Summary
Severanceis a weird show built on contrasts. It features a dark and twisting narrative brought to life by upbeat and direct characters.Severance’s colors are often cold and muted, but its performances are always vibrant and quirky. These contrasts were front and center in Season 2, Episode 6, “Attila.” After showing up at Burt’s tidy house, viewers learned that Innie Irving’s romantic other half had only been half honest at best. Ham was on the menu, but beef was for dinner.
No moment in the episode paired lows with highs as much as Irving’s in-house visit with Burt’s suspicious Outie. There, those contrasts hit an uncanny peak. When Irving walked into the home of Burt and his tea-kettle husband, Fields, whistles were sure to be blown — and fast. This was immediately clear when Burt welcomed Irving in, and the camera landed on an unmissable painting of a bald, frowning clown.
What The Heck Does That Painting Mean?
The weird painting appears to be a bald clown with his arms folded, and a smile painted onto his frowning face. He’s got a red nose and wears a skin-tight long-sleeved white shirt. He looks onwardagainst a forest-green background, lit by mounted fluorescent picture lights. It seems as if the clown is gauging Lumon’s severed floor in disapproval, masking his ire with a made-up smile.
Above the painting, viewers can spot a long row of small wood carvings above the cabinets, which seem to be pepper grinders. There’s a distracting number of probable pepper grinders there, as zero acknowledgment is made of them, despite their looming presence. Fields does offhandedly acknowledge the strange artwork, though, albeit in subtle fashion.
Fields' first words to Irving may help indicate the painting’s significance. Upon greeting Irving, Fields refers to Burt as a “Philistine.” The word ‘Philistine’ usually refers to someone who can’t appreciate, or doesn’t have a firm grip on, fine art and culture. If this isn’t just an empty dig at Burt and rings true, like most things Fields says, then the painting is probably Fields' doing and not Burt’s. This suggests Fields has a lot to say about Burt’s practices and is seeking platforms to express it all. These platforms have included paintings, the dinner table, and the pastor’s study.
At one point, after a lengthydiscussion about the church’s view of severed workers in the afterlife, Fields spills that Burt has been at Lumon for 20 years, which is odd given the severed floor has only officially been around for 12. Since Fields has been with Burt that entire time, Fields might have a richer understanding of Burt’s shady activities than either of them lets on. After all, Fields frequently refers to Burt as Attila, the cruel fifth-century king of the brutal Huns.
What Does The Painting Mean To Burt And Irving?
Fields also frankly questions the details of Burt and Irving’s relationship. His concerns about Burt’s extramarital affairs on the severed floor may stem from his knowledge that Burt wasn’t really severed down there. Perhaps the painting represents Fields, watching in pain as Irving admits he’s sweet on a two-timing Burt while at Lumon.
Many of Burt’s details are shrouded in mystery. Even as he sits in his creepy, vignetted home, he’s cloaked in darkness. Burt looms, adorned in a black turtleneck, staged in front of the inferno of a fireplace behind him. The atmosphere couldn’t be more hellish if Burt was holding a pitchfork. (Though, given the occasion is a dinner party, the dinner fork does just fine.) Fields clearly notes Burt’s shadiness and doesn’t miss an opportunity to alert Irving to it, beginning with the entryway painting.
There’s a good chance Fields has been hanging a monument to severed floor displeasure right beneath Burt’s unsuspecting nose. The remaining question is whether viewers find Burt believable as an ignorant party to anything happening around him, given his 20-year agency at a watchdog corporation such as Lumon, as well as his gumshoe detective work monitoring Irvingon the streets of Kier, New York. Burt is mysterious, and it’s unclear how much he’s been able to hide from Fields, although Fields is quick to voice his insights.
While the group debates severed souls' resting places, audiences learn that Burt might be the Devil. Fields leads discussions about death, the afterlife, and ultimately, Heaven. All the while, Mr. Drummond,the higher-up who conducted Milchick’s performance review, invades Irving’s Earthly residence. Burt’s dinner may have merely been a diversion for Drummond’s snooping. Fields said he believes Innies can go to Heaven, but Burt might be planning to put Irving’s Outie through Hell.
Down From Here
Save for hidden truths and deeply held worries, the dinner party was cheerful, marked by a rather unwelcoming front door-facing clown portrait. While the frowning fool painting foreshadowed some grim revelations, it might have also directly depicted Fields and his wariness of Burt’s severed floor practices. Given Burt’s nearly certain villainy at this point,Severancefans may soon witness exactly how ruthless Attila has always been.
