The Dylan plotline, the Irving plotline, the Mark plotline (innie and outie)... everything about this episode is top tier. There's so much to talk about here, lots of incredibly thought provoking scenes.
For one, it's so interesting that Dylan's wife prefers him on the inside than on the outside. It's tragic that Dylan will never be able to live with his wife, that line was a gut punch. I wonder what will happen when Dylan inevitably loses this privilege, and it sucks that he's slowly losing his friendships due to wanting to keep seeing his wife.
Irving's dinner with Burt was just as fascinating. This whole episode has a theme of innies being separate people from their outies, and we can see that clearly through Burt who is a completely different person. I love how this episode subverts your expectations because you originally think there's going to be tension between Fields and Irving, but then the conflict comes from Burt. Fields is definitely used to being hurt by his husband and has accepted it at this point, it's crazy that Burt cheated on him before he was severed. Also adored the discussion of whether innies can go to heaven separately, and how both of them have somehow accepted that outie Burt is going to hell.
The reintegration scenes are also a highlight of the episode. They're so surreal and do a great job of capturing the feeling of uncertainty that both Marks must be feeling. There's an incredible sense of weight to Mark's decisions, you get the feeling that reintegration is just as dangerous as they say, since you're literally experiencing it from Mark's perspective. It was a great writing decision for him to change his mind after meeting Helly and seeing how little she cares about his wife. I also thought the way they handled innie Mark confessing the truth to Helly was perfect. It was devastating to see Helly slowly realize what Mark is telling her. It's realistic that she would want space at first, but I like that she came to the conclusion that her outie is the problem, not Mark. You can't really blame him tbh, she was so convincing as Helly.
Overall, this is another incredible episode that completely flew by. This is slow burn done right. You can tell the show is peak when the slower scenes are equally as compelling as the more important ones. What a show!
