Everything You Need to Remember From ‘Severance’ Season 1
AS POINTED OUT online a few weeks ago, the last time Severance was on the air, the trailer for Season 1 of The Bear – a series that will see its fourth season debut this summer – hadn’t hit yet. The last episode of Apple TV+’s smash hit show aired on April 22, 2022. That’s a few months shy of three years ago, for those who don’t want to do the math. The point is, it’s been a while since the show was around. And, well, you may not remember everything.
Severance follows the tradition of great shows like Twin Peaks and Lost, unspooling a great mystery at its core while digging deep into its central characters. But because the plot of the show introduces so many interesting and engaging concepts through its first season and because it’s been so long since those initial episodes, we may not blame you if you can’t remember every single little detail.
Don’t worry, we’re here to help. With season 2 just around the corner, we’ve put together a Lumon-approved guide to the most important things to remember from Severance’s first season so that even if you had your mind severed, you can still know what’s what when it returns to streaming screens this week.
The Innies Discover Their Outies
The first season built to a hell of a finale where the severed personalities (aka “innies”) of each of the main cast – Mark (Adam Scott), Helly (Britt Lower), Dylan (Zach Cherry), and Iriving (John Turturro) – all discovered details about their lives separate from working at Lumon (aka their “outies”). Some revelations were more dramatic than others – notably, the fact that Helly’s outie is none other than Helena Eagan, daughter of Lumon CEO Jame Eagan, and that Mark’s dead wife Gemma (Dichen Lachman) is very much alive, working for Lumon in severed floors under the identity of "Mrs. Casey." Oh, and Mark knows his neighbor isn’t the quaint Mrs. Selvig, but rather, Lumon wolf Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette).
The Helly reveal explains why her outie was so persistent in sending her innie back to work. It turns out that Helena chose to sever herself to convince the outer world that it’s a safe and effective process – especially as there’s a growing contingent of anti-severed sentiment (try saying that three times fast).
For Mark, the reveals are equally as shattering. Gemma’s death and the grief surrounding it is what caused Mark to undergo the severance procedure in the first place. While Mark’s outie doesn’t know Gemma’s still alive, Mark’s innie does, having seen Gemma – now working for Lumon as Ms. Casey – on the severed floor. Considering he mentioned this at his sister Devon’s (Jen Tullock), it’s only a matter of time before both sides of Mark know Gemma’s alive.
As for Cobel, Devon’s aware she’s not who she says she is and that she’s working for Lumon after Mark’s innie accidentally called her the wrong name.
All of these threads are colliding, setting up a lot of tension for Season 2. With Helly now knowing about Helena’s plans, how do the two co-exist in the same body when their goals are so diametrically opposed? How does Mark’s innie work knowing Gemma’s alive? How does Mark’s outie conduct himself knowing Cobel’s been spying on him for months?
Leaking Memories
One of the more interesting tidbits about the innie/outie work/life balance comes from the paintings of Irving’s outie, which shows he has some memory of Lumon’s interior. Irving spends most of his evenings painting portraits of the elevator that goes down to the lower bowels of Lumon – the "Testing Floor," where we see Mrs. Casey heading down to, in particular. This is an indicator that potentially suggests the longer you’re severed, the more memories from work begin to bleed over into life outside of work. Could Mark, Helly, and Dylan begin to experience the same thing?
Lumon Protocols
Dylan’s the one who first cracks up the ability for the innies to see life outside of work when Milchick (Tramell Tillman) activates what’s known as the “Overtime Contingency” to wake up Dylan’s innie at his home (Dylan finds out his outie has a son, which is a major revelation that he does not sit well with). One of the other protocols listed is the “Clean Slate,” which may be what it sounds like. Could Lumon use Clean Slate to wipe the innie’s memories away and start fresh?
Other Severings
One of the other lingering plots that may come to a head this season is the idea of severing outside of Lumon. Devon meets a woman – who turns out to be the wife of a loudly pro-severance U.S. senator – who’s seemingly been severed in order to forget the pain of having a child. If severing exists or is available outside of Lumon, it could be weaponized for all kinds of nefarious purposes.
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