Hang In There — Severance’s Latest Loss May Not Be Totally In Vain
Severance's latest episode ends with a tragic loss, but that may not be the end of the story.
The fourth episode of Severance Season 2 was a welcome break for Lumon’s severed employees. After a lifetime of living at the office, the group was finally allowed to venture out into the real world in an official — and heavily structured — setting: an Outdoor Retreat and Team Building Occurrence, or ORTBO. On this very strange work reteat, Mark, Helly, Irving, and Dylan wander into Dieter Eagan National Forest for a two-day adventure of hiking, camping, and Kier Eagan lore.
But the episode also saw one of the biggest revelations we’ve seen so far, and it has massive implications as to where the series goes from here. However, we may have seen something else shocking without even realizing it: a new method of communication between the Innies and Outies.
Warning! Spoilers ahead for Severance Season 2 Episode 4, “Woe’s Hollow.”
Irving’s drawings of Burt may have been a way to communicate with his Outie.
Irving is on a singular mission during the ORTBO: to find out if Helly is truly Helly. After growing suspicious over the “night gardener” she encountered during their Overtime Contingency experience, he becomes convinced she’s actually her Outie, Helena Eagan, when she makes a cruel remark about him being lonely without Burt — something Helly would never say.
But he hasn’t forgotten about trying to find out what’s going on with his Outie either. Last week, we found out about his notebook, where he drew a picture of Burt’s face every single day he couldn’t see him. Redditor whatshewants suggests this wasn’t just a way to keep his love alive — it was actually a way to communicate with his Outie.
Have you ever just absent-mindedly doodled something without really knowing what it is? That may be Irving’s plan with his outie: draw Burt enough to the point where his Outie also draws him out of pure muscle memory. It’s just like Mark’s attempt to use a retinal afterimage to ask who is alive, but using the subconscious instead of the eyes.
Speaking of the subconscious, this theory is also supported by what he sees in his strange dream sequence: he sees the decrepit Woe sitting in Helly’s seat, and then the computer screen forms Helly’s face with the letters forming “Eagan.” That could easily be Irv’s Outie knowledge leaking through.
Irving moments before being terminated.
Unfortunately, we may not be able to see if Innie Irving’s plans came to fruition: when he holds Helly hostage, correctly gambling that she’s actually Helena, Mr. Milchick immediately dismisses Irving from employment. That means deactivating the Innie permanently, effectively murdering Irv as we know him.
However, that may not be the end of his story. Right before he is deactivated, he tells Dylan to “hang in there,” the same slogan from the motivational posters back on the severed floor. It’s possible he hid his notebook behind that poster, Shawshank-style, and Dylan could discover it as well as Irving’s attempts at communication — and his sketches of the export floor, the painting he saw on the outside.
Irving may be gone, but his investigative work lives on. It’s what brought Helly back from her prison inside Helena’s subconscious, and now it may hold the key to the entire Lumon mystery.
