If you thought Severance on Apple TV+ couldn’t get any weirder, think again.
After watching an early press screener of this week’s new Season 2 episode, titled Woe’s Hollow, I can confidently say: Brace yourselves. In my humble opinion, this week’s is the most surreal, mind-bending installment of the series yet, with a huge reveal at the end of the episode in classic Severance style — basically, a major fan theory that’s dominated this season so far will get definitively answered. But that reveal will also leave you with more questions than answers.
Obviously, I’m not going to be spoiling anything in this post. As delicately as I can, I’ll be writing around Apple’s pretty specific requirements to the press about which plot points aren’t allowed to be spoiled from Woe’s Hollow, though I can tell you that much of the episode takes place outdoors. No surprise there, if you’ve seen the official Severance preview footage and sneak peek image from Apple. But even that one factoid I’ve just shared is a little weird, when you think about it. And if you’re up to date on all things Severance.
For example, take a look at the image above. It comes from the new episode, and in it we can see the MDR team bundled up and outdoors. A little strange, no? After all, weren’t we told back in Season 1 that the severance process is spatially dictated? Meaning, it kicks in once the MDR team members’ outies actually go down the Lumon elevator, at which point their innies take over. Here, though, we can see they’ve clearly left the building entirely, so… you’re probably asking yourself who exactly we’re looking at here and why (sorry, I’m not allowed to help you out).
From that strange setting to the fact that parts of this episode made me wonder if I’m actually looking at a dream sequence of some kind, there’s just so much about Woe’s Hollow that kicks the entire series up a notch in a way that I wasn’t expecting. The episode both entertained and perplexed me more than any other single episode of the show thus far. But if you pay attention to nothing else I’ve written, here’s the most important point I want to leave you with:
Apple TV+ drops new episodes of Severance officially every Friday. However, they’re actually available to stream each week in the Apple TV+ app ahead of time — in the early evening, every Thursday. If you’re a hardcore Severance fan like me, I implore you: Make sure you watch this week’s episode as soon as you can, on Thursday night if you can. Otherwise, you’re in danger of having the huge reveal at the end of the episode spoiled. Which, again, will answer a fan theory that’s been percolating all season. I’m telling you, folks; get ready for what in my opinion is the biggest hour of Severance this season.
On a completely unrelated note: With all that out of the way, allow me to leave you with a random Severance factoid.
I’m a huge Stone Roses fan, so it didn’t escape my notice that Ms. Cobel in the prior episode slid a cassette tape of the Roses into her car that started blaring Love Spreads. The iconic Britpop band was active in the ’90s, so there’s another quasi-answer/clue for those of you who’ve wondered when the show takes place. As the creator has said, in a previous post of mine, which I’ve linked to below, the setting is “vaguely now-ish” but purposely kept ambiguous.
