The first season of the show Severance was released in 2022 and gave a fresh perspective on work-life balance. The season ended with a cliffhanger, leaving fans with many questions about what could happen next. After a long, three year wait, the highly anticipated second season released on Jan. 17.
The show takes viewers into the mysterious world of a large corporation called Lumon, and illustrates the largely unknown inner-workings of the company. People working on the “severed floor” of Lumon have chips inserted into their brains that create work-personas (“Innie”) and outside-personas (“Outie”). When at work, the chip activates and employees become “Innies” who can not remember their outside life, and when employees are outside of work, they become “Outies” and can not remember life at work. The chip allows Lumon to keep the “Innie” and “Outie” completely separate, only being activated when employees enter the “severed floor” through a designated elevator.
While a chip like this may sound nice to some, as it grants the ability to be able to go home and relax without the stresses of work invading outside life, the show proves that a “severed” work-life system would be significantly more complicated in reality.
Season one chronicles members of Lumon’s department of “Macrodata Refinement.” As members Mark, Helly R., Irving and Dylan learn more about their environment, Lumon begins to seem less like a corporation and more like a cult.
Season one ends with a shocking cliffhanger— the employee’s “Innies” are introduced to the outside world through a Lumon loophole they found when one employee’s chip is activated at home. Mark’s “Innie” finds himself at a dinner party with his sister, and after seeing a picture of his “Outie’s” supposedly dead wife, he shares that she may be alive at Lumon.
Continuing Mark’s story in the second season, the show follows his journey to get his wife back as both an “Innie” and an “Outie.” However, it soon becomes clear that other relationships may start getting in the way of this mission when “Innie” Mark starts becomes intimate with his coworker, Helly R.
Unbeknownst to the viewer during the first four episodes of season two, Helly R. did not actually return to the “severed floor” since the end of season one. Instead, Helena Eagan, Helly’s “Outie” and part of the Eagan family that controls Lumon, has been secretly spying on the other employees, pretending to be her “Innie” in “Macrodata Refinement” to gain intel on what they may be planning.
The notion that an “Outie” could take control of an “Innie’s” body on the “severed floor” leaves Mark skeptical of Helly after her “Innie” returns. This notion also leaves Helly feeling disgusted, as she wonders how someone else could pretend to be her and becomes angry that Mark had not noticed. This season specifically brings up the recurring theme of balancing the identities of being “Innie” and “Outie,” making the viewer question whether “Innies” truly count as humans or if they are just puppets for their “Outies” to manipulate.
The second season also reveals more about the complicated and mysterious Eagan family. Helena, the “Outie” of Helly R., is an Eagan and viewers learn more about her family throughout the season. Her father, Jame Eagan, seems to resent her and even visits Helly R. on the “severed floor,” telling her that she has more of “Kier”– the godlike figure of Lumon– in her than Helena ever did. This raises a question that will hopefully be addressed later on in the show: will Helena’s father try to replace her with Helly R.?
Not only does this season reveal more about Lumon’s inner workings, but it also elaborates on Lumon’s history and the chip used in the severing procedure. Ms. Cobel, also known as Ms. Selvig, was the former “severed floor” manager, and is revealed to be responsible for the creation of the chip. She shared her contributions with the Eagans as a child and was never given proper credit. After dedicating her whole life to the company, she is let go, causing her to harbor resentment towards Lumon. She switches sides, helping Mark infiltrate Lumon to get his wife back. Her knowledge of the company’s history could give her the ability to expose Lumon as a fraud.
Finally, the plot explains what the “Macrodata Refinement” department does, a question that has plagued viewers ever since Helly R. asked in season one. The work had only been labeled as“mysterious and important,” with no specifics as to what they truly do.
The nature of the numbers that “Macrodata refinement” selects on their computers as their job is revealed as being a type of code for each of Gemma’s “Innies” that Lumon creates, although we still do not know their goal. Fans have speculated that Lumon may be trying to create a maximum number of “Innies” for Gemma or could be attempting to create an “Innie” that lacks full emotion, but Lumon’s true intentions are still unknown.
Many characters pushed to the side in season one were also expanded on in this season such as Mr. Milchick, the peppy yet scary severed floor manager, and Mark’s coworkers, Dylan and Irving. Connecting with these characters allowed us to understand the loneliness that comes with the severance procedure and severance as a whole.
One thing that makes Severance so unique is that the writers allow viewers to really meet the characters and delve deeper into the question of who counts as a real person as well as how “Innies” and “Outies” manage having the majority of their lives separated.
While the first season makes it appear as though “Outies” enjoy working at Lumon and have full control over their “Innies,” the second season tells a different story. “Outies” often use the severance procedure as a second chance, a do-over in order to make up for past mistakes. Mark uses it to escape from the reality of his dead wife, Dylan uses it to run away from his responsibilities and shame and Burt, a man that worked in a different department, used it as a religious second chance before he retired, a way into heaven.
The season outlines the struggle for power between the “Innies” and “Outies,” a largely one-sided battle that “Innies” fight. “Innies” begin to realize that they want to have autonomy and separation from their “Outies.” This wrestling of conflicting viewpoints creates tension throughout the season.
In the finale, “Outie” Mark is brought to a severed birthing cabin – a cabin that activates the severance chip, allowing the “Innie” to surface – in order to talk to his “Innie.” He begs for his wife back, pleading with his “Innie” to cooperate on a plan to get Gemma out of Lumon so they can live together. Even though he promises to go through with a procedure that will let his “Innie” and “Outie” live in the same body, “Innie” Mark remains skeptical.
When “Outie” Mark cannot even get Helly R.’s name right when comparing their feelings for each other to his for Gemma, “Innie” Mark ultimately realizes that “Outie” Mark will never truly see him as an equal. “Outie” Mark makes “Innie” Mark’s romance sound childish and less genuine compared to his and Gemma’s, talking to his “Innie” like he needs help to understand. So, as we watch “Innie” Mark choose between Helly, the woman that had always been there for him during his abbreviated life, and Gemma, the woman that he felt indebted to in part of his “Outie,” he begins to realize that Gemma means nothing to him and Helly means everything.
He slowly turns toward Helly R. as the red alarm lights continue flashing and realizes that he would rather spend the next 10 minutes with the woman that he loves than go outside and be controlled by his “Outie.” As Gemma bangs on the door from outside, begging Mark to get out with her before he gets caught, Mark takes one, final, sympathetic glance at her and runs toward Helly R., his love. The season closes out with them running through the halls hand-in-hand, with no clear destination– only each other.
The second season of Severance dives deeper into the character’s identities and their relationships yet manages to create new mysteries and questions for every answer revealed. It will be exciting to see what the writers have in store for the next season.
