SEVERANCE Season 2, Episode 3 Review - "Who Is Alive?"

There’s something uniquely unsettling about Severance at its best. The Apple TV+ thriller thrives in its ability to layer psychological horror onto corporate dystopia, transforming the sterile walls of Lumon Industries into a labyrinth of paranoia, conspiracy, and existential dread. "Who Is Alive?", the third episode of Season 2, is a prime example of the show’s ability to generate unease even when very little is explicitly revealed. Directed with deliberate precision by Ben Stiller, the episode deepens the mysteries surrounding Lumon, introduces new eerie elements, and pushes Mark (Adam Scott) closer to the shocking realisation that his wife, long believed to be dead, is still alive.

Picking up immediately after the previous episode’s charged ending, the hour begins with Patricia Arquette’s Cobel—furious after Mark’s confrontation—sleeping in her car near a desolate road, a striking image of a woman untethered from the control she once wielded. Her decision to turn back before reaching Salt’s Neck, a location that carries an air of foreboding, is a small but telling moment: Cobel is not just lost physically but strategically, scrambling to reclaim her place in Lumon’s hierarchy. It’s the latest in Arquette’s fascinating performance, a mixture of cold calculation and unraveling instability that keeps her role as a wildcard thrilling to watch.

Mark, meanwhile, returns to Lumon with a mission: to find out what happened to Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman). His method? The surprisingly bold move of printing and distributing missing-person posters around the severed floor. While his search initially seems futile, it provides a gateway to one of the episode’s strangest sequences—his and Helly’s (Britt Lower) return to the goat department. What they uncover is one of Severance’s most bizarre and darkly humorous reveals yet: an entire indoor pasture filled with goats, tended to by a woman named Lorne (Gwendoline Christie) and an unsettling collective of disheveled workers from the ominously named Mammalians Nurturable department. Their role in the company remains elusive, but their reaction to Mark and Helly—initially defensive, then eerily cooperative—suggests they know more than they let on. Gwendoline Christie’s brief but captivating performance as Lorne adds another layer of intrigue, her wary, almost cult-like demeanor hinting at deeper secrets within Lumon’s walls.

Elsewhere, Dylan (Zach Cherry) is given what seems like a reward—an 18-minute supervised visit with his outie’s wife, Gretchen (Merritt Wever). What begins as an opportunity to see his real-life family quickly turns devastating when Dylan learns just how empty his outie’s life has become. His struggle to reconcile his two existences adds to Severance's overarching question of identity: If your other self is lost and aimless, does that make your existence as an innie more valuable? Does it matter if one version of you is happy when the other is suffering? Cherry’s performance, often comic relief, takes on a newfound depth as Dylan processes the futility of his outie’s reality.

The theme of identity manipulation continues in Helena’s (Britt Lower) storyline, as she watches surveillance footage of her innie kissing Mark, lingering on the moment with a mix of curiosity and detachment. While Helena’s true motives remain ambiguous, the moment underscores the growing conflict between the two versions of her existence. It also raises the unsettling question of whether she is using her return to the severed floor as an experiment, watching herself interact with Mark like a scientist observing a test subject.

Outside of Lumon, the episode delivers a major turning point in Mark’s journey. His attempt to send a message to his innie through a UV lamp—a desperate effort to bypass the severance barrier—results in an electrifying confrontation with Reghabi (Karen Aldridge). Her return brings long-awaited answers: reintegration is possible, and Gemma is alive. The revelation is a gut-punch, played masterfully by Adam Scott, whose face cycles through disbelief, horror, and dawning resolution. Mark’s agreement to undergo reintegration is a game-changer, but Severance being Severance, it doesn’t allow him (or the audience) much time to process the implications. The episode’s final moments, as Mark’s consciousness flickers between his present and his orientation at Lumon, create a dizzying, almost nightmarish effect, setting the stage for even more unsettling discoveries ahead.

Beyond its plot progression, "Who Is Alive?" excels in its eerie, suffocating atmosphere. The show continues to use its sterile production design, stark lighting, and unsettling score to create a world that feels increasingly fractured. Milchick’s (Tramell Tillman) reward of paintings depicting Kier Eagan as black—a moment that visibly disturbs him—adds yet another cryptic layer to Lumon’s bizarre corporate ideology. Meanwhile, Natalie’s (Sydney Cole Alexander) visit to Ricken (Michael Chernus) with the suggestion of adapting The You You Are for innies is another darkly comedic stroke, reinforcing the show’s running critique of corporate appropriation.

If there’s any criticism to be made, it’s that the episode juggles so many plotlines that some developments feel momentarily overshadowed. Irving’s (John Turturro) search for meaning through his paintings and his warm reunion with Felicia (Claudia Robinson) provide rich character moments, but with so much unfolding, his storyline takes a quieter backseat. Still, it’s a testament to Severance’s intricate storytelling that even its quieter moments feel like crucial pieces of a larger puzzle.

With "Who Is Alive?", Severance continues to push its narrative into bold and unsettling territory, delivering one of its most intense episodes yet. As Mark takes his first steps toward reintegration and the walls of Lumon’s illusion begin to crack, the season promises to dive deeper into its most haunting questions. The line between innie and outie is blurring, and with every new revelation, the show’s grip tightens, refusing to let go.