From the moment Ms. Cobel (Patricia Arquette) was fired in Severance‘s Season 1 finale, Seth Milchick (Tramell Tillman) has been absolutely going through it.
Following the Overtime Contingency crisis, the new Severed Floor manager was given a mere 48 hours to assemble a new MDR team, board up Wellness, redecorate his office and the break room, onboard Miss Huang, and craft an elaborate five-month lie to trick Mark (Adam Scott) into returning to work without his friends. When that didn’t work, he seamlessly pivoted and welcomed the original refiners back.
Throughout the cleanup, Milchick was called everything from “a shambolic rube” to “Mr. Milkshake.” His computer taunted him with a welcome screen that read, “Hello, Ms. Cobel.” And he had to have emotionally draining conversations with outies off the clock, barely breaking a sweat through it all. In Season 2, Episode 3, however, when Milchick stumbles on Mark’s deflated balloons in the hallway and receives a disappointing gift from the Board, we finally see him struggle to maintain composure.
When Milchick enters his office in “Who Is Alive?” a chipper Natalie (Sydney Cole Alexander) awaits with the Board on the line and a gift on his desk. “The Board is jubilant at your ascendence. It wants you to feel appreciated and asks if you do,” Natalie explains. “The Board austerely desires for you to feel connected to Lumon’s history. To that end, please accept from the Board these inclusively re-canonicalized paintings intended to help you see yourself in Kier, our founder.”
The gift is exactly what Milchick fears, and somehow also worse. He unwraps “the whole Kier cycle” of paintings, recreated with a jaw-dropping twist: Kier is portrayed as a Black man.
“Oh…oh my,” Milchick says, visibly taken aback by the gesture. Clocking his lack of enthusiasm, the Board instructs Natalie to explain that she received the same gift when she was hired “and found it extremely moving.” Unsure how best to proceed, Milchick replies, “I’m grateful. It’s meaningful to see myself…reflected in —” Before he can force himself to get the rest out, the Board concludes the call and he and Natalie lock eyes.
In some of Season 2’s finest acting thus far, the two subtly and silently acknowledge the issue at hand. The feeling of connection and concern over Lumon’s layered gestured lasts but a fleeting moment before Natalie resumes her regularly scheduled programming and flashes a giant smile. But even after she leaves, it’s clear the paintings weigh heavily on Milchick’s mind. Before he heads home, he reexamines the artwork, packs it away, and puts the box on the highest shelf in his office’s closet — out of sight.
The scene marks the first time we’ve seen Lumon actively acknowledge his race, and the first time corporate politics have deeply affected Milchick as a manager. The fact that the company and its past and present leadership lack diversity is something Milchick has surely been aware of internally, but this gesture confirms the company’s awareness, and in doing so, forces Milchick to confront the reality head-on — and perhaps, even start to question why he’s so loyal to Kier and his teachings.
“I think he’s in a place where he’s starting to awaken,” Tillman told Decider in a Zoom interview. “He’s learning so much more about this organization. He has been indoctrinated into Lumon for such a long time. And there’s something about his ability to adopt a blind faith and just press forward and produce and produce. But now, because his position has changed, he’s in a place of leadership.”
“He’s now susceptible to his own vulnerabilities,” Tillman continued. “And we see how the cracks are starting to spread, and his veneer is starting to crumble. But he has such strength of character, such will, that he’s willing to serve and do the best for Kier. “
On an episode of The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott, Tillman dove deeper into his character’s identity, saying, “I remember the conversation that I had with you, Ben, and Dan Erickson, when we discussed Milchick’s ethnicity, the fact that he’s Black. And the question I asked is, ‘Does he know he’s Black?’ So for me, it was really important for this character, and as an actor, to know if this character understood that he is different from this culture that they built at Lumon.”
“When we look at the perpetuity wing, they’re all homogeneous for the most part. They’re all white,” Tillman said on the podcast. “And so we don’t see a lot of images of Black people or brown people represented through Lumon. So what does it mean to be in a world that you are not represented in? And how does Milchick buy into that?”
We’ll have to wait see how Milchick’s storyline progresses, but after these paintings, we have a feeling this isn’t the last time Tillman’s character will question the company, the Board’s appreciation of him, or his loyalty to them in Season 2.
New episodes of Severance Season 2 premiere Fridays on Apple TV.
The post ‘Severance’s Tramell Tillman Breaks Down Milchick’s Tense Painting Scene: “I Think He’s In A Place Where He’s Starting To Awaken” appeared first on Decider.
