While my “innie” is stressing over the many looming end-of-semester exams and projects I should be working on, my “outie” is obsessing over Severance Season Two fan theories.
“Severance” is a science fiction and psychological thriller two-season series that first premiered in February 2022. Written by Dan Erickson and produced by Ben Stiller, it primarily follows the lives of “severed” employees, Mark S. played by Adam Scott, Helly R. played by Britt Lower, Dylan G. played by Zach Cherry and Irving B. played by John Turturro, working in the “Macro Data Refinement” division at a fictional biotechnology company, Lumon Industries. The company is run by a quasi-religious culty group of descendants of the company’s founder, Kier Eagen, and its influence expands far beyond its employees. To be “severed” is to split your consciousness in half, creating “innies,” a work persona and “outies,” a home persona. While “innies” and “outies” are fundamentally the same person, throughout the series, we watch as the served “innies” working at Lumon develop personalities independent of their “outies,” forming motivations, interests and relationships of their own.
Season Two premiered on Jan. 17, 2025, after facing significant production delays due to the Writers’ Guild of America Strikes in 2023. Season One ended with one of the most tumultuous episodes of television I’ve ever seen, with a closing line delivered by Mark S. that sent chills down my spine. I am glad I was one of the lucky people who discovered this series after the premiere of Season Two, sparing myself from the over three-year wait to get some of the answers that Season Two provides.
As someone whose TV viewing habits are typically limited to binge-watching old fan-favorite sitcoms, ‘Severance’ Season Two brought me back to the joys of weekly-release television. Getting to watch a new episode has been the highlight of my Thursday evenings for the past two months, but even more enjoyable has been getting to talk about theories with friends, classmates, professors and colleagues as we waited for the newest episodes to come out.
Chances are, you or someone you know has been obsessing over the show. With its award-winning cinematography, star-studded cast and intricately woven layers of mystery and intrigue, it offers something for everyone.
Season Two, even more so than Season One, had me hooked. I enjoyed getting a glimpse into the lives of the core four outside of the severed floor. Seeing the ways in which Lumon still had major influences on the lives of the “outies” provided a layer of commentary as to how one can never truly escape work. The season also gradually built towards a grand reveal of what exactly the “mysterious and important” work of employees contributed to in the grand scheme of Lumon, tying up the loose ends of the questions raised in Season One.
Perhaps my favorite new storyline that Season Two introduced was the mystery of the many severed lives of Gemma/Ms. Casey, played by Dichen Lachman. As previously mentioned, the final episode of Season One ended on a massive cliffhanger. We learn that “outie” Mark S.’ wife, Gemma, who he believed to have died in a car accident, is actually alive and is being kept in Lumon under the persona of “Ms. Casey,” a therapist for severed employees. Season Two brings us Mark S. and his MDR colleagues’ journey to discover where Gemma/Ms. Casey is now being kept and what exactly Lumon is testing on her.
As Mark S. works to find his “outie’s” wife, he simultaneously falls deeper into a romantic relationship with Helly R., a tension point used to further drive the narrative that “innies” and “outies” are two completely different personalities occupying the same physical body. I found myself so frustrated by this relationship. The small bits and pieces that the season gave of Gemma’s story, including a whole episode of her and “outie” Mark’s marriage, left me rooting for the pair’s reunion. I began to resent the character of Helly R., wanting nothing to come between Mark S. and Gemma, which is why the season’s final episode left me enraged.
Of course, there is no happy ending for Gemma, the character the show wants us to feel deeply empathetic for. But I remained hopeful that “innie” Mark S. would remain faithful to his “outie” and carry out his promise of saving Gemma until the final scene of the episode. As Mark S. and Helly R. locked hands and dramatically ran through the hallways of the severed floor, leaving Gemma to fend for herself, I slammed my computer screen shut before the credits began to roll.
Even now as I write this, I am experiencing the same feeling of disappointment towards the conclusion of this episode all over again. However, the emotions this show elicits in me, and many other viewers, are a testament to its strength. Severance builds characters with true humanity, so full of life that they bring viewers right into their gloomy, desolate world.
At times, episodes from Season Two were so deeply packed with symbolism and imagery that despite my best efforts and undivided attention, I had trouble noticing many of these details. It was for this reason that I found it super helpful and generally interesting to listen to the podcast episodes that Ben Stiller and Adam Scott produced to accompany each episode. Without listening to these podcast episodes, I never would have realized that severed Gemma/Ms. Casey’s doctor is the same doctor who appeared at the fertility clinic with her and Mark S. in Episode Seven, “Chikhai Bardo,” or understood the role of the baby goat, Emile, in Episode 10, “Cold Harbor.”
Now that all episodes of Season Two have premiered, I will miss my Thursday night Severance viewings. I won’t have to say goodbye to the show forever, though, as Ben Stiller has already confirmed that the series is up for a third season. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait three more years to learn what happens next to Gemma and the MDR team.