Black refiners. We’ve gotta talk about that Milchick and Drummond moment in the Severance episode, “The After Hours”.

So, I’m watching season 2 of Severance. And as I post this, the ninth episode of the season “The After Hours” has just aired. And I really wanna talk about it. Well, I wanna talk about one moment in particular — Milchick and Drummond’s lil’ chat. Probably one of my favourite moments of the episode, which felt like the culmination of lots of Milchick moments diverging — adding a new wrinkle to a story and a world which already has more wrinkles than a newborn Shar Pei.

Severance has made a commentary on a lot of things. Corporate shenanigans. Abuse of power dynamics. Sexisism. Homophobia. Religion. Consent. Control. And now I guess we can add race to the mix.

Full disclaimer. To fully pre-empt and prevent being branded a liar and being misleading — the images in this post with subtitles are not official subtitles from Severance. They are subtitles I slapped on the images for extra effect and humour’s sake, in the vein of ‘What would these characters want to actually say’. I am including this disclaimer, as in my original Reddit thread there were people making accusations about my use of imagery. I assumed it was a given that the subtitles were ‘fake’. But I guess me making an assumption was the mistake. Because, the Internet.

Oh. And in case anybody comes across this post hasn’t watched Severance, spoiler warning from here on out.

Severance | Apple TV+

Race is a topic which will always be timely. But one which feels particularly timely now, at a point where Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is being eradicated by numerous businesses and institutions across America. And now DE&I is being used nonsensically as blame for everything — from the shitty economy to plane crashes. It’s up there with ‘woke’ as a term which is carelessly and incorrectly thrown around in conversations by RGB (255,255,255) people about anything pertaining to fairness, equality and safety. Two terms, now completely devoid of their original contexts and actual meanings.

HENNYWAY.

Back to Severance and ‘the race of it all’, as I see it. Heavy emphasis on as I see it.

The nerve | Severance

Now, ‘the race of it all’ was something which was quite literally shown to us in the episode “Who Is Alive”, when Milchick was gifted ‘inclusively recanonicalised paintings’ of Kier. Which is the boards’ ‘big word’ way of saying that they negrofied the paintings for Milchick. I didn’t take the paintings as anything racist or insidious. I just chalked it up to Lumon doing weird shit, as Lumon does. But Milchick’s reaction to the paintings let me know that there was more to it. And two episodes later, we see that Milchick hadn’t let it go, when he asks Natalie how she felt when she received the negrofied paintings. To which Natalie said...

Severance | Apple TV+

Nothing y’all. She said nothing.

This Natalie moment was so good for a couple of reasons. One. Just so there’s no confusion, the show is making it known that Natalie is Black. Because much like the general white public on Mariah Carey in the early 90s, I’m sure there are some who thought she was white. Two. Natalie not saying anything says everything. Natalie’s face read as her definitely having an opinion on those paintings. Maybe even having some tea on there being a Ghetto Music Dance Experience back in the day. But she was absolutely not going to share her thoughts and do anything which could fuck up her Lumon bag. And if your body’s feeling tight and you really wanna stretch, maybe Natalie had been made to conform to a standard of Blackness deemed most ‘acceptable’ in order for her to ascend in the company. Maybe she willingly leaned into that. There is also a lot that we could get into about colourism, but that’s a whole other post. I don’t think this is something Severance is touching on or will touch. But, that’s a thing too. Three. Skinfolk ain’t kinfolk. The ‘similar challenges’ Milchick mentioned perhaps weren’t so similar after all, because colourism. And whilst Natalie’s paintings would have been shocking, they would have been less so, because Kier would have had much lighter skin and looked near enough white.

Severance | Apple TV+

Now, the Milchick and Drummond interaction itself wasn’t explicitly a scene where racism was on display. There was no clear connection to the negrofied paintings. As aforementioned, the Milchick and Drummon interaction was one of two moments in this episode — for Milchick specifically — where lots of different things intersected. But to see a Black man be reprimanded for his vocabulary and be told how to speak hit me in a very specific way.

