his first announcement as the new department head. Whispering, Irv tells Helly about how Mark passed gas when Petey read his announcement.

Milchick snaps a few pictures of Mark as he begins to read the announcement. Dylan suggests he stop standing weirdly. Helly offers for them to look away while he reads the announcement. Mark stops amid the announcement to ask Milchick about how fast Helly’s resignation was processed. Standing up, she asks if it is necessary to work her full shift. Mark informs them Lumon Industries denied Helly’s resignation request. She refuses to believe her outie would deny her resignation before rushing out of the room. Milchick immediately calls to alert Cobel to Helly’s behavior.

Devon (Jen Tullock) and Rickon “Rick” (Michael Chernus) arrive at Mark’s house. He asks if it would be okay if he quietly sneaks up to the door. She believes he isn’t home because his car is not there. Jokingly, Rick says he may have played hooky. She tells him to do it while she waits in the vehicle. He places the package in front of the door. When they drive away, Ms. Selvig walks toward Mark’s house. Petey appears to be drawing a map. Ms. Selvig picks up Mark’s package.

Petey is sitting on the floor when he has a flashback of hiding something from Mark at work. When Mark asks about the drawing, Petey says, “You getting back to work, in cubist form.” Mark tells him to explain what that means before asking what he is wearing. Petey is sitting at his cubicle in Mark’s robe. When Mark hurriedly puts up the panel between their cubicles, Petey is startled. Petey hears Ms. Selvig unlock Mark’s door. She walks through his home and down into the basement, where Petey is staying. She takes something out of a box and stuffs it in her bag. Tripping out, Petey rushes up the steps while Ms. Selvig talks on the phone. The phone call appears to be from Milchick about Helly’s behavior after discovering her resignation was denied.

As she leaves, Petey appears to be returning to the house when he has a flashback of the hallways at Lumon Industries. He tries to focus his eyes on the hand-drawn map. He experiences pain while walking down the hallway.

Mark speaks to Helly who is locked inside the bathroom. He reminds her that she has been there for 25 minutes. She assures him she is fine. Warning her, he enters the bathroom as she tries to hide something from him. He assures her the elevator detectors will pick up lettering written on her skin. Holding out her arms, she asks if this looks like lettering. When she places her arms together there is a note that reads “let me out.” He assumed she was okay with working at Lumon. She tells him the number thing is scary. He assures her not all the numbers are scary some are more comforting. He reminds her of Mr. Grainer (Michael Cumpsty). He flips on the water tap and walks out.

Irv is waiting on the outside of the door. He explains how the stressful exchanges are concerning, which he contributes to food poisoning. He describes the manner in which Helly spoke to Mark as “loathing. Mark asks him what is really going on. He informs him about Dylan’s continuous talk of incentives like waffle parties and pencil erasers. He suggests Helly be introduced to the perpetuity wing. He believes it is too early.

Milchick meets Cobel in the hallway to inquire about her inspection of Mark’s house. She tells him about the package left by Rick. He hurriedly opens it to find the book, “The You You Are” by Dr. Ricken. He starts to reach chapter 12 when Mark approaches to alert them of Helly’s behavior. Milchick asks if he requests supervisory interaction. He says no. Cobel tells him it is okay for him to enter her office. He informs her of Irv’s suggestion regarding the perpetuity wing. She asks if he has filled out the necessary paperwork. He says no because it may be too soon. He comments on how Petey ran the department. She assures him if that were the case, Petey would still be with Lumon. Confused, he asks what she is talking about. After throwing her mug at him, she says it was painful for her.

Dylan boasts about his deltoid muscles, saying he is sure his outie works out. Helly writes “I don’t want to work here” on a notepad. She sticks the note inside the cap of a permanent marker. Dylan and Irv continue to talk about pay for displaying muscles as she seals the note inside the marker cap. She fills a glass with water and sticks the marker cap in her mouth when Mark shows up. He informs her the code detectors can decipher messages inside the human body. She refuses to speak because the cap is still in her mouth. He tells her about Milchick’s job, which is to extract messages. He says Milchick will ask how long ago she ingested the message, so he knows which end to start the extraction. She spits the cap in his hand. He orders her to shut her computer down, they are going somewhere.

Irv talks while leading them down a hallway to the perpetuity wing. Dylan gives her a note, with scribbles on it. He tells her it is Eagan bingo. She asks what it is for. He says to keep you from getting bored. They run into Burt (Christopher Walken) in the hallway. They appear to be shocked. Mark asks if he is from the Optics and Design department. Burt says, “Macrodata Refinement.” Irv tells about their previous meeting in Ms. Casey’s (Dichen Lachman) waiting room. Dylan angrily asks if they are out for a stroll. Felicia (Claudia Robinson) tells them about an egg drop challenge held in the team-building space. As they hurry away, Dylan rudely comments on their eggs.

Natalie (Sydney Cold Alexander) is waiting in Cobel’s office when she enters. She questions if her visit is regarding Helena. Natalie says her visit is in regard to Peter Kilmer. She alerts her of the board attending their meeting. Cobel informs the board about Petey’s behavior before his departure. She believes he may have been trying to reintegrate. The board upholds its belief that Severance cannot be reversed, which Petey should be fully aware of because he managed the severed floor. Natalie cuts Cobel off when she tries to ask a question.

