Severance season 2 has released its most talked-about episode yet, which is saying something, considering this is the kind of show that’s always sparking theories. If you want to dive into the finer details, make sure you check out our Severance season 2 episode 4 theories piece because there was certainly a lot to unpack in this installment of the Apple TV Plus original.
But if you want a full recap of one of the best Apple TV Plus shows, you’ve come to the right place. Woe’s Hollow might be my favorite episode so far, both in terms of how it advances the story and also its surprising use of horror techniques which I very much enjoyed!
So, let’s get into Severance season 2 episode 4.
A change of scene
We’re so used to seeing the ominous white halls of Lumon, but this time, we were greeted with a very different white landscape. Instead of being cooped up in the office, the MDR team ended up outside in a national park doing a team-building exercise of sorts. They’re told they’ll be spending 2 days out there (a heads up would’ve been nice?!), where they’ll explore the forest where Kier Eagan tamped the four tempers. This involves locating a book, so it feels like they’ve just been sent on an insane scavenger hunt in the freezing cold with no supplies. Man, this workplace isn’t great, is it?
The team finds a leather-bound book in a grotto that reveals Kier had a twin brother, Dieter, which is the first we’ve heard of him. But considering the long history of the Eagans’, it doesn’t come as a surprise that there might be another one. Once the book has been retrieved after a series of weird events, including their doppelgangers guiding the way, they bring the book to Milchick at a campsite. He also makes a point of showing them a small waterfall, claiming it’s “the tallest in the world.” There’s lots of brainwashing going on here, big cult vibes.
As they sit by the fire, Milchick reads from the book where he tells them a grisly story about Dieter, who “became one with the forest”. Helly mocks the story by calling it dumb, and Milchick throws all the marshmallows into the fire as punishment.
Meanwhile, Irving is still suspicious of Helly and continues interrogating her about what she saw during the overtime contingency when their innies saw the outside world. Casting our non-severed memories back to Severance season 2 episode 1, Helly’s story about seeing a gardener and not much else was met with ridicule by Irving. A night gardener? Yeah right. Irving’s come a long way since his subservient self in season 1, and now he’s suspicious of everyone, which, yeah, rightly so.
This ends in a massive bust-up between Irving and the rest of the group. He criticizes Mark for his obvious attraction to Helly and is still convinced Helly is lying to them. After a pretty impassioned rant that annoys all of MDR, Helly causes him to storm off after saying: “It’s okay, we all know Irving’s upset because he can’t ever see Burt again. And he’s really lonely”. Which, come on, is a low blow!
Shocking truths revealed
Considering episode 4 was a slow build, this recap is shorter than most but the last 15 minutes or so packed a monumental punch. In a horrible, horror-like segment that actually got me with an immaculately timed jumpscare, Irving realizes that Helly is an Eagan and has been Helena all along. Many fans predicted this early on, and now our fears have been confirmed. Helena has been spying on MDR and has fed everything back to their board. All the secret meetings and tiptoeing about have been for nothing, as Helena has been right there the whole time. The episode conveniently explains why, too, as many of us were scratching our heads going, “But wait, aren’t only severed employees allowed on the severed floor?”.
Plot twist: Lumon’s got yet another override up its sleeves, the Glasgow Block, which allows Helena’s conscience to stay active when she descends the elevator. They think of everything, don’t they? So yes, the huge reveal in episode 4 was that Helena has been spying on everyone and, to make matters worse, has slept with Mark, pretending to be Helly, just moments before Irving’s big realization that his intuition was correct. So this is a very awkward situation indeed.
The episode’s most intense moment is when Irving confronts Helena, asking her to reveal her true identity, but she keeps up the facade even when he keeps pushing. Desperate to prove he’s correct, he grabs Helena and begins to push her head into the river, threatening to drown her if she doesn’t own up. Helena eventually cracks and yells, “Do it, Seth!” indicating she does know Milchick, considering everyone else just refers to him by his surname, confirming what we all thought. Milchick panics and pulls out a walkie-talkie, deactivating the block and bringing Helly back, unfortunately, while her head is under the water so she gets quite a shock, to say the least. Irving apologizes to Helly, having acted desperately to try and get the others to listen.
Naturally, Irving gets a serious punishment for this. Milchick tells him he’s facing an “immediate and permanent dismissal,” which has got fans wondering if we’ll ever see Irving’s innie again since he’s activated on Lumon’s severed floor. It’s a devastating day for Irving fans everywhere (that’s me), so we’ll have to wait a week agonizingly to see what’s going on with Irving. This really is the most stressful and wonderful show on TV right now, isn’t it?
