Severance 1.7: Overtime Contingency

[Spoilers in the first paragraph and after ... ]

The excellent episode 1.7 of Severance is entitled "Defiant Jazz" -- a fine title, which comes from the scene in which Helly is rewarded for her fine work with a music and dance time, and she chooses "Defiant Jazz," and Dylan attacks Milchick, biting him in the arm -- but I would've gone with "Overtime Contingency" for the title, because ...

Well, that's what happened to Dylan last week, when his outie was awoken in the middle of the night, at home.  The name for that outrageous intrusion is "overtime contingency," and since just about everything in the the severance creation of innies and outies is an outrageous intrusion on the people severed -- even though the hype (which Mark bought) is that it brings peace of mind -- that title would have worked very well for this episode.

And this episode was packed with other discomforting goodies:

Mark meets the woman who undid Petey's severance.  She tells Mark that Petey died, not from the reintegration, but because he didn't follow the prescribed recovery procedure, whatever exactly that is.  And --She kills head of security Graner -- good riddance -- and gives Mark his ID card.Back on the severed flaw, Dylan has his best night (biting Milchick) and so does Irving, telling off Milchick because Irving is upset that Burt is retiring.  (If I was the writer, I probably would've named Irving "Ernie.")And why is Burt retiring?  Probably because the Board is aware of his and Irving's budding relationship, and doesn't want that to happen.And just for good measure, the Board wants to see Harmony "next week" -- presumably that would be in next week's episode?  I hope so, though time proceeds in an odd way in this series, which adds to its unsettling edge.And, in any case, I'll see you back here next week, with my review of the next episode.

See also Severance 1.1-1.2:  Erving Goffman Meets The Prisoner ... Severance 1.3: The History and the Neighbor ... Severance 1.4: Deadly Ambiguity ... Severance 1.5: Second Lives ... Severance 1.6: Lumon on the Outside

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