‘Severance’ Recap: The Goats Have Returned in a New Epic Episode

(Warning: Spoilers ahead)

Who doesn’t love getting a gift or reward for doing their job? Okay, Don Draper would tell you, “That’s what the money is for,” but this is Severance, not Mad Men, and Lumon Industries dishes out additional prizes as an incentive to work harder and faster.

Dylan G. (Zach Cherry) is the best example of being motivated by Lumon’s productivity scheme, even if he bailed early on the top-tier Lumon waffle party last season to activate the Overtime Contingency. Now, Dylan is being offered something far greater: time with his outie’s wife, Gretchen (Merritt Wever). All he has to do is keep it secret from his friends. Considering everyone else is distracted with off-book side quests, subterfuge isn’t too hard.

After the OTC fallout, it is down to business for Mark’s (Adam Scott) innie and outie in Episode 3. Each version of Mark is looking for answers about what appears to be the same woman (I’m not ruling out Ms. Casey is a clone or robot), but innie Mark has an advantage as he knows Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman) is his outie’s dead wife. Meanwhile, outie Mark wants to confirm who his innie’s “She’s alive!” outburst was referring to at Ricken’s (Michael Chernus) book reading. It is like playing the most complicated version of “Telephone.” However, outie Mark’s choice at the end of “Who is Alive?” will turn the whole Apple TV+ thriller on its head.

Using a combination of his outie digital wristwatch and counting, Mark times how long it takes to get from his car to when the Lumon severed switch gets activated. Like a lot of Severance, it is confusing at first but will come to make sense later on. Plus, Scott gets to show off his Tom Cruise-inspired running prowess.

On the severed floor, the sense of urgency is less acute. However, Mark’s plan to ask other departments about Ms. Casey’s disappearance is revealing, even if we can’t connect the dots yet. The MDR team is under the impression that they are now free to explore the maze of corridors, but only Mark is naive enough to believe Lumon isn’t listening to their conversations. Mark might be enjoying his rebellion era, and yet he still takes a lot of Milchick’s (Tramell Tillman) words at face value.

Irving has another agenda: to find the black corridor his outie repeatedly paints. Dylan passes, saying Irv should do this solo for stealth purposes. Logically, it makes sense, and there is nothing to suggest Dylan is acting out of character. Irving exits when Miss Huang (Sarah Bock) arrives, meaning no one is around to see Dylan leave his terminal. Considering the urgency of the Cold Harbor project, no one is doing the work they are being paid for.

Let’s take each MDR adventure one by one. First, Mark and Helly (Britt Lower) easily sidestep any awkwardness about Ms. Casey, doubling down on the idea that Mark’s innie is not motivated to find the missing Wellness Director because of love. The energy is flirtatious, and I definitely thought a repeat kiss was on the cards. If this is Helena pretending to be Helly, she is doing a flawless job because the charged vibes are all Helly to me—or perhaps Helena is a quick study.

Matters take a turn for the bizarre on their “goat man” hunt (even by Severance standards) when the duo crawls through a tunnel to a large room housing a hilly field full of goats. Lorne (Gwendoline Christie, perfectly cast) thinks Mark and Helly are there to kill her, which is quite a leap. Everything about their interactions with Lorne and the other people in the “Mammalians Nurturable” department is off-kilter, including the man dressed as a goat.

While I don’t know what this means on a Lumon level, these scenes highlight Mark’s ability to strike a chord with other severed employees. Referring to Ms. Casey’s disappearance as an “innie problem” diffuses the hostile situation by underscoring their similarities rather than the differences in departments. Lorne admits they did have sessions with Ms. Casey, and while they don’t have answers, they won’t hinder their search—or show Milchick the missing poster.

Irving also strikes out at O&D regarding Ms. Casey but does make a massive discovery from Burt’s (Christopher Walken) co-worker Felicia (Claudia Robinson). If Mark dealt with his grief by getting severed, Irvin’s innie is channeling his loss through art. After reminiscing about Burt, Irving shows Felicia the daily Burt sketches he draws. At the back of the sketchbook is an image of the black corridor with a red down arrow from his outie’s paintings that Felicia calls the “exports hall.” It is not a wasted visit. “We send a lot of shipments there. Used to go ourselves, but now they send a guy,” says Felicia. Add the shipments to the growing list of questions.

Finally, when Miss Huang takes Dylan to the security room, his first reaction is dread. However, he is being rewarded for “good behavior and output” with an 18-minute visitation event. Inside is his outie’s wife, Gretchen, who is initially as tentative as Dylan. “You really don’t know me at all?” she asks.

As we saw last week, Dylan has trouble keeping other jobs. But Gretchen doesn’t use this time to verbally bash outie Dylan. “I’m always proud of you,” she tells innie Dylan when he insists he will make them proud. It is intimate and sweet when they say goodbye. Cutting straight from this scene to the family home reveals Gretchen with the same nurturing and understanding tone. There are not two halves to Gretchen, but this dual relationship with Dylan’s innie and outie takes us into exciting, unchartered territory. Getting this insight is perhaps the most enlightening moment of the episode.

Well, that is until outie Mark’s latest adventure takes a significant leap forward beyond his arts and crafts project with his sister Devon (Jen Tullock). There are no hard feelings after their spat in the diner last week, as Mark has called upon Devon to help set up a UV light to burn “Who Is Alive?” into his retinas for long enough so his innie gets the message. Not that Mark has considered how his innie will send a message back (“That’s his problem”).

Mark is interrupted by former Lumon employee Reghabi (Karen Aldridge) during his first UV light experiment, which she points out won’t work. Only reintegration will. Mark’s reluctance to let Reghabi into his car is understandable, as the last time he saw her, she murdered the severed floor security guard. But his drive to learn the truth about Gemma is more potent, and Reghabi confirms Gemma is alive. Or at least “she was the last time I saw her.”

Reintegration didn’t end well for Petey (Yul Vazquez) when he tried the same (he died), but Reghabi has learned from her past mistakes. Mark’s red sweater is a clear sartorial visual outie anchor that contrasts his Lumon suits and nods to the opening credits. The initial procedure in Mark’s basement hits some snag, but as the lines on the machine edge closer, Mark swings between innie and outie recollections—including his first memory lying on the Lumon table.

For Mark, there is no greater incentive than seeing his wife again. Or at least that is how his outie feels.