Throughout my life I have been told to change aspects of myself because I didn’t fit the mould of Blackness deemed acceptable to certain individuals and / or institutions. And for as long as I can remember, one of the things I had consistently been told to change was how I spoke and how I wrote.

The Milchick and Drummond scene may not have been written to have any form of undertone or trigger for Black people at all, and yet I felt it was there. And just so we’re crystal clear, I am not damning Severance for this, nor am I highlighting it as a problem with the show. I think Severance is brilliant because of how it was able to strike a tone and touch on something so specific without saying the thing. Similar to the episode “Chikhai Bardo” and the ways in which it resonated with women who took the treatment of Gemma as an allegory for abuse.

Severance | Apple TV+

Moments like these add a layer and dimension for very specific cross sections of Severance’s audience, whilst still delivering a message and a moment which is universal for every single viewer. Everybody can agree that Drummond was being a bully and abusing his power, even if Milchick deserved it as a taste of his own medicine. Black people can absolutely agree on, whilst also acknowledging that the scene simultaneously hit on a different level for us as Black people. Not just because of the optics of it, but because we have experienced what Milchick has experienced in this moment, and for us it was in a context where being Black was a very clear factor.

Through my lens as a Black man, the Milchick and Drummond scene was more than just somebody senior being shitty to a subordinate. It was a white man choosing to pin all blame on a Black man for a mess that other (white) people collectively contributed to. A white man telling a Black man how to speak. A white man demanding an apology, receiving it and then telling a Black man it wasn’t good enough.

Mr. Drummond absolutely looks the type to use a hard R.

Severance | Apple TV+

I have worked in jobs where white people would comment on ‘big words’ I use in e-mails. I have been the only Black employee, with no peer I could talk to about racial microaggressions I was experiencing in the office. I have been made to jump through hoops for a fraction of what my white peers were being paid, despite doing more work with less resources, less time and still delivering and the entire company being aware of my contributions — just to be told in my performance review that it wasn’t enough. I have also had my Blackness used against me by white superiors to create disparaging narratives. All the while being fed a story that the company is inclusive, values everybody regardless of their background and that it’s an environment where everybody can thrive.

Lies.

Growing up I was always made very aware by my mother and my Black teachers at school of how much harder I would have to work at things, because I was Black. They told me I was gifted and that I shouldn’t shy away from that. That I should never stop learning. That I should be proud of being smart and not downplay it. Only to be hit with the reality upon entering the corporate world that my smartness combined with my Blackness threatened my colleagues and my bosses. I was made to shrink. My career progress gate kept — not because I was underperforming, but because I was overperforming. Doing ‘too much’, when the ‘too much’ was just me doing my job. And ‘too much’ stings differently when you’re Black, because it’s so frequently used in the context of trying to get us to tone something about ourselves down. ‘Your hair is too much’. ‘Your nails are too much’. ‘Your outfit is too much’. Our blackness is too much.

Lumon is an imaginary company. But the politics and triflery are very real.

Lumon could be any company. And whilst Milchick being Black may not have been the nucleus or the focus of his scene with Drummond, it still hit me as though it was, because I’ve had very similar experiences.

Severance | Apple TV+

When you look at Milchick’s entire arc from the beginning, he was always doing grunt work for Cobel which wasn’t reflective of his capabilities or his intellect. And when he replaced her, he didn’t have the resources that she did. He wasn’t given somebody with his experience to replace his old role. He was given Miss Huang. And he didn’t have a head of security to escort the innies or handle shenanigans happening outside of Lumon HQ. He was promoted into one role, but having to do three. More seemed to be asked of Milchick than would have been asked of Cobel or anybody else. And I know, I know — Cobel may have been given some special treatment as the mastermind behind the severance chip. And Milchick has certainly made some blunders. He is no Saint. That man is still absolute trash. But it doesn’t change the optics. Especially when you factor in his performance review, the negrofied Kier paintings, Milchick asking Natalie about them and her non verbal reaction of ‘Gurl. We ain’t talking about that here and I ain’t messing up my bag’.

