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‘Severance’ Season 2 Episode 3 Breakdown: Who Is Alive?

Episode 3 of Severance Season 2 continues the fun of the show’s weirdness and oddities; prompting endless questions.

'Severance' Season 2 Episode 3 Breakdown: Who Is Alive?

The Ben Stiller-directed thriller follows Mark (Adam Scott), a macrodata analyst at Lumon Industries, who went through a procedure called “Severance,” a memory partition between your work and home life. As Mark befriends his team members Helly (Britt Lower), Dylan (Zach Cherry), and Irving (John Turturro), they begin to devise strategies to break free from their entrapment.

This article contains spoilers for Severance Season 1 and Season 2.

‘Severance’ Season 2 Episode 3 “Who Is Alive?” Breakdown

Jumping right off of the ending of the previous episode, Episode 3 opens with a disgruntled Cobel sleeping in her car, now homeless after fleeing from her residence next to Mark. If you recall, Cobel is currently in between positions at Lumon after being offered a promotion to stay away from the Severed floor. Still, she remains adamant about managing the floor and firing Mr. Milchick.

After the opening credits, we follow Mark and Helly as they spread the message about Ms. Casey being missing. As the two embark on their investigation, they share a moment of flirtation before Mark awkwardly moves along. Irving asks Dylan if he’d like to accompany him to spread the message, but Dylan stays behind to finish his work. As Irving leaves, Ms. Huang (Sarah Bock) asks Dylan to follow her to the security room, which is now a fully furnished visitation suite.

'Severance' Season 2 Episode 3 Breakdown: Who Is Alive?
Severance / Image Courtesy of Apple TV+

Through their search, Helly and Mark discover a room full of goats in a department run by the Mammalians. The Head Mammalian Lorne (Gwendoline Christie) initially perceives the duo as a threat, but upon persuasion given the stakes, Lorne reveals Ms. Casey used to “do her sessions in our husbandry tanks.” After thanking them and before they leave, the Mammalians request that they see Helly and Mark’s bellies to dispel a department rumor that MDR has pouches.

Irving brings the missing poster of Ms. Casey to O&D, where he reunites with Felicia (Claudia Robinson). Upon discussion about Burt (Christopher Walken), Irving decides to share his journal drawings of Burt’s face with her, but Felicia accidentally turns to the back and sees a drawing of the paintings that Outie Irving would draw. She reveals she believes the place he’s imagining is the export hall, and Irving requests that she inform him how to get there.

Dylan enters the visitation hall to meet his Outie’s wife, Gretchen (Merritt Wever). The two share how awkward the interaction is but have a pleasant conversation detailing their family life. Gretchen shares a picture of their family and three kids, proving to Dylan that she is who she says she is (as his Innie self has seen one of his kids before). 

'Severance' Season 2 Episode 3 Breakdown: Who Is Alive?
Severance / Image Courtesy of Apple TV+

After work, we see Gretchen share with Dylan how the visitation went, to which she responds that it was weird but good. Devon (Jen Tullock) comes home to Lumon Board spokesperson Natalie (Sydney Cole Alexander) having a discussion with Ricken (Michael Chernus) about making a new censored version of his book “The You You Are” to motivate the Innies at Lumon. Devon immediately goes to Mark to inform him of what happened, as they work together to burn the message “Who Is Alive?” into Mark’s eyes to inform the Innie Mark.

We cut to a scene where Cobel visits Helena after hours to request her job back, to which Helena demands no. After a heated argument, Helena calls The Board to schedule an immediate meeting with Cobel to consider the job role, to which an insulted Cobel promptly drives off. 

As Mark attempts to burn his retinas, he’s visited by Asal Reghabi (Karen Aldridge) who informs him that his plan will not work because the Lumon elevator dilates your pupils. She talks with Mark and reveals to him that his wife Gemma is indeed still alive and that reintegration is the only solution to finding her. He agrees to the procedure and follows her into her lab to reintegrate with his Innie self. The reintegration is a success, and we cut to the credits. 

'Severance' Season 2 Episode 3 Breakdown: Who Is Alive?
Severance / Image Courtesy of Apple TV+

Apple TV+’s Severance Season 2 was created by Dan Erickson and directed by Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle. The series stars Adam Scott as Mark, Britt Lower as Helly, John Turturro as Irving, Zach Cherry as Dylan, Tramell Tillman as Milchick, and Patricia Arquette as Ms. Cobel. The first three episodes are streaming now on Apple TV+.

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Based in Chicago, Illinois. An aspiring actor-singer and director, Bhargav is currently pursuing his undergrad in Marketing and Film at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Since co-founding Feature First, Bhargav focuses on managing operations, quality movie reviews, film festival coverage, and helping maintain consumer engagement across all social platforms.