Season 2 Episode 9: The After Hours
Aired: March 14, 2025
Synopsis: Mark and Devon team with an ally. Helly investigates further.
Directed by: Uta Briesewitz
Written by: Dan Erickson
I still love the show and think this season has done some great things, but I think S2 shows some of the flaws of advancing a mystery box show in the vein of Lost - they think they’ve set something up for you, when they haven’t. (And this is me speaking as a huge Lost defender).
There’s basically a missing scene where Cobel lets Devon know that Mark is at risk if he tries to integrate his lives and to call her if she’s afraid for his life. They also do a lot of heavy implication that Dylan’s resignation request will be accepted and don’t show us what the standard process is for convincing an innie not to freak out. Before this we’ve only seen Helly make requests and she’s a special case. So I’m confused why Milchik immediately treats the resignation request as a straight-up resignation.
I got some ideas floating in my head. This season we heard a lot about language and words, especially telling Milkshake how to speak and the Eagans use outdated language. With Milkshake it felt like they want to program him to do or feel something. I got pseudoscience vibes like Neuro-linguistic programming.
I really hope we see Irv again. I want to know what he knows, how he discovered it and who he called. Irvs and Burts love story is more important to me than Gemma/Helly and Mark.
Looking into the future I also hope we see Rickon again. He is cringe and probably evil and I don’t get why Devon is with him.
I am sooo hyped for the last episode.
Milkshake
Well done with the consistency.
I know I’m in the minority here, but I’ve found this season a bit frustrating. Like the show has been teasing certain things for so many episodes with very little payoff.
This episode specifically just felt like it was all buildup.
Well, the season finale is over an hour long so I assume there’ll finally be payoffs to most of the plot lines going on.
That, or it’s going to be Cobel standing menacingly in front of the fire saying vague one-liners for an hour. I can’t wait.
I have a lot of confidence in the finale. It just seemed like the entire season was buildup for the finale.
This episode was all buildup, but the season has given us a lot.
Helena broke into the group and was discovered.
Irving forced into retirement.
Burt, while still mysterious, being a Lumon lifer.
Mark reintegration.
Mark & Gemma’s relationship & her “death”.
Gemma’s life since death.
Cobel’s life in Lumon as the architect of Severing.
Sure there is still a lot of questions, but we’ve learned a lot about different characters this season.
Apologise for the word!
All those lumen goons are still so weird
It’s funny that Dylan’s outtie threatened to quit, but then the innie gets the last laugh by basically getting Dylan fired. You’d still have a job if you didn’t get pissed about your wife kissing yourself.
And yet it’s sad that the innie is basically ending his own life because he realizes he can’t have what outties take for granted.
I don’t get why Dylan was allowed to quit since the whole premise is that innies are trapped down there. Did that make sense to you? Maybe I need to watch it again
Was he actually allowed to quit? I just saw it as a resignation request. It’s possible they don’t actually need Dylan anymore, especially with Irving gone, Helly in danger, and Mark who knows where. Maybe they just existed to convince Mark his work was important.
I assumed it was a request also, but it seemed weird that they took his keycard and made him leave immediately. The only request we saw in the show was Helly, but they might not follow the normal process because of who she actually is.
That’s a good point. I’m probably wrong for saying Dylan was fired. In the past, innies can only quit if their outties allows it. Maybe this time (on paper) it will go through because both the innie and the outties want to leave. Officially, maybe Dylan already completed all of his mysterious tasks.
“It means ‘eat shit’, Mr. Drummond.”
Milchick going off on Drummond was so satisfying. That entire exchange might have solidified him as my favorite character.
At this point I’m rooting for him more than the main characters. My guy just wants to do his job in peace but is getting disrespected from all sides since the start of the series.
Yesss, that was so satisfying! I knew there was going to be something after they featured the disciplinary meeting in the recap. I’m afraid to see how they react, though.
Mark looked really good, he hasn’t completely lost glow-up from episode 7.
I was expecting something more from this episode, I hope finale will deliver.
The sibling writing and acting between Devon and Mark never stops being charming. I love their initial banter in the car (“Tragically, you’re you”), and every time Devon reaches out to support him, it feels like genuine concern and affection. Her reassuring iMark in the cabin was so sweet.
She did absolutely no meaningful reassurance in the cabin. Not even telling him where he was, just “okay, here you go, into the literal flaming room with your least favorite person with no warning, conversation, or basic questioning beforehand”
This storyline is my least favorite part of the whole show, because Cobel and Devon, when she’s around Cobel, both speak like typical “mystery box show” characters. The whole bit about the file, where they just say “the file” and then have a long-ass pause before saying “Cold Harbor” was so annoying. This gives 0 explanation to Mark and just works as a wink at the audience like “Wouldn’t you like to know what that means?”
Other characters typically speak fairly realistically or at least in a straightforward way that makes sense. Any omissions tend to happen because characters don’t ask the right questions. Here, Mark asks the right question and gets fuck-all in return.
To be fair, he didn’t even ask “what is cold harbor? Why does it kill Gemma” or anything useful after cobel dropped the name though. Which is crazy that he doesn’t know what he does at work, finds out what he does at work will kill Gemma, but asks nothing more
I agree. But I also thing Devon is connected to all of this more than she is letting on. I think the “helpful” sister arch is not the full story. But they do have a well written and acted relationship.
I don’t trust Devon at all after this episode. And now we know the birthing cabins are a severed area we might wonder why Devon chose to give birth there.
Obviously Ricken is compromised because Lumon stroked his ego, but there’s nothing to indicate Devon is anything but loving towards her brother. Ricken may slip some info or report back to Natalie, but it’d be a cop out if Devon all of a sudden not on Mark’s side.
I don’t think she’s not on marks side. But I also don’t think she is as innocent as she is currently acting or portrayed as. I just think she is hiding something from Mark in some way.