Those negrofied paintings had already tripped a switch for Milchick. They were a reminder. ‘You are a Black’. Not malicious. Not incendiary. But still, a reminder. And to be quite honest, a necessary one. Because Milchick quite possibly seemed to have forgotten, or felt that ‘Lumon doesn’t see colour’.

Milchick. Girl. Really!?

But also, I get it.

Severance | Apple TV+

When Milchick was given those negrofied Kier paintings, my immediate thought ‘It’s just Lumon doing their weird shit’. I didn’t think racism was at play and didn’t think the show would make anything of it. But it did. And now I can’t help think of how it makes me see the treatment of Gemma and Miss Huang through a slightly different lens.

Is it difficult to believe that Kier coulda been a racist and that Lumon doesn’t particularly like Black people? It so flagrantly doesn’t like women. It doesn’t like gays. It’s not a stretch they wouldn’t particularly like Black people either. And it’s not a stretch to imagine Drummond referring to Milchick behind closed doors as ‘That uppity nappy headed man who uses the big words’.

Severance | Apple TV+

It’s easy to say ‘I don’t think Lumon is acting as it towards Milchick because he is Black’, because Lumon is such a piece of shit who has no real respect for anybody — even their own employees. I have even thought this when I was in situations where the bullshit was happening to me. ‘This company is just shit. It’s shit to everybody’. But two things can be true at the same time. Lumon can just be treating Milchick like shit, because it’s what Lumon does. But this doesn’t invalidate that Milchick could be experiencing something specific which pertains to him being Black. And similarly, I don’t think Black Severance fans who felt racial undertones, overtones, loud tones, deafening tones from the Milchick and Drummond scene should have their feelings invalidated, as mine have been by select individuals in the Reddit post where I initially posted a condensed form of my thoughts on all o’ dis shit.

The purpose of me sharing my thoughts on this is for other Black Severance fans. Because I know I’m not the only Black person watching Severance and I know I can’t have been the only one who felt how they did about the scene with Milchick and Drummond.

The whole reason I started blogging in the first place was to just put things on my mind and things I’m into out into the world, in the hopes that it would make at least one other person feel seen. So many fan spaces of these types of shows, films, etc. are predominantly white, so there isn’t really space for these types of conversations or takes to be shared. So, BLOOP. There it is.

And on this note, I’ll end with a short FAQ based on some of the not so great responses I’ve had on my Reddit post, which is now locked, because of such responses.

Please enjoy each point individually.

‘Why you gotta bring race into everything’?
Severance quite literally brought race into the story with those negrofied Kier paintings.

‘You’re projecting onto the story’.
I am not saying ‘THIS IS WHAT THE SHOW IS DOING’. I am sharing how a scene made me feel and trying to be transparent as to why it made me feel that way — which is a combination of my own experiences and very specific things within the show.

‘Dylan is Black and he isn’t treated like Milchick. Explain that!’
Dylan has a completely different role at Lumon to Milchick. So despite both being Black, their experiences in the corporate machine would be different. Dylan’s boss is white and is managed by Milchick, who is Black and is not respected by anybody in Macrodata Refinement. I mean, shit — Dylan pushed that man down onto the floor and bit him during the Music Dance Experience. Meanwhile, Milchick is overseen by Mr. Drummond, who is an imposing figure at Lumon and very senior within the company. But even if Dylan and Milchick were at the same level and had the same boss, they could still be treated differently, based on which of the two best fits the Lumon mould. Or who is the ‘better’ package of Blackness which Lumon feels is most palatable to them and ‘easier’ to work with. As with Natalie, the colourism angle is right there. The show is not addressing it or making a commentary on it at all. But if we wanna go there, Dylan is light-skinned, Milchick is dark-skinned. And then if we REALLY wanna get into it, Dylan is fat and light-skinned, where-as Milchick is ‘fit’ and dark-skinned.

‘Eat shit’ | Severance