Severance season 1, episode 4 recap – “The You You Are”

By Jonathon Wilson
Published: March 4, 2022
0
Previous ArticleView all
Apple TV+ series Severance season 1, episode 4 - The You You Are
3.5

Summary

Mark attends Petey’s funeral; Helly’s attempts to escape escalate.

This recap of Apple TV+ series Severance season 1, episode 4, “The You You Are”, contains spoilers.

Access the archive of recaps and features for Severance. 

“You ever feel that the way to deal with a f****d up situation isn’t to turn your brain off half the time.” The casual matter-of-fact way of speaking is familiar to the family of a severed person, with Petey’s daughter June projecting her anger at her father towards his somewhat friend. But Mark is aware that his way of coping isn’t healthy, it may not even be working. 

Severance season 1, episode 4 recap

At Petey’s funeral, June is devastated. Her parents’ divorce led to one of them becoming severed (that’s what we’re meant to assume, at least), a decision she resented, and then another severed person shows up to rub it in further? At least Mark doesn’t stay long, leaving just in time to miss Selvig drilling into Petey’s brain to retrieve his Severance chip (luckily for her a video of June and Petey jamming out was loud enough to cover the drill).

Back at work, she’s worried that something came through in Mark’s mind, either a recollection of Petey (if not the man himself visiting him in person post-integration). She sends him to the wellness room, where instead of being told facts about himself, he’s asked to make a clay sculpture about how he feels. He forms a tree, and later, his outie drives out to visit one on the side of the road. It’s linked to his wife somehow (as that’s the only attribute Outie Mark has been given), either through life or death.

Mark’s melancholy isn’t the only thing that’s made it through. He still looks at Petey’s map, although quickly shreds it to prove his obedience once Helly finds it and accuses him of being a hypocrite. She’s totally right, he acts so subservient, telling Helly he’s just looking out for her, but Innie Mark clearly finds some comfort in the regulation. Maybe that will change after he digs into brother-in-law Rickon’s book, with a note addressed to him inside (assuming Rickon has anything to offer). 

Out of the other two plotlines this week, one involves Irving whose relationship with Burt from Optics & Design blossoms (as much as it can with Irving). They visit each other, Burt showing Irv some art he appreciates, although he hesitates at the idea of physical intimacy. Burt does help to rid Irv of his obedience to the employee handbook, expressing his affection for a much less rigid, more self-helpy first addition that might have Irv loosen up a little. His world is truly rocked when he accidentally stumbles into a room filled with other workers. Wonder what that could be.

The ending

Finally, Helly manages to make it out of the Break Room after reciting the apology one-thousand-and-seventy-two times. Jesus. That’s how long it took to break her, although she hardly seems broken. She’s desperate and uses a paper slicer to threaten her way to making a video to her outer self. To her complete despair, her response is another video. “I am a person, you are not,” her non-work self says. “I make the decisions”.

However desperate Helly’s work-self is, her alternate is just as keen to keep herself severed. Something really bad must have happened, but that doesn’t stop Helly from taking one final move to free herself from this prison. Using an extension cord and the elevator, she attempts to hang herself. 

Additional notes

  • The voice in the break room is different to each person, Dylan hears a baby crying, Helly a man yelling. What’s the bet that Mark hears his wife.
  • They really don’t seem to get much work done do they, always being sent to different rooms or getting up to hijinks. 

What did you think of the Apple TV+ series Severance season 1, episode 4? Comment below.

You can watch this series with a subscription to Apple TV+.

Apple TV+, Streaming Service, Weekly TV
Previous ArticleView all