The After Hours

This episode was a good setup for the season finale. I wish it had been a little more revealing in some parts, but I feel like it showed us enough to build hype for the season finale. However, despite saving the excitement for the end, it still left us with a high level of anticipation and curiosity for next week.

Some people may have been frustrated by the lack of answers to some questions, but all nine episodes have been a build-up to the finale, which I honestly have high expectations for, because I trust Ben Stiller and we'll have 76 extremely revealing minutes ahead of us. I give the episode a score of 8 because on the "Severance" scale of scores, 8 would be the usual high quality that the episodes present, which for me is already excellent, 9 would be only for "Woe's Hollow" and "Chikhai Bardo", two episodes completely out of the curve in this series, which were impactful from beginning to end, and 10 so far only for "The We We Are", which was the best episode of the series so far, perhaps not for a long time.

One of the great things about this show is its deliberate pacing and visual storytelling, similar to shows like Better Call Saul or Breaking Bad.

While not everyone likes that, it's a shame that some reviewers fail to see that their own desire for instant gratification doesn't devalue the show's quality.

The loud minority of negative reviews, many of which focus on pacing and, therefore, personal preference, also contain obvious shortcomings in understanding that aren't the show's fault.

Severance doesn't hold the viewer's hand; there's a lot of subtext, and a basic understanding of visual storytelling helps make sense of the complex character dynamics and themes.

Instead of accusing other reviewers of being bots, it might make sense to watch some analyses (e.g., Banshee Breakdowns, JBuck Studios, Think Story) for a deeper understanding of why, in fact, everything actually makes sense.

In regards to a previous review mentioning a few characters and their choices, it's apparent that there's a fundamental lack of understanding provoking these opinions.

It's pretty frustrating to read these self-defeating comments. For example, Devon obviously knows about the cabin because it has been a major plot point in season one.

We might not have all the answers yet, but many questions, in fact, become clearer as the seasons progress. If Severance were available to binge all at once, the majority of the negative reviews wouldn't exist. It's a shame that the show's rating is negatively affected by the impatience of some viewers.

The creators specifically stated that they will address the mysteries they introduce. This obviously won't happen in just one season, but since they have already written the ending and just need to figure out how to get there, maybe it's time to enjoy the journey instead of obsessing over a lack of answers in the meantime.

After all, Severance is a show about identity, love, grief, autonomy, and alienation in a cruel world, and not just about what exactly it is that Lumon is doing.

If the penultimate episode of the season had this much tension I fear how intense the finale is going to be.

This episode did a great job at both paying things off and setting things up for the big finale similarly to S1's second to last episode.

Lot's of emotions this episode and I have to admit I almost teared up a few times; the way it tackles these themes of innocence and the continual ones of individuality are especially potent this episode.

Some brilliant performances this episode, this show better sweep the Emmys because it deserves to!

Overall fantastic episode, one of the best of the season, hoping next week reaches the heights of the first season's finale.

So good. I had to leave another review for this weeks...everything from last week to now is going exactly how it should in my opinion at least haha. It gives you exactly the information needed and just enough to leave you also wondering for what WIll happen...:)) lots of people expecting so much to happen and to be revealed but also at the same time this sets up the perfect episode for the finale and sooooo on :)))!!:) I think they really did it phenomenally same as the last week with harmony's (cobels) episode. You should all watch this you won't be disappointed:] have a good night/morning. Ps Irving you are my fave.

We finally return to catch up with our four friends in MDR, but this episode suffers from lack of major plot advancement for being so late in the season. The show has so little character development this season compared to last. We've gotten some background information, and that's fine, but I feel like the plot-driven aspect has slowed down compared to season one. If the show isn't plot-driven, and has mostly stopped being character-driven too, then what's left? The mystery? That's it? The mystery alone isn't enough to make a great show, but that's pretty much all the show has been for the majority of the last handful of episodes. It's getting frustrating.