Fostering a healthy workplace culture at Lumon.

This week we have some further insight into the way Lumon manipulates its severed employees, unpicking the… I’ll call them colourful stories and opinions that Dylan has frequently peppered into previous episodes.

The sinister employer actively segregates and nurtures animosity between departments. Most corporate companies work hard to do the opposite, as anyone who has ever been on an inter-departmental team-building day can confirm. Yes, awful workplace away days can be just as painful as all out warfare, but perpetuating a history of a massacre seems excessive. It’s both troubling yet somehow funny as Dylan, Irving and Burt develop trust.

Cobel continues to show her hand as an insidious villain, in what continues to be one of the more nuanced and subtle performances I’ve seen in a long time. As she steps up her surveillance of the MDR department, she herself is trying to hide things from the mysterious ‘Board’, and I strongly suspect that’s not a good thing. Nevertheless, the lines are still blurred as to just who are the angels and who are the demons in this tale, thanks to veiled, multi-layered motives. It’s still compulsive viewing but I’m dying for a little more each episode… I can’t decide if it’s clever or slow storytelling; maybe both?

Mark’s work ethic continues to slip as his severed lives seem to be bleeding into one another in unexpected ways. A nail-biting update has two of the team dealing with serious trauma, with tragic moments that still, in that same contrasting way, sprinkle some dark humour.

Verdict: More secrets, lies and questions add to the still oddly compelling mystery. 7/10

Claire Smith