"The Grim Barbarity of Optics and Design" is the fifth episode of the American science fiction psychological thriller television series Severance.

For the episode, Christopher Walken received a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards.

While using the printer, Irving (John Turturro) discovers a disturbing painting depicting Optics & Design employees slaughtering MDR workers, consistent with rumors of a violent coup by O&D years ago.

While Ms. Casey is gone, Mark takes Helly on a walk through Lumon's hallways, where he shows her that he has tried to reassemble Petey's map and asks for her help, but she refuses.

Cobel watches them on the cameras; Graner admonishes her for letting the innies discover other departments, but she replies that "the best way to tame a prisoner is to convince them that they are free."

Club gave the episode an "A–" and wrote, "To make up for lost time, Burt takes Irving and Dylan to introduce them to his whole team.

"[2] Erin Qualey of Vulture gave the episode a perfect 5 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "It's not hyperbole to say that Severance is the most visually arresting show on TV today.

And the setting — Eero Saarinen's stunning Bell Labs — is a real-world piece of mid-century modern art that serves as a crucial centerpiece for the narrative.

"[4] Breeze Riley of Telltale TV gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "If you thought a show about people being severed into two different consciouses couldn't get weirder, I'm happy to report that you're wrong.

"[5] Mary Littlejohn of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "Will Severance give us the tools to break free of the system we see ourselves trapped in, or will watching the Macrodata team do it be enough to satiate us?

"[6] Caemeron Crain of TV Obsessive wrote, "Perhaps the whole purpose of Lumon centers on the manipulation of emotion itself, with O&D not just putting up paintings but tracking the responses to them and doing some kind of data entry that then gets kicked over to MDR for refinement.