As they walk to the perpetuity wing, they voice their opinions on the Optics and Design department workers. Mark describes them as nice. Disagreeing with Mark, Dylan says they are centered around cruelty while macrodats are true and clever. He tells them about a coup implemented by the Optics and Design department decades ago. Helly asks how many departments Lumon has, but no one knows. Dylan believes the coup is why all the departments are segregated. Irv calls it false. Helly suggests they kill Mark to show them no one fu**s with them. They arrive at the perpetuity wing, where they meet Lumon Industries CEO James Eagan (Michael Siberry). They walk downstairs to a room filled with displays of former Lumon CEOs.

Distraught, Petey is walking alone down a highway.  Kier Eagan (Marc Geller) talks about death being near. Petey studies the map while Kier speaks about his discoveries deemed “tempers,” malice, frolic, woe, and dread. He explains how the character of a man is defined by the precise ratio that is inside his body. Myrtle Eagan (Jullian Lindig) believes every member of the Lumon family is the keeper of an ethos. Helly marks off a square on the Eagon bingo paper. Mark acknowledges she got one. Irv claims at 7 years old, Myrtle’s father told her she would be the first Lumon female CEO. As they view a wall of human smiles, Irv says Lumon has helped each of these individuals. He says the human smiles are continuously rotated, meaning Lumon has probably helped millions of people. Helly asks if Lumon is a dental company.

Irv gets agitated with Dylan when he asks if they are ready to leave. A replica of Kier’s house is stored inside the building. As they enter the house, Irv says it is as Kier left it. When Dylan describes the smell as “ass,” Irv raises his voice, “Stop treating this like some kind of beer party.” Irv demands to know if Mark was going to sit on Kier’s bed. He denies the allegations when Irv finds his copy of Dylan’s Eagon bingo. Mark assures him it was just for fun. Irv accuses him of perverting Kier’s message with impiety and jokes. As Irv scolds Mark, Helly flees. He runs after her.

Milchick reads Rick’s book.

Helly tries the stairwell door, which is locked. She turns and runs back in the direction she came. Removing the fire extinguisher, she smashes the stairwell door window, activating the alarm system. Milchick lays the book down and takes off. When Mark reaches Helly, she has her hand stuck through the door window. He pulls her back and they both fall to the floor just in time for Mr. Grainer to arrive. He orders Helly to follow him. She stares at Mark as he refuses to interject. When he opens the door, she enters a dark hall. At the end of the hall, she meets Milchick who treats the laceration on her forearm. He reminds her how hard Mark has tried to make her content with Lumon. She asks him if he sees how fu**ed up their job is, but he refuses to listen.

He nicely orders her to sit and place her hands on the table. He puts on headphones and speaks into a microphone, “I’m bringing up the compunction statement for Helly R.” She is stunned when he shines a light in her face. He orders her to read it. Initially, she refuses but eventually relents. As she reads the message, Milchick evaluates her voice to determine if she is being serious. He doesn’t believe she doesn’t mean it, ordering her to read it again. The message is an apology. He orders her to read it again while Cobel watches.

Mark sits quietly as Dylan leaves. He says do you want the lights off. He says yes without moving. He removes the group photo, with Petey and replaces it with the one with Helly. He discovers a map inside one of the photo frames. As he studies the map, Petey is tripping out inside of a convenience store. His nose is bleeding. Mark leaves the map inside the photo frame. The checkout girl (Alexis Cofield) watches him. Mark walks down a long hallway. Petey tells the lady he needs tokens for food. Mark inserts his keycard into the elevator slot about the same time, Petey appears to experience sharp pain. Mark enters the elevator as the checkout girl gets a closer look at Petey. Yelping in pain, Petey slides to the floor. Mark exits the elevator and walks out the front door. It is dark as he walks to his vehicle.

Mark arrives home to find Petey gone. He drives around looking for him. An ambulance, with its emergency lights on passes by.  He follows behind it. He pulls into the convenience store parking lot behind the ambulance. He looks around and sees two workers lead Petey outside. He appears to make eye contact with Mark before his body slumps to the ground. One of the men says Petey is not breathing. Mark gets in his vehicle and drives away. When he returns home, he lines boxes up on a sofa. As he walks up the steps, he hears a cellphone when the episode comes to an end.

 

Severance Review

Not a lot has really changed since the first episode. Helly is not refusing to accept her Severance. Poor Mark is about ready to throw in the towel. Why he so greatly fears retaliation is not clear. It makes one question if he reacted in the same manner when he signed on with Lumon. Helly’s behavior is understandable. After all, she has an implant deep inside her brain that is controlling her memory as both an outie and Lumon employee.

Irv appears to be more dedicated to Lumon than the others. His seriousness about the Eagon history is obvious. At least, he didn’t fall to sleep at work this episode. I was beginning to wonder if he was headed to the breakroom.

There is enough going on to keep my attention. While I am concerned about there being two seasons, I guess we will just need to wait and see.

The episode deserves a 7. Get more Severance recaps here. Support ReelMockery by clicking the link to learn more.