"Attila" is the sixth episode of the second season of the American science fictionpsychological thriller television series Severance. It is the 15th overall episode of the series and was written by consulting producer Erin Wagoner, and directed by Uta Briesewitz. It was released on Apple TV+ on February 20, 2025.
The series follows the employees of the fictional corporation Lumon Industries, a company that uses a "severance" program in which their non-work memories are separated from their work memories. In the episode, Helly learns what Helena did during the ORTBO, and decides to form her own memories. Meanwhile, Milchick takes a day off, while Irving's outie has dinner with Burt's outie.
The episode received highly positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances, tone and cliffhanger, although some had mixed reactions over the storylines not addressed from previous episodes.
Plot
Mark (Adam Scott) tearfully tells Reghabi (Karen Aldridge) about his vision of Gemma,[a] lamenting that she did not seem to recognize him; Reghabi assures him the two will be reunited. In the office, Dylan (Zach Cherry) tells Mark and Helly (Britt Lower) about finding Irving's drawing and directions to the Exports Hall in the Break Room, and Helly decides to go recover it herself. Mark experiences more vivid reintegration hallucinations. Meanwhile, Milchick (Tramell Tillman) takes the rest of the day off to address the infractions noted in his performance review,[a] leaving Ms. Huang (Sarah Bock)—revealed to be in a fellowship with Lumon—in charge of the severed floor.
In the bathroom, Mark confesses to Helly that he and Helena had sex during the ORTBO,[b] and that he genuinely believed it was Helly. Feeling Helena stole the experience from her, Helly decides to create her own such memory and initiates sex with Mark in an unused room on the severed floor. Afterwards, Mark experiences a nosebleed; Ms. Huang performs a medical check on him, but Mark claims he is fine. In the Outie Family Visitation Suite, Gretchen (Merritt Wever) visits Dylan again, and Dylan says he wishes he could be with her. The two share a passionate kiss. That night, Gretchen lies to Dylan's outie that her visitation session was cancelled.
Milchick, meanwhile, spends time in the supply closet practicing placing paperclips properly and simplifying his speech per the contentions in his performance review, and has an intense moment to himself in the mirror.
Mark and Reghabi conduct another reintegration session, but Mark struggles to recall more details about the severed floor. Reghabi suggests surgically "flooding" the severance chip in Mark's brain to accelerate the reintegration process, but Mark swiftly shuts down the idea and storms off. He goes to eat at a restaurant, where Helena arrives and introduces herself to him. The two have a flirtatious conversation where Helena probes for details about the OTC. Helena then brings up Gemma, referring to her by the wrong name; Mark becomes uneasy and leaves.
Meanwhile, Irving (John Turturro) joins Burt (Christopher Walken) and his husband Fields (John Noble) for dinner at their home. Burt recalls the pastor at his former church declaring that innies and outies have separate souls, and says he underwent severance in hopes that his innie would go to heaven, feeling his outie is already damned. Fields blurts out that Burt has been with Lumon for 20 years, though Irving notes the severance procedure was only invented 12 years ago; Burt later passes it off as a drunken slip-up. Fields also pointedly asks whether Burt and Irving's innies had unprotected sex, and says he believes innies deserve to experience love and hopes that theirs was beautiful. During Irving's visit, Mr. Drummond (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) breaks into his home and finds the notes Irving has gathered on Lumon's employees.[c]
Mark returns home and decides to proceed with surgically expediting his reintegration. Reghabi reopens the incision in Mark's skull through which his severance chip was implanted and injects a fluid into the region of his brain containing the chip before resealing the incision. Mark suddenly experiences flashes of having sex with Helly. Reghabi warns him to keep his head still, but Mark hears Devon knocking on his door and goes to receive her. As they talk, he quickly becomes disoriented and suddenly collapses on the floor; Reghabi rushes in to help Devon revive Mark.
