In February of 2022 when Severance S1 dropped, the world was simply put a much different place. Jimmy Carter was still alive and mulling a 2nd presidential run, nobody knew people were exploring the ruins of the Titanic in ships controlled by Xbox controllers, Twitter was still called Twitter, and most importantly – Brittney Griner was still in a Russian prison. If you’re anything like me, you’ve replaced all or most of your recollection of this show with more important matters like trying to remember your wedding anniversary or what your coworkers name is that you just nod at in the halls. Don’t fear, the blog is here! I will breakdown everything (barely skim the surface) of what happened in Season 1. If you don’t want to read, you can watch the preeminent source for YouTube recaps, Man of Recaps, summarize it all below:
Main Characters
Mark Scout (severed) played by Adam Scott, the actor (not golfer). Work-Mark’s friend Petey has disappeared. Home-Mark’s wife died recently.
Dylan George (severed) played by Zach Cherry. Loves work perks & calling people from O&D fucks.
Helly Riggs (severed) played by Britt Lower. New hire, Work-Helly does NOT like Home-Helly.
Irving Bailiff (severed) played by John Turturro, aka the Jesus. Infatuated with the founders of Lumon, uses big words, loves following rules.
Burt Goodman (severed) played by Christopher Walken. Not really a main character, but he’s Christopher Walken. Works in O&D department, pretty much plays himself.
Seth Milchick (unsevered) played by Tramell Tillman. Essentially the babysitter down there.
Harmony Cobel (unsevered) played by Patricia Arquette, not the mom from National Lampoon’s which I thought originally. Main antagonist, in charge of the severed floor, also neighbor of Home-Mark under the pseudonym Mrs. Selvig.
Ricken Hale (unsevered) played by Michael Chemus. The comedic relief alongside Dylan, Home-Mark’s brother in law and author of self-help (?) books. Also definitely not a main character but every time he opens his mouth it’s gold.
The story revolves around Mark Scout, a new department manager at the (probably definitely evil) megacorporation, Lumon. He’s recently had the new, cutting-edge procedure severance which splits your consciousness from your work life to your personal life. “Innies” as they’re referred to in the show, only know of work – no knowledge of personal history, the outside world, friends, family, etc. Talk about an absolutely miserable existence for Work-Mark….oh the Champions League is on today? Too bad, you don’t even know what soccer is. Obviously, “Outies” on the other hand, only know only of life outside of work. Kind of a sick setup for them: no work emails after hours, no stress, but also clearly this requires a 5-day-a-week-in-office policy for their workers, which frankly, is a little behind the times. I, like everyone else in the real world, have only ever used the terms “innie” and “outie” to describe a belly button & name call other children in our formative years. I don’t know why Ben Stiller (the executive producer of this, btw) landed on these terms but we’re going to have to assume it’s fetish related. Anyway…. Home-Mark commutes to work, hits the elevator button, blacks out real quick, and then BOOM it’s quittin’ time. Work-Mark, on the other hand, lives his entire conscious existence in a windowless office.
Now you might be asking, what are they doing down here all day for this big, bad megacorp? That’s right – Macrodata Refinement. A follow up question might be, what is macrodata refinement? Glad you asked, it’s staring at a bunch of numbers on a screen and dropping groups of them into buckets based on how you feel.
Work-Mark, being the new department lead since his best Innie buddy (why does that sound sexual), Petey, stopped showing up to work, is in charge of new hire orientation. Welcome, Helly, a fiery redhead who likes piña coladas and getting caught in the rain.
Helly sure doesn’t like being trapped down in a windowless hell, and frequently tries to escape her doom by:
- Just walking out the emergency staircase (doesn’t work)
- Taking a note with her on the elevator (doesn’t work)
- Ingesting a note to take with her on the elevator (wouldn’t have worked)
- Writing a note on her arms (wouldn’t have worked)
- Writing a note and bashing thru the emergency stair window to hopefully give to her outie (doesn’t work)
- Threatening to chop off her fingers with a paper cutter unless she can film a video for her outie (doesn’t work)
- Hanging herself with an electrical cord in the elevator (doesn’t work)
Mark has a pretty boring existence outside of work, using all of his saved mental energy from not being conscious during working hours to sit on his couch, watch tv, and cry. All that is shaken up when he’s met by his former work buddy, Petey, while he’s enjoying a company paid meal at Pip’s Diner (received from Helly hitting Work-Mark in the head with a speaker, slipping while carrying boxes). You see Petey didn’t show up to work because he was busy reintegrating his brain to un-sever his consciousness. He’s convinced he’s being hunted, that Lumon wants to kill him, etc. As for the reintegration? It’s going terribly. Guy is certifiably insane and can’t keep fact from fiction – eventually walking across a bridge barefoot in a robe in the dead of winter, and dying outside a gas station from what we can only assume is a brain aneurism. That said, Petey’s brief presence does the trick in radicalizing Home-Mark who’s now more than a little curious to find out exactly what the hell is going on at Lumon.
