OK yes this article does contain significant spoilers for season 1 of Severance, but if, like me, you settle to watch a new season of a show and then have trouble remembering what happened last time out then read on.
The first season of the Apple TV+ series Severance, created by Dan Erickson, quickly established itself as a unique and unsettling piece of television. The premise alone is enough to grab attention: employees of Lumon Industries undergo a “severance” procedure, which surgically divides their memories between their work lives and their personal lives. This creates two distinct personas within each individual: the “innie,” who only exists within the confines of Lumon, and the “outie,” who has no memory of their time at work. As the show begins, we see Adam Scott playing Mark Scout, a man seemingly emotionally withdrawn, who works in the Macrodata Refinement division, with Patricia Arquette as Harmony Cobel, his enigmatic and unsettling boss, and John Turturro as Irving Bailiff, Mark’s rule-following and by the book work colleague.
The season kicks off with the arrival of Helly R., played by Britt Lower, a new employee who is completely resistant to the severance procedure. Her refusal to accept her innie existence and her constant attempts to escape and learn about her outie self serve as a catalyst for much of the narrative. This resistance forces Mark and his colleagues Dylan George played by Zach Cherry and Irving, to start questioning the nature of their work and the true purpose of Lumon. The process of refining data, which seems utterly nonsensical, becomes a symbol of the psychological control exerted by the company. The group starts to realize that what they believed to be a normal work environment is something far more sinister. As their suspicions grow they begin testing the boundaries of their severed existence, looking for ways to connect with their “outies”.
A central point of the season is the budding connection between Mark’s innie and outie life. His outie is grieving his wife, and it turns out, his wife Gemma, played by Dichen Lachman, is actually still alive and working in Lumon’s Wellness department under the guise of “Ms. Casey.” This discovery is pivotal and forces both versions of Mark to deal with their emotions, but also begin to distrust Lumon’s narrative. The revelation that Lumon is not what it seems is a persistent theme. We see this through various situations, such as the unsettling ‘break room’ punishment that involves empty platitudes and forced apologies, and the strange goat room, which hints at darker experiments.
The company’s methods of control and manipulation, coupled with its opaque goals, paint Lumon as a genuinely malevolent entity. The season finale culminates in a sequence where the innies briefly gain control of their outie bodies. This short window of freedom allows them to experience the outside world, which was both confusing and revealing. Each of them goes to very different locations and it certainly sets up an interesting premise for the next season. The innies, who have only ever known the sterile white walls of Lumon, get a taste of the vibrant, chaotic reality they have been kept from. The audience sees all three at a critical moment of discovery, before they are cruelly pulled back by the severance protocols. This climax leaves the audience with many questions, and plenty of anticipation. It will be fascinating to watch the next season and see what direction this show will take.
Severance is an Apple TV+ production and premieres on Thursday January 16.