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This seems pretty obvious, but just in case, there are spoilers for this week’s Severance in here.
What a twist! A thing we assumed about Severance season two was not, in fact, what’s really been happening. A different thing has been happening!
Except, also, we all saw this exact thing coming, right? Maybe the characters didn’t know, but surely the viewers had plenty of clues. It’s so obvious that it doesn’t really even count as a twist. A reveal, maybe? But even that’s a stretch.
Which perspective is correct? How much has Severance been tipping its hand, and is it on purpose? And more important, how much does any of that change how we feel about the show?
The twisty-reveal-discovery under consideration here comes at the end of Severance’s fourth episode, “Woe’s Hollow.” In a flash of understanding while in the middle of Lumon’s snowy ORTBO (Outdoor Retreat Team Building Occurrence), Irving realizes the truth about his colleague Helly R. She is not Helly R. and hasn’t been for a while — she’s Helena Eagan, Helly R.’s Outie, and she’s been showing up for Helly R.’s Innie shifts without actually undergoing the magical elevator brain swap that transforms her into Helena’s interior Lumon identity. This is possible because Helena is the daughter of Jame Eagan, Lumon’s current CEO, and her family is descended from Kier Eagan, source of Lumon’s whole founding myth (and according to “Woe’s Hollow,” twin brother of Dieter, who did some real weird stuff out in the wilderness). Helena has power, and apparently after the disruption of last season’s overtime contingency, she’s using that power to make sure her Innie no longer exists.
Did Severance intend this to be a massive! shocking! discovery? Or did the series expect viewers to have sussed this out all along? Intent aside, both of those things are happening. Some people, especially viewers blissfully detached from online discussion forums, will no doubt have received this information with shock and astonishment. (I know of at least one person in my life who felt that way!) But plenty of viewers did figure it out, and the theory was rampant enough online that it’s easy to find pieces with headlines like “This Severance Season 2 Fan Theory Will Make You Question Everything,” “This Wild Severance Theory About Helly R Changes Everything and Guys … I Believe It,” and, the most direct, “Every Time Helly Hasn’t Seemed Like Herself in Season 2, So Far.” Many of those articles are rounding up active viewer comments on platforms like Reddit, where a post with the headline “I FUCKING KNEW IT” begins “YOU LYING BITCH YOU’RE HELENA NOT HELLY!!” and has more than 2,000 upvotes. When I first watched these episodes in preparation to review the season, I fell somewhere in between, suspecting fairly early that Helly R. was really Helena in disguise, while also maintaining some skepticism about whether Helly’s weird behavior was another kind of feint.
Though it’s not made entirely clear, it seems likely that for all of Severance season two thus far, the person Mark and Dylan and Irving (and viewers?) assumed was their friend Helly R. was in fact Helena, carefully masquerading as her Innie. This would explain some things! Maybe Helena was studying that video of Helly R. kissing Mark so she could better mimic their relationship. No doubt this is why she lied about what really happened during her Innie’s time in the outside world and had that silly slipup about the night gardener. And especially in retrospect, there are lots of hints. Helly R. doesn’t always respond the way she should, reacting slowly when Mark first hugs her, fumbling to find the power button for her computer, and pointing out the absent security cameras in a particularly smug, confident way. Most persuasively and yet most difficult to nail down, Britt Lower plays with these nested Helly/Helena identities throughout her performance, allowing her face to slide through complicated emotional arcs and changing the way Helly’s resting expressions reflect what’s going on around her. As actual Helly, Lower’s face is mobile, engaged, and searching. As Helena-being-Helly, her eyes are more hooded and her expressions more placid.
What’s most effective about season two so far, though, is that this surprising-slash-totally-predictable turn of events works perfectly well from both perspectives. For anyone who did not pick up the hints or have the slightest moment of doubt, episode four’s conclusion becomes a thrilling mask-off moment, the perfect kind of narrative revelation that is unexpected and yet obvious in retrospect. But because this discovery has such enormous ramifications for the other characters, and especially for Mark, the twist’s impact doesn’t rest solely on when viewers figure it out. The information itself doesn’t matter all that much. What matters is how that information travels through the show once it’s finally revealed, and whether that discovery has meaningful stakes for the characters. (And Mark just slept with Thought-She-Was-Helly, so my guess is that it will!)
Best of all, Severance didn’t try to play coy and keep this important nugget for the end of the season. As more than one redditor points out, it’s too obvious to hide for long. So it is surprising? Maybe. But the show has now dispensed with that issue, and it’s done so in a way that retains all the internal emotional tension even after it has released that particular pressure valve for the viewers. And that means it can now get to the good part: watching everyone flip out.