Production
Development
The episode was written by consulting producer Erin Wagoner, and directed by Uta Briesewitz. This marked Wagoner's first writing credit, and Briesewitz's first directing credit.[1]
Writing
Regarding Helly's actions, Britt Lower said, "It is a reclamation. It is a brave act to be vulnerable enough to say, “I want this” to Mark. Helly is very rarely rattled by anything, but her heart opening to connection is the scariest thing – not just to Mark, but to her chosen family of Dylan and Irving."[2] She also explained the decision to have Helly take off her heels for the first time in the episode, "I've always felt like Helly has had a hate relationship with her heels. She didn't put them on in the morning. She'd probably rather be wearing boots or something. Just to be able to feel her feet on the tile, I thought, was... she gets to reclaim that, at least, and then it leads to the next action that she takes."[3]
Christopher Walken commented on Burt's new personality, "I've seen certain actors, I've seen them 20 times in movies, and I think I know them a little bit, and then I meet them in person and they're really quite a different person than I thought. It's a surprise. I felt that that's sort of the way it is with Burt. You think you know him, but he's a little bit different. I thought of it as one actor meeting another actor."[4]
Critical reviews
"Attila" received highly positive reviews from critics. Saloni Gajjar of The A.V. Club gave the episode an "A-" and wrote, "Severance is in no mood for straightforward answers. It's making us contemplate the situation from each POV and feel for everyone involved, rightfully opening up important discussions about consent. That said, Helena blatantly flirting with Mark was a hard watch. Girl, get a grip. And that's without Gemma/Ms.Casey fully being in the picture yet. If this feels polarizing now, imagine how tricky it will get once his wife reenters their lives. 'Attila' zeroes in on these complex bonds, letting mysteries simmer on the back burner to chew on the characters' interiorities. But these relationships are, to be sure, going to blow the hell up. We all know it's coming."[5]
Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone wrote, "Gaps begin to develop in his own chronology, so that Ms.Huang is tending to Innie Mark's bloody nose at what seems to be the exact same moment that Reghabi is treating Outie Mark, even though he of course can't be in two places at once. But the barriers between the Innie and Outie worlds are being pushed, and at times outright broken. Hearts and souls are not meant to be divided this way. Is it any wonder things are falling apart this way?"[6]
Erin Qualey of Vulture gave the episode a perfect 5 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "It's a huge bummer that none of the love triangles in Severance can end in anything other than sadness and tragedy. This week, we found out that Outie Burt is not only married but also potentially a nefarious Lumon bigwig... but I totally still want his Innie to end up with IrvingB. And, even though Mark is reintegrating, I somehow want him to be with both HellyR. and Gemma at the same time. This is clearly impossible. Severance is setting us up for serious heartbreak, and I’m trying (and failing) to prepare my fragile heart for all of it."[7] Ben Travers of IndieWire gave the episode an "A–" and wrote, "All this time, the work tri-station sits empty. Numbers are not being refined. Cold Harbor remains incomplete. Innies may deserve to experience love, they may have to experience love, but that single five-second shot of an empty MDR office makes one point irrefutably clear: If all this love is allowed to continue, Lumon can't function."[8]
Brady Langman of Esquire wrote, "I'm (nearly) sure that Mark isn't dead. But I don't know how much longer reintegration can go on. Regardless, as we enter episode7 next week, it feels like we're at an inflection point. If Severance wants to finally deliver some answers, time is running out."[9] Erik Kain of Forbes wrote, "There is something so intensely ominous and creepy about the dinner party Irving attends at Burt's house. I expected it to be awkward, but I didn't expect Burt to be this frightening as an Outie."[10]
Jeff Ewing of Collider wrote, "The episode absolutely leaves us hanging on what happened with Irving's drawing and instructions to the Exports Hall, not to mention Milchick only focusing on the first two criticisms in his performance review. If that's any indication, expect Milchick to come out swinging with a harsher managerial style next week."[11] Breeze Riley of Telltale TV gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "Severance has bitten off a lot this season instead of answering important questions. For example, where the hell did Ms.Cobel go? There's still plenty of time to make its case though."[12]
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