‘Severance’ Season 1 Recap – What to Remember for Season 2

The Innies Discover their Outies

The first season built to one hell of a finale, where the severed personalities (aka “innies”) of each of the leads – Mark (Adam Scott), Helly (Britt Lower), Dylan (Zach Cherry) and Iriving (John Turturro) ) —all discovered details about their lives separate from work 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 and working for Lumon in cut floors under the identity “Mrs. Casey”. Oh, and Mark knows his neighbor isn’t the quaint Mrs. Selfish, but rather the Lumon wolf Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette).

The Helly reveal explains why her outie was so persisting in sending his innie back to work. It turns out that Helena chose to cut herself to convince the outside world that it’s a safe and effective process — especially since there’s a growing contingent of anti-cut sentiment (try saying that three times fast).

For Mark, the revelations are just as shocking. Gemma’s death and the grief surrounding it is what prompted Mark to go through the severance proceedings in the first place. While Mark’s outie doesn’t know that Gemma is still alive, Mark’s is innie does, after seeing Gemma – who now works for Lumon as Ms. Casey – on the chipped floor. Considering he mentioned this to his sister Devon (Jen Tullock), it’s only a matter of time before both sides of Mark know that Gemmas is alive.

As for Cobel, Devon realizes that she is not who she says she is and that she is working for Lumon after Mark’s innie accidentally calls her the wrong name.

All these threads collide and create a lot of tension for season 2. With Helly now knowing about Helena’s plans, how do the two coexist in the same body when their goals are so diametrically opposed? How does Mark’s innie work knowing that Gemma is alive? How does Mark’s outie act knowing Cobel has been spying on him for months?

Leaking memories

One of the more interesting things about innie/outie work/life balance comes from the paintings of Irving’s outie, which show that he has some reminiscent of Lumon’s interior. Irving spends most of his evenings painting portraits of the elevator that descends into Lumon’s lower bowels—the “Testing Floor” where we see Mrs. Casey descending to especially. This is an indicator that potentially suggests that the longer you are cut off, the more memories from work begin to bleed into life outside of work. Could Mark, Helly and Dylan begin to experience the same?

Lumon protocols

Dylan is the one who first triggers the innie’s ability to see life outside of work when Milchick (Tramell Tillman) activates what is known as the “Overtime Contingency” to awaken Dylan’s innie in his home (Dylan finds out , that his outie has a son , which is a big reveal that he doesn’t sit well with). One of the other protocols listed is “Clean Slate”, which may be what it sounds like. Could Lumon use the Clean Slate to wipe the innie’s memories and start fresh?

Other Cutoffs

One of the other lingering plans that could come up this season is the idea of ​​splitting up outside of Lumon. Devon meets a woman – who turns out to be the wife of a vocally pro-repeal US senator – who has apparently been fired to forget the pain of having a child. If severance exists or is available outside of Lumon, it can be weaponized for all sorts of nefarious purposes.