Severance 2.5: Watermelon Man

Well, it was a great semi-instrumental by Mongo Santamaria in the late 1950s -- "Watermelon Man" -- and it was the best part of Severance 2.5.  I'm talking about the watermelon carving of Irving's head that was the high-point of his funeral, i.e., at least, a funeral Severance innie style.  I mean, the watermelon head really looked like Irving.  I don't know if somebody really carved it, or it was the product of some kind of AI.  But it was impressive.  Even the creator of the series, Dan Erickson, said in the afterwords about this episode that, as soon as that juicy red head was wheeled in, he knew this episode would work.  (The phrase "juicy red" is mine.)  Even the green rind worked well.  It looked like some kind of yarmulke aka skullcap.

Of course, as Mark (of course) points out, Irv is not really dead.  He's just no longer at work with the innies -- meaning, his innie is gone.  And the other best part of this episode is seeing Burt for more than a split-second shadow that could have been Irving's imagination -- more specifically, Irv's outie's imagination, where Irv is definitely not dead.  Hey, it's always good to hear Christopher Walken talk, the way he talks, but it was especially good to hear him in episode 2.5, given that we haven't heard him for so long.

Helly is also back on the severed floor as herself -- that is, the innie Helly not the outie Helena -- and we also get some clarity on how long it was really her outie we were seeing down there.  But I'm still not clear if it was her innie or her outie who kissed Mark's innie last season? I think it was her outie, given the way her innie is acting now, but I wouldn't bet on it.  (That could be a good tagline for the entire series, "I wouldn't bet on it".)

And speaking of Mark, and definitely last but not least, we seem to have a least of a touch of progress, or something, of Mark moving towards integration.  There's no way that won't be a major thread of this season as it progresses to the end, and I'm looking forward to that.

See also Severance 2.1: Ultimate Fake News? ... Severance 2.2: Multiple Dylans ... Severance 2.3: Innies<->Outies ... Severance 1.4: Innies Out in the Snow

And see also Severance 1.1-1.2:  Erving Goffman Meets The Prisoner ... Severance 1.3: The History and the Neighbor ... Severance 1.4: Deadly Ambiguity ... Severance 1.5: Second Lives ... Severance 1.6: Lumon on the Outside ... Severance 1.7: Overtime Contingency ... Severance 1.8: Fired, Kissed, Almost Fired ... Severance: Season One Finale: Stunning Revelations