Where is Irving going? Is Burt Evil?
Spoiler alert: This story contains spoilers for season 2, episode 9 of “Severance”, which now streams on Apple TV+.
Does the penultimate episode of “Severance” season 2 bring a bow for the story of Irving and Burt?
The lovers crossed by Sterren, played by John Turturro and Christopher Walken, share a dramatic farewell at a train station. Burt buys Irving a one -way ticket and wishes him best if Irving goes into the unknown.
But let’s go back for a minute: this season Irving and Burt are re -re -re -retired after each of their innies has retired. Burt and his husband Fields (John Noble) organize Irving for an uncomfortable dinner, in which they theoretizing about their romance at work and discussing the origin of Burt in Lumon. He seems to lie about how long he had worked at the company and admits that he is a ‘villain’, and told Irving that he decided to break down after a priest told him that his Innie would be assessed separately from his oation and therefore would have a chance to go to heaven. (To make things more creepy, Burt and Fields call each other lovingly ‘Atilla’, both in a play in the name of the pet ‘Hon’ as a reference to the murderous ruler of the Huns.) It is clear that Burt had a dark past, but his motifs are still shaded: Mr. Drummond in Irving’s apartment.
In episode 9 Irving comes home to find Burt in his apartment and read his notebooks: “Goodman may have participated as a lumon enforcement or goon at a low level.” Burt laughs: “Lumon Goon, that sticks. We have never used such words. “Irving says he wrote the note ‘earlier’, they have forged a relationship.” I now know I was wrong. I know you’re not with them, “says Irv.
Burt convinces Irving to “take a ride” with him, and he tells him that he only served as a driver for Lumon, never knowing what happened to his passengers as soon as he dropped them off. Burt brings IRV to a train station and buys him a ticket. “This line goes as far as you can go,” says Burt. “I can’t know where you’re getting out, and you can never come back to Kier.”
Lumon has to come after Irving – maybe he knows too much – and Burt helps him go out of the city. He implies that it is an attempt to redeem himself for earlier acts. Irving admits that no one has ever loved him before, and he is “ready” to start a life with Burt, although neither of them has memories of their Innie romantics. Irv leans forward to kiss Burt, but Burt returns: “We can’t.” He offers him a handshake and says, “Bon Voyage, Buddy.” It is a tender farewell, but is this the last we will see of these characters?
Asked if this is the end of the story of Burt and Irving, Ben said Stiller Variety“It is now.”
“Lumon is a very powerful company, and Burt knows that,” said the executive producer and director. “He makes this choice and we don’t know what will happen next.”
As for whether Burt is still in Cahoots with Lumon, Stiller said: “I get the feeling that what he does is absolutely alone, and he probably brings himself to any risk by doing that.”
