why i'm obsessed with severance's burt and irving
there's a reason why this old man yaoi works and yes, it's through the power of good characterisation and Love (spoilers ahead!)
please play hozier’s do i wanna know for an enhanced reading experience of this essay.
as i usually am introduced to new media, i came to know about severance when i saw a screenshot of two old men, holding hands in a room full of greenery. i was skeptical at first but, i figured, why not give it a shot? and, well, my skepticism washed away instantaneously.
if you don’t know what or who i’m talking about, severance is the tv show that’s gotten many people in a chokehold for its interesting premise and exploration of the ‘work-life balance’. it dares to ask the question: what if you could actually separate yourself into a personal life self and work life self? so in this world, there is a procedure called ‘severance’ to become a ‘severed’ employee at your company. burt and irving, the two people i will be discussing, are severed and have formed a love between the two.
UP TO S2E5 SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
their love story is not something new, but how it comes alive is something that is unexpected because severed employees are basically new at life. they are having their first experience of being infatuated with someone else and it feels magical and explosive. they run away from what they need to do to be with each other, exchanging touches and looks — and because they are older, they are more self-assured. sure, they’re shy, but they know what love is conceptually, though perhaps not in practice.
in that regard, burt and irving are puppies in love but specifically akin to a romeo & juliet kind of love.
we know how romeo and juliet goes — juliet capulet, a 13 year old girl, and romeo montague, a man from a rival family are two individuals who fall in love with each other at first sight. however, any pursuing is deemed forbidden due to the rivalry the capulet and montague family has. this results in tragedy where juliet and romeo both die of suicide and both the families are devastated.
the reason i’ve drawn this comparison is because burt and irving’s love is radical. it goes against lumon’s wishes and against their own outie’s wishes (especially burt…). it goes against the very system that allows them to exist.
in the context of this day and age, their love is radical because being old and gay is something that is not a given — with the HIV/AIDs epidemic, many queer elders are not with us. there are less people to look up to because of the help they did not receive. so, to see love between two older men is to know that they survived. that they also get to indulge in a love that they had not previously been able to and have fought so hard for.
however, in burt and irving’s context, it is radical because ANY kind of love and romance is forbidden. lumon forbids it but because they fall for each other so fast and so strongly, they begin to rebel.
“It’s…rare to meet a sophisticate. Most people only think of O&D when new handbook totes come in.”
“Well, I love those too.”
irving first meets burt in front of the wellness center as irving admires the piece of art displayed in the waiting room. burt comes out of the wellness center, recognising the interest irving has for the work he’s put up. then, there is this… spark. a spark that comes from an alignment of interest in art and curiosity in each other’s character.
their rebellion starts with burt. he takes the time to walk over to mdr with pre-release handbook totes to ease irving’s excitement for them. then, in spite of irving’s religiosity, he starts to bastardise kier text because all he wants is to have an excuse to see burt. they start trying to meet each other in their free time even when they know they’re not supposed to.
burt welcomes irving into his department as a show of vulnerability that he trusts irving despite circulating rumours about the mdr department, particularly that they have pouches like kangaroos and give birth to larva..? generally rumours that put mdr in a strange light, pushing other departments away from fraternizing with mdr. irving fights for his right to see burt off at his farewell party, even going against authority even though it goes against innie irving’s values — which is his turn point of radicalisation.
at this point, everyone in mdr has been radicalised for a reason. helly was the first, radicalised by her outie’s dismissive behaviour towards her. then it was mark, who was radicalised by the combination of learning opposition views via ricken’s book, the you you are, petey’s map, helly’s defiance, and his own curiousity; dylan is also radicalised by ricken’s book, as well as by the fact that he learns that his outie has children, who are by right, his children as well but he doesn’t know anything about them nor can he see them outside of the overtime contingency.
irving is radicalised by his puppy love for burt — but his form of defiance is not for a greater good. it is inherently selfish as he goes against what the group aims to do. when they plan to go to the security room to check how to turn on the overtime contingency, irving makes a swerve and goes to find burt. his heart is not broken by burt but by the circumstances that refuse to let him even decide for himself if he wants to see burt. it is by their external circumstances (aka lumon) that they cannot pursue each other anymore.
“Are we being punished? For defying the guidance of the founder?”
when burt retires from lumon, not by his outie’s willing choice as suggested in s2e5 (or is it…), it is the start of the tragic deaths of romeo and juliet. while burt still exists on the outside, innie burt is effectively dead to irving. so when irving agrees to a plan where the mdr cohort agrees to talk to people on the outside and get their story as severed employees out there, he abandons the mission plan once again to look for burt, filled with this young fervour for love. there, he finds that burt is with someone. he is heartbroken but he still goes to his door, banging on it screaming out his name like its the last time he’ll ever see burt - as he believes that it might be.
when irving returns to lumon, he becomes suicidal, threatening to end his innie life by never returning to lumon again because he cannot withstand the pain anymore. whether “the pain” is the possibility of never being with burt anyway because his outie has a partner or that burt has retired from lumon is unclear. but what is clear is that he simply cannot bear it anymore. irving expresses to dylan that he doesn’t want to keep living as an innie because he cannot bear knowing that burt on the outside has a partner. he is so heartbroken that he pleads with dylan to let him essentially commit suicide. of course, dylan doesn’t allow this and tries to reason with irving saying that he fell in love with innie burt and not outie burt, saying that he still has a reason to live: the mdr department. in this moment (if they kissed, i wouldn’t have been surprised), irving sees dylan’s reason and gives in, continuing to live as an innie despite his discovery of outie burt.
“People are weird. Though I’d be remiss not to say that in this theory, the larva eventually eats and replaces you, which, Irving, would solve the mystery… of your youthful energy.”
though we don’t see much from burt’s perspective, we know that he also pines for irving: he goes out of his way to give him pre-release totebags, kind of like a cheesy flirt. he is physical and unashamed, he is bold, and he goes for it. he even advocates for irving when he rebels against mr milchick, wanting him to stay for his retirement party.
from irving’s perspective, though he doesn’t really know it, he’s been radicalised by burt to the point that he will do anything for the chance to even see him. from a once diligent worker at lumon, reciting kier’s passages and being a rule follower, he feels Emotions like joy and sadness upon meeting burt, which turns him rebellious, curious and impulsive, all things that irving is decidedly not. we see that he finally sees what it means to be denied a sense of self, and he obviously does not like it.
it does not go unnoticed that while mark and helly’s romance is highlighted in the break room video, burt and irving’s is not. i think lumon does not know as much as they lead us to believe. while they basically kick burt out, they do it out of fear that they will not be able to contain the damage. with mark and helly, they are in a singular department and they have helena, so they are manageable - burt and irving are standard procedure where they will just separate any potential couples for fear of lack of surveillance and the impact they might cause.
this is made even more interesting when we know that irving did not report to mr milchick that he found himself in front of burt’s door when the overtime contingency ended. not only that, burt is so curious to know about irving that he invites irving to a dinner with his Husband. i mean, Phew, it’s getting intense! and with innie irving getting fired, completing the arc of the tragic deaths of two young lovers whose love was forbidden… from now on, its uncharted territory.
i’m more than excited for what’s to come next! do i think outie burt and outie irving will have an affair? well, yes! but we’ll see what the severance team has in store for us, because you cannot convince me that their love is meant to end at a husband. the way they look at each other and just gravitate to one another? inject that right into my veins thx. i’ll be waiting for the next episode like a teen looking for their vape they can’t find. pls watch severance, its worth it. love, taie.
edited by min :3