Really mixed on this. So much and nothing happened at the same time. 

The opening with Helly was really poorly edited imo the shots were so up close and the cuts were so fast it was hard to tell what the hell was going on. Helly in general here didn't really do anything. She retrieved Irving's instructions but like she could've done that at any time. I'm honestly surprised she hadn't done it sooner. Then her dad walks into the severed floor which is interesting I suppose but it doesn't go anywhere here so I can't really credit this episode for anything that happens with it.

Milchick was fantastic. He finally starts standing up for himself which is awesome, but he also treats Miss Huang just like he's treated by Lumon which is unfortunate. Shows how much of an influence they've had on him. Milchick's performance here was especially great.

Dylan was my least favorite part by a lot. His wife randomly tells outie Dylan about them, then he threatens to quit so she breaks up with innie Dylan and he proposes and she leaves anyways like wow this is a lot of mediocre payoffs at once. She was supposed to be what made Dylan loyal to Lumon. It was such a great opportunity for some conflict between the group of innies, but... nothing was done with it? I mean he backs out on helping Mark and Helly a few times but that's really it. I'm not exaggerating when I say that plotline had SO much potential. I assumed it'd conclude in Dylan legit turning Mark and Helly in or something. It makes sense that he'd get so attached to his wife considering she's the only real source of connection he has in his life. If they utilized that to really show Dylan how much control Milchick had over whether he sees his wife could've turned into so many great things. Just a waste really. Him proposing made sense I guess because again she's his only source of romantic connection but it felt pretty corny and rushed. It would've been cool if we saw him making it or something earlier in the season.

Mark was solid. Very natural progression of his plotline but there's so much else going on that it doesn't really go anywhere yet. Still really liked it though, especially his phone call with Milchick.

I don't know how I feel about them getting rid of Miss Huang. What was the purpose of her existing here if they're just gonna boot her off the show? I'm sure they have a plan with her though so I won't criticize them for it yet.

Irving's plotline was pretty unsatisfying too. Burt shows up at his house randomly and then he takes Irving to a train station and sends him on his merry way. Just so disappointing. Burt was like a driver or something when Lumon killed people back when he worked for them I suppose. It doesn't really track with the dinner scene at all considering it was supposed to entail that he was a devout follower of Lumon but whatever. Their exchange was pretty odd. They just kept repeating the same thing over and over again lol idk why that's supposed to be an emotional moment. They just kept repeating the same thing over and over again lol idk why that's supposed to be an emotional moment. They just kept repeating the same thing over and over again lol idk why that's supposed to be an emotional moment. The dialogue was so good until that point too.

This REALLY felt like they're trying to repeat The We We Are with 2x10. They intentionally voided doing anything too interesting here to give more leeway for next episode to be great, which has been a problem this whole season. Season one didn't NEED to hold back because it had such a tight narrative that the best stuff just happened to be at the end. 1x8 is one of the best episodes of the show and it's almost entirely buildup to the season finale. Really feels like this episode missed the point of what made that episode so special.

This was good, but not great. I didn't mention this but my god the cinematography was beautiful here. The Milchick shot in his office reminded me a ton of that shot of Kim and Jimmy in Bad Choice Road.

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