Half Loop

"Half Loop"
Severance episode
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 2
Directed by	Ben Stiller
Written by	Dan Erickson
Cinematography by	Jessica Lee Gagné
Editing by	Gershon Hinkson Geoffrey Richman
Original release date	February 18, 2022 (2022-02-18)
Running time	53 minutes
Guest appearances
Yul Vazquez as Peter "Petey" Kilmer Michael Cumpsty as Doug Graner Nikki M. James as Alexa

"Half Loop" is the second episode of the American science fiction psychological thriller television series Severance. The episode was written by series creator Dan Erickson, and directed by executive producer Ben Stiller. It was released on Apple TV+ on February 18, 2022.

The series follows employees of Lumon Industries, a biotechnology corporation that uses a medical procedure called "severance" to separate the memories of their employees depnding spatially on whether they are at work or not. When severed workers are at work, they are dubbed "innies" and cannot remember anything of their lives or the world outside. When outside work, they are dubbed "outies" and cannot remember their time at work. Due to this, innie and outie experience two different lives, with distinct personalities and agendas. In the episode, Mark continues investigating Petey's whereabouts, while Helly starts her first day in Lumon.

The episode received highly positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances, directing and production values.

Plot

In a flashback, Helly (Britt Lower) records her statement in which she agrees to subject herself to the severance procedure. Afterwards, Milchick (Tramell Tillman) takes her to a surgery room, where she gets a Lumon microchip implanted in her brain. He later shows her the progress of the job, and she experiences a time jump where she finds she already completed her first day.

In present day, Helly returns to Lumon, where Mark (Adam Scott) explains that her job is to sort encrypted numbers into digital bins as part of "macrodata refinement". Milchick gives her a welcome party, hoping that Mark, Irving (John Turturro) and Dylan (Zach Cherry) help her feel comfortable with her new job. During this, Mark expresses concern over Petey's status, but Milchick dismisses it. After taking a group photo, Helly writes a note to her "outie" and announces she is quitting. However, the elevator's code detectors prevent her from leaving, and she is escorted by Graner (Michael Cumpsty), the head of security. Mark claims responsibility and is put into the "break room" as punishment.

That night, Mark goes on a date with Devon's midwife Alexa (Nikki M. James), discussing Mark's position in Lumon. As they walk on the street, they run into an anti-severance momvement, and Mark gets into an argument with the protesters. The following day, Mark skips work by calling sick, and decides to go to the address that Petey gave him in the envelope. He arrives at a greenhouse, encountering Petey (Yul Vazquez). While Petey tried to investigate about the severed floor, he is still unsure on how many departments are operating on Lumon. Petey also explains the break room, and plays a recording of Mark repeatedly reading out a stringent apology, with Milchick forcing him to repeat the lines.

As Helly and Dylan discuss the purpose of their job, Irving begins to hallucinate a black liquid emerging from his cubicle. Cobel (Patricia Arquette) and Milchick do not want to get Irving into the break room, so they instead sent him in for a "wellness check". As he awaits, Irving meets Burt Goodman (Christopher Walken), the head of the Optics and Design division, and they bond over their admiration for art. In his session, counselor Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman) recites various facts about Irving's outie, with Irving forced to react neutrally. Irving is allowed to return to work, where he and Dylan see Helly send encrypted numbers into digital bins for the first time. Mark takes Petey to his home, allowing him to stay in his basement. While taking a shower, Petey experiences severe hallucinations and collapses as he is confused over his environment.

Development

Production

The episode was written by series creator Dan Erickson, and directed by executive producer Ben Stiller. This marked Erickson's second writing credit, and Stiller's second directing credit.

Critical reviews

"Half Loop" received highly positive reviews from critics. Matt Schimkowitz of The A.V. Club gave the episode an "A–" and wrote, "Aside from MDR, “Half Loop” reveals that Lumon's got O&D's apparent two-person team on the floor, led by Burt. Irving and Burt have a meet-cute outside Ms. Casey's office while admiring a painting of Kier. It's an extremely wack piece of art in which Kier is portrayed with a whip, controlling an old woman, a young one, a clown, and a half-human, half-goat. It's weird and given the amount of focus it gets, I'm sure there's a deeper meaning to it. In fact, Severance uses these two episodes to set up an insane number of mysteries. Will each one get a fulfilling answer by the time season one (or even the series) wraps? It's TBD, but I'm along for the joyride."

Erin Qualey of Vulture gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "by the end of the episode, Petey is having some sort of episode in Mark's basement shower where his brain can't seem to differentiate between his innie and his outie. His reality skips like a broken record, and it's definitely time to worry about this dude. It looks like it's time for my staggered exit, so I'm going to go grab the elevator."

Oliver VanDervoort of Game Rant gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "The show relies quite a bit on being weird. That can become a bit grating if it's done over and over again, especially if it's done just to be weird. If Ben Stiller and the rest can continue the level of chemistry throughout the series, it will be one of the best on any streaming service this year." Breeze Riley of Telltale TV gave the episode a 4.5 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "Severance takes its time to build up to reveals, but it's time worth spending. The longer you spend in its world the more anxious you become, starting to crave answers like Mark and Helly."

Mary Littlejohn of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 3 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "Episode 1 is just the set-up. Episode 2 creates enough mystery to suggest deep mythology behind this Lumon-based world that is intriguing enough to want to push through." Caemeron Crain of TV Obsessive wrote, "Severance S1E2 leans into the show's premise by devoting a lot of its time to the versions of our characters while they are at work — or the “innies” as Lumon would have us call them — and it really serves the series well, as the second episode opens a number of questions (both banal and existential) that will surely drive the narrative as it progresses. But it mostly does this by going over the same ground as Episode 1 did, simply inverting our perspective."

External links

• "Half Loop" at IMDb