ISSUE NO. 72
Streaming Wars is a weekly opinion column by IGN’s Streaming Editor, Amelia Emberwing. Check out the last entry Yellowjackets Season 3 Premiere: Why Nothing Is What It Seems and the Trees Are Angry.
This column contains spoilers for Severance Season 2.
Severance Season 2’s major theme has revolved heavily around the idea of consent and autonomy between the Innies and Outies, expanding further on the idea of just how split a person can be when severing their work and personal personas. This line of thinking has already led to major betrayals, with Mark S. sleeping with who he believed to be Helly R. but actually ended up being Helena Eagan. It’s a jarring scene once you really know what’s going on, and hits even harder once Helena’s Innie, Helly, is given time to sit with the news. But Episode 6 features a potential of an entirely separate betrayal. One that, if true, will blow the lid off Season 2 and one of fans’ favorite romances.
Burt (Christopher Walken) and Irving (John Turturro) enamored fans in Season 1 with their courtship, ripping our hearts out when they were seemingly separated for good as a result of Burt’s retirement. Due to the overtime protocol in the Season 1 finale and his extensive research of Lumon employees when not on the severed floor, Irving’s innie was able to sprint to Burt’s house just in time to see him with his husband.
Despite the crushing blow, fans held out hope that their office romance would find a way to make its way into the real world. Season 2 has potentially made those dreams a reality, but not without the proverbial monkey’s paw moment that could mean ultimate devastation for Irving.
Episode 6 involves a dinner date with Irving, Burt, and Burt’s husband Cecil Fields (John Noble) who Burt curiously refers to by his last name, calling him only “Fields” in conversation throughout the evening. The dinner is a nightmare for folks who suffer from second-hand embarrassment — myself included — but there may be something more nefarious woven into the uncomfortable dinner discussions.
Toward the end of their meal, Fields lets slip that Burt has been with Lumon for 20 years. Burt laughs it off and tells his partner that perhaps it’s time to step back from the wine, as Lumon’s severed division has only been around for a little over half that time, but there’s something unspoken between the two. Burt’s expression isn’t one of a concerned spouse thinking their partner needs to slow down on the wine, but of a man who has just been outed in front of a former Lumon employee who had previously sued the company and was recently let go not once, but twice.
It’d be one thing if it only went as far as Burt’s outie being a longtime company man, but my concerns run deeper than that. The fact that Severance just went out of its way to make it narratively clear that you can be on the severed floor as an Outie with Helena masquerading as Helly for several days and then immediately followed it with this episode has me alarmed. Have both versions of Burt just been a singular Lumon lackey this whole time? Was all of this to get close to the Innie of the man who has been fighting them for years both through the courts and his own internal investigation?
Let’s not forget that Burt magically appeared outside of the phone booth when Irving was having his mysterious phone call several episodes ago. And the fact that Drummond (Darri Ólafsson) is seen breaking into Irving’s home to look at the evidence he has on Lumon at the exact time Irving is eating dinner with Burt? It’s sus, fam. It’s all sus.
There is, of course, the off chance that all of this is a coincidence. The writers wanted our line of thinking to follow the Helena of it all, Drummond was only there because they were already actively investigating him after his attempted murder of an Eagan, etc., but to what end? There’s a whole lot of evidence stacked up against Burt at the moment and all of it sucks.
We were rooting for you crazy kids!
