Time to find out what’s on the other side…

The penultimate episode is full of poetic glimpses, poignant interactions and yet more unsettling workplace dystopia as MDR reach their quota but their nemesis reaches breaking point.

Cue another welcome example of Lumon not patronising its viewers. The narrative seeds were sown, and if you’ve been paying attention, the shoots that emerged last episode and the green leaves that now unfurl along the branches of this tale will be no surprise – and no less beautiful in their subtle execution.

We know there is rebellion and mutiny in the ranks, and it becomes clear that this has given the MDR team motivation to at least appear to do their job, in the hopes of relaxed scrutiny. Again, we are shown rather than told. Now we learn that Cobel’s nefarious dealings might have been rogue after all – and we’ve been blaming Lumon all this time. Was her treatment of Ms. Casey and Mark S all some sort of twisted experiment? Has she been playing with Lumon’s severed employees as if they were dolls?

Suspicion still shrouds the corporation in mystery though, and there’s a traumatic (and masterfully edited) splicing of two sequences that depict what happens when a zealot is crossed and how Lumon sees fit to ‘reward’ its employees. Hell hath no fury like a manager scorned.

For the first time, I must give a consecutive 10 points to this episode because I didn’t think the mic-drop at the end of episode 7 could be beaten. How wrong I was, and now I’m not sure how I’ll sleep until Friday.

Verdict: And the award for the most scream-inducing cliff-hanger of 2022 goes to… 10/10

Claire Smith