Sumith Prasad
The fifth episode of the second season of Apple TV+’s science fiction series ‘Severance,’ titled ‘Trojan’s Horse,’ follows the aftermath of the data refiners’ Outdoor Retreat Team-Building Occurrence (ORTBO) at Woe’s Hollow. The unfortunate incidents that occur at the place affect Helly R. and Seth Milchick more than the innies of Mark Scout and Dylan George. After getting fired from Lumon Industries, Irving Bailiff’s life becomes more complicated. The mystery behind Cold Harbor remains under wraps, but the protagonist nears its completion, keeping his superiors at the edge of their seats. Mark’s reintegration efforts also progress, causing intricate and unsettling visions! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Helly R. is Brought Back to Life to Earn Mark’s Trust
‘Trojan’s Horse’ begins with an unnamed employee of Lumon Industries arriving at the Optics and Design division of the company. He collects a shipment from the department and leaves through a mysterious hallway, which is featured in the countless paintings of Irving Bailiff. After the near-death experience at Woe’s Hollow, Helena Eagan meets Natalie Kalen and Mr. Drummond to discuss what’s ahead for the former. She explains that she wants to return to the severed floor as herself, once again pretending to be Helly R. However, the rest of the two insist on Helena getting severed, giving birth to her innie, with the blessing of her father and Lumon CEO, Jame Eagan.
Natalie and Drummond tell Helena that Mark will only trust her again if she is undoubtedly Helly rather than an “actress” pretending to be the latter. As he nears the completion of the mysterious project Cold Harbor, the heads of the company cannot risk breaking the protagonist’s trust again, forcing Helena to get severed once more. With no other choices in front of her, she undergoes the procedure off-screen, and Helly returns to the severed floor. She is furious about one of the Eagans using her identity to deceive her colleagues, including Mark. Meanwhile, Milchick explains that Helena was using a procedure named Glasgow Block by pretending to be an innie for research purposes.
Helly tries to convince Mark that she is not Helena, but the latter fails to accept the difference. Despite her best efforts to rekindle their relationship, he keeps a distance from her, and their companionship becomes more intricate when she learns that Ms. Casey is Mark’s wife in the outside world. While Helly makes sense of these changes and revelations, Dylan asks Milchick whether Irving will return to work. The severed floor supervisor clarifies that the veteran employee is fired for good, and his outie has embarked on a journey.
Dylan G. Honors Irving’s Memories at His Funeral
After listening to Milchick’s explanation regarding the fate of Irving’s innie, Dylan demands a funeral to honor the fired employee’s memories and bid adieu to him. He sees the termination of the employment as nothing short of death, convincing his supervisor to arrange the ceremony. When Milchick prepares for the program, Miss Huang expresses her unsolicited opinion that a funeral shouldn’t be approved. At the ceremony, Dylan delivers a eulogy about his colleague, revealing how kind and compassionate the latter was. Milchick concludes the occasion by offering the data refiners a watermelon cut in the form of Irving’s face.
Dylan continues to remember Irving as he consumes the watermelon. While he is about to leave the room after the ceremony, he notices a piece of paper behind a picture frame. He takes the same and opens it, only to encounter the hallway featured in his colleague’s paintings and the directions to reach the place. After reading it, he keeps the piece of paper where he finds it, visibly confused about what he should do about it. In the outside world, Irving is still living in Kier. One night, he goes to a telephone booth and calls an anonymous person to inform the latter about his termination from work.
While this person remains unrevealed, the chances of the individual being Harmony Cobel cannot be ruled out. Ever since running away from the Lumon headquarters in the third episode of the second season, she has been hiding herself. She can be plotting a scheme to “set things right” at the company with Irving, who has served her with unignorable commitment and determination while she was the head of the severed floor. In the middle of the call, Irving notices Burt Goodman sitting in a car not far away from him. He confronts the latter, only for the retired Lumon employee to reveal that he needs to know why the former banged on his door several days ago.
Burt informs Irving about the rumors that they were an “item” while working at Lumon together. The retired man then invites the recently fired data refiner to dinner at his home with his husband to talk things through. Irving accepts the invitation and returns to his apartment.
Mark’s Outie Starts to See Visions of Ms. Casey
After Irving’s funeral, Milchick attends his first performance review session as the severed floor supervisor. On his way to the conference room, he asks Natalie about her experience or reaction when she received paintings of Kier Eagan in her likeness, revealing his trouble with the paintings in which the Lumon founder is featured as a Black man. Without giving him a satisfactory answer, she leads him to his meeting with Mr. Drummond. The Lumon enforcer calls out Milchick’s failures as the severed floor supervisor, citing the examples of Helena’s near-death experience and Irving’s firing.
As Mark nears the completion of Cold Harbor under Milchick’s watch, Lumon wants the latter to be better at his job. This demand provokes him to confront the protagonist, who responds to his boss’ questions unsatisfactorily. The supervisor loses his patience and brings up the subject of the data refiner sleeping with Helena, leaving his employee terrified. At the same time, Ricken Hale is rewriting his book for the severed floor employees of Lumon, much to the displeasure of his wife and Mark’s sister, Devon. She asks him why he collaborates with a company that hurts its employees, but the writer is immersed in the validation “Nat” gave him to listen to his partner.
After returning to his house, Mark asks Asal Reghabi when they can proceed with his reintegration process. The woman, who has been living in the same house, asks him to wait for a while and tries to find things that have a personal connection with the severed man. Meanwhile, out of nowhere, Mark sees a vision of Ms. Casey inside the severed floor, revealing the progress of his reintegration efforts.
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