
Severance Season 2 Episode 5 Review: Trojan’s Horse
Funerals are for the living, and on Severance Season 2 Episode 5, “Trojan’s Horse,” the living are pissed. Especially Dylan who is the one who demands they get to hold a funeral for Irving.
In case you need a quick recap like Helly R, Helena was spying on the MDR team and now Irv’s innie is “dead” as a result. To put it more casually, the vibes on the episode are absolutely rancid.
No one is happy, not even Milchick whose performance review goes terribly and is filled with micro-agressions. Telling a Black man he uses too many big words is one hell of a choice.

That is if you can even call it a performance review, when it feels more closely to a Scientology-like audit. I don’t know enough about Scientology to make all the parallels, but surely the writers room was looking at it and similar organizations when developing Lumon.
Not even Natalie is willing to give him someone to connect to, and the more isolated and trapped Milchick feels the more of a wild card he becomes.
Which is an exciting proposition since Tramell Tillman was easily the breakout star of Season 1 and so far this season he’s had to play it a little too cool as a new manager. He says he’s not like Harmony, but his threatening outburst towards Mark in the elevators shows us a glimpse that says otherwise.
Although the episode isn’t the strongest of the season, the tension is enough to keep the narrative yarn from unraveling.
Things are also awkward between Helly and Mark to say the least. Lower does a great job portraying Helly’s feelings of confusion and betrayal after being kept in the dark this whole season.

To “wake up” and find your only friends are suspicious of you and that your identity was stolen is traumatizing. It also brings back the issues around consent from the last episode of who actually owns the bodies shared by the innies and outies.
It’s clear Helena never intended to have Helly come back, but now she is. So what does that mean for Helena as a threat moving forward?
Mark is equally dejected, realizing no matter what they do Lumon is one step ahead of them and that it will always have the power over him. It’s a contrast to his outie who seems to experience hope for the first time in a long time when seeing an integrated memory of Gemma inside Lumon.
I’m still not convinced it’s actually Gemma and not a clone or AI android, because what else could this mysterious Cold Harbor project that is so important to Lumon be? Either way the closer Mark gets to completing the project, and to integrating himself, the closer we get to the truth.

Additional Thoughts
- Irv and Bert having a real-life run-in is a nice twist, but who is he calling on the phone? Is he part of the resistance?
- Of course the outies are naive to what happened at the ORTBO. Even as a severed employee agreeing to a work retreat sounds ridiculous.
- Even Mark’s pills are blue and white. This show loves a color scheme.
- The opening scene with Optics & Design and the exports tunnel isn’t creepy at all. Hey, what is all that sharp medical equipment for…
- Not Miss Huang with the comment that’s actually a question… Team Milchick!
- I am confident the Ricken book plot is going somewhere but as of right now it’s the least interesting part of the show.
What did you think of this episode of Severance? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Severance airs Fridays on Apple TV+.
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