Well, here's my Severance S2E01 Review and what a phenomenal first return to Lumon for fans of the show. As a latecomer to Severance, it's not been that long for me to wait, but for OG fans, it's been ages. Let me start by saying I've decided to do FULL SPOILERS reviews for this series. Simply because the theory crafting is just too much fun to ignore. Therefore, if you wanna know what I thought quickly before the SPOILERS start?

It was brilliant, mysterious, frustrating (in a good way) and the acting was phenomenal from the returning cast and some new faces. Loved it.

So, after the events of the Season 1 finale, we, the audience are expecting answers. Instead what we are given is an absolute mindf**k. Where this episode excels and is frustrating in a good way like I mentioned above, is because of the decision to only shows us the Innie side. We start with Mark entering the Severance floor and from that point on all we are shown is the Innies. There's absolutley no shots at all from any of the outies, which immediately throws us off-guard. After all, the uproar at their actions from the S1 finale would be most felt in the Outtie world. Therefore, all we get to see is the attempted gaslighting of the Innies. It's a brilliant choice.

Adding to all the confusion is that Mark starts initially with a new team. He pretends to be cool with them, but immediately sabotages them and gets demoted. Mark is in a rebellious mood and his reasons are that no one will tell him where his MDR friends are. We also find out that Cobel has been 'dismissed'(sure) and Milchik is now running things. The 'new Milchick' is a young kid, too young too work, who isn't at all explained, Ms. Huang. Ms. Casey and Wellness are, just not there. Mark looks for them because he knows his Outtie was married to her Outtie, but was also dead, which makes no sense.

Because we only see things from the Innie POV we have gaps from one day to another. Therefore, events seem to just happen suddenly. One day Mark is asked to leave after demanding his friends are returned. Next day he comes back and all his friends suddenly appear and can finally discuss what they all experienced. Yet, Mark is the only one who truly opens up about the other side. Irvine won't talk, and Helly lies. Also, that new cast of characters for MDR, just are not there any longer. One assumes they will return, but when and how I cannot say.

Now, there are a lot of fans already decided that Helly R is in fact not Helly R but Helena Egan pretending to be Helly R. However, I disagree, for now. Or at least I'll say I don't think it's as clear as some fans are making out. The main evidence is the fact that Helly lies about what happened to her. The story she makes up seems sort of made up on the spot and fans think Irvine catches her lying. Helly says she talked to a gardener and Irvine asks her, "A night gardener?". Helly's response was "Maybe he has another job during the day?".

Therefore, I ask you, would Helena Egan be so unprepared with a story that she messed up? Would her response to Irvine's question be as seemingly innocently ignorant as her actual reply was? No, for me, she's lying because she feels guilty about who she is as an Outtie. I also think Helly is prepared to stay, because she hates her Outtie and doesn't want to be her. That to me is a more interesting story than Helena spying on them. But we shall see if this is backed up in future episodes.

One of the themes in Season 2 is surely going to be Innies versus Outties. Innie Mark and Helly want to be together, probably. However, Outtie Mark and Helena would never even be a consideration and Outtie Mark wants his wife back. We've yet to see what dichotomy will become apparent between Dylan and Irvine. However, we know we'll see more of their Outties in S2 from the trailer. Yet, we still have many of the key mysteries from Season 1 to resolve also.

What is great about Episode 1 is that as the characters are gaslighted so are we as the audience. Not the same way, but we only feel like we've learned more. In reality all we get in this episodes are more questions to add to what we had at the end of Season 1. Now that, as I said above, is in some ways frustrating, but in a good, teasing kind of way rather than a negative.

Honestly, the gaslighting of the characters is a delight. What a way to keep us viewers desperate to see what happens next without giving us much of anything. S2E01 was definitely a much better opening episode for me than S1E01. Of course there's less exposition needed now. We really kick S2 off without trying to explain anything for new viewers. If you wanna catch up, you need to go watch Season 1. Some critics may take points off for that, I add them on. I'm not a baby and I don't need to have content dumbed down for me.

The quality acting from everyone involved, (especially this episode both John Turturro as Irvine and Tramell Tillman) was amazing.

Tillman was brilliant all through Season 1 and it's like stepping back into a warm pair of comfy shows. Don't get me wrong, he's a menace, but his smiling assassin is just such a great role in this series. Turturro gets perhaps the most emotional scenes given where his Innie's head is at. I also feel like this will be a big season for Zach Cherry as Dylan as we get to see his Outtie more than we have previously.

I cannot at the moment think of any specific criticisms I had for this premiere at all. We're back at Lumon and we have no idea what's going on. All we have is new theories which have little do with the theories from S1. Yet I felt hooked from the moment we see Mark spend a few minutes just running through those mazy corridors. Severance is back, and thank goodness.

Loved it and even considered an A+. However, I think I'll reserve that for when their is more emotion at stake. Brilliant start though. I just wish I could watch the whole series and that would be my weekend taken care of.

Let me know what you thought of my Severance S2E01 review, or leave your own in the comments. Do you agree or disagree with my reasoning on the Helly/Helena situation? Thoughts below.