Sweet Vitriol Is Severely Underrated

6.7 on IMDB for such a brilliant episode of TV upsets me. It's in my top 5.

Let's talk about its strengths.

Cobel was a complete enigma before this ep. It doesn't only reveal that she invented Severance but why she did it. To sever oneself from suffering, to create the most effective painkiller ever seen. It gives us a better understanding into the main selling point of such a dystopian invention. What the outies fail to see is that without suffering there is no growth, only escapism. It shows us how addiction to comfort is the biggest trap into allowing tyranny.

"We were once chums."

"Child fucking labor."

Cobel uses nostalgia to cope with it, while her friend cuts through her bullshit, saying there is no beauty in what happened to them.

But then her friend and her whole town are addicted to ether, the previous method of escapism distributed by Lumon. So it is not only the product or the company that should be purged, but also our escapism. As long as people ignore painful but real closure for their problems they will allow this kind of tyranny over and over and over...

It's one of those rare TV episodes that feels like cinema in every aspect. Ben Stiller directed this masterfully. Meditative establishing shots, original and purposeful sound design, strong subtext. The open space feels like a deep breath after being trapped for so long within Lumon's soulless, endless corridors and yet you know it's not much different, it's still Lumon's territory, and their design. The anxiety within the office is still present, and maybe even louder. The outside world we're shown here is an enigma, like Cobel herself. The victim, the hero, the enemy all in one.

I'm sure we all heard or thought about the weaknesses of the episode but I'll briefly mention them and explain why I disagree.

The pacing. It's too different from what we're shown before, in style, and in terms of the main plot of the season. It's a break from it all right when everything seems to come together after "She's alive!". It brings new characters unrelated to the main characters and possibly to be never seen again or for a long time. Why couldn't it be blended into other episodes?

Surely blending it would be conventional, more comfortable to watch, especially when watching it weekly and for the first time. But it would lose its meditative quality and the story doesn't have multiple hooks before its climax so there wouldn't be a good way to cut it. It's also thematically in line with the season, it's about embracing your own value, becoming free from the deceiving, controlling influence of others with questionable loyalty to you. Irving and Dylan wanted to end their lives after the loss of their first love. Luckily, they grew and found their purpose. They don't have to live to react to what happens to them, their lives are more meaningful if they have purpose and ambition to influence the world around them. Cobel could leave it all behind after being used and thrown away like garbage, but she finds purpose in fighting back and takes control of her life. You have to find something worth dying for, and giving up isn't that. You have to embrace the inevitable suffering and death, because they are what makes living meaningful. I believe these are the realizations in every main character this season. And I love this message so, so much, it's transcendental to me. And yes, Cobel is a main character.

One of my favourite scenes in the whole show is when Cobel properly grieves her mother on her bed. In the beginning, it's really unsettling, because embracing pain isn't supposed to be comforting. It's meant to break you, to build you up again. After she falls asleep, the sunlight washes over her, head to toe, and when she wakes up, she is a new person. She finds her long buried compassion, she breaks free from Lumon's influence that tamed her tempers.

Thanks for your time reading 'till the end. Let's dedicate this post to appreciate this monster of an episode. If you have anything positive/negative to add please feel welcome. And if you still dislike it, maybe see it again in a different light, and be open to change your mind.