Meanwhile, there’s a lot of tomfoolery afoot on the severed floor, that may or may not play into where this thing is headed in Season 1 & beyond. We have:
- The run-in(s) with Optics & Design, run by Christopher Walken, our first non-MDR severed employees we get to meet. Appears they’re in charge of artwork in the building? Anyway, Irving (John Turturro) falls in love with Burt (Christopher Walken), a romantic story nobody asked for but is important for the future radicalization of Irving.
- Occasional therapy sessions with Ms. Casey, a “part-time” innie who looks a lot like Home-Marks dead wife.
- Helly and Mark take a “mental health walk” and come across a business man feeding baby goats, not a clue what that’s about.
- Helly wins a Music Dance Experience, or MDE. An unexpected, lighthearted, defiant jazz dance party to improve team morale. Dylan promptly attacks Milchick with his teeth like Kobayashi.
- Dylan wins a Waffle Party, which based on the previous rewards, you’d think would be straightforward. Wrong. After the meal you apparently put on a realistic Kier Egan (Lumon founder) mask and engage in an S&M fuckfest with masked dancers. Dylan, notably, does not partake.
Back to the real world, the legendary author Ricken Hale has dropped off an advanced copy of his new book “The You You Are” at Mark’s house while he’s at work. Mrs Selvig intercepts the copy and brings it to Lumon to ensure there’s no hidden messages but accidentally leaves the paraphernalia laying out in the open. Work-Mark and the MDR squad find the book, and unironically start consuming the ravings of a mad man as if it were a Tim Ferris self help book.
Home-Mark continues to look into Petey’s claims, finally sacking up and answering the burner phone he left behind. On the other end, a mysterious yet sexy voice, tells him to meet her at a university where we meet Reghabi, the mastermind behind reintegration. She explains her role in Petey’s final days, and how it’s not actually her fault he was insane – he just didn’t follow her directions! Yea, OK. Anyway, we’re getting some much needed explanations when none other than the head of Severed Security, Doug Graner waltz’s in, tracking down a lead for Lumon. Unfortunately for Doug, he’s about to get killed by a piece of baseball equipment like Simon Birch’s mother. Work-Mark escapes, taking a certain someone’s full access security badge.
Back to Lumon and why Dylan attacked the orderly face first like he was Mike Tyson to Milchick’s Evander Holyfield. You see, just the night prior to the MDE (or 2 hours ago to his innie) Work-Dylan woke up in Home-Dylan’s walk-in closet for an urgent “Overtime Contingency” ordered by Milchick. Work-Dylan stole and hid a card or something, and Milchick just HAD TO KNOW where it was as if it were the nuclear codes. Unfortunately for Milchick, and his bicep, Pandora’s box is fully opened when Dylan’s son enters the closet, quite literally blowing Work-Dylan’s mind.
Radicalization update at this point in time:
- Dylan by seeing his son
- Irving by Burt, his unrequited gay lover retiring
- Mark by…a self help book
- Helly ….literally ISIS from day one
Armed with the knowledge that innies can be woken up outside of Lumon, the gang hatches a plan to wake themselves up using Dylan’s Waffle Party as cover. Ditching the bondage party early, Work-Dylan heads down to the security office, utilizing dead Doug’s badge to gain entry and fire off the overtime contingency while nobody’s paying attention.
Quick pause to say, you should really just rewatch the final episode because it is the best season finale in recent memory. If you don’t want to do a full rewatch, fine, but at least spare the 45 minutes for this masterpiece. In the finale we learn:
Irving: not as big of a Casanova as his innie thought. Lives alone in an apartment with a cute dog and makes the same fucked up painting of the Lumon Testing Floor hallway over and over again. Work-Irving is still so horned up for Burt he immediately finds out where he lives and drives to his house. Unfortunately for Irving, appears Burt is happily married (to a man, confirming sexual proclivities of innies and outies align). 🙁
Helly: turns out her real name is Helena and she’s an Eagan. Like daughter-of-the-current-CEO-next-in-line-for-the-throne Eagan. She’s comes to at the biggest investor conference of the Lumon year where she’s the star of the show, about to give a speech about how incredible severance is, how she thinks of her innie as her sister, etc. Safe to say Home-Helly wasn’t going to bring up Work-Helly trying to hang herself. Unlike Irving, she does get to take the stage and get a few “We’re literally slaves down there” off before the OTC is stopped.
Mark: I think I’d rather go back to being an innie than having to “wake up” at a Ricken Hale book reading. After a painstakingly long amount of time (remember we, the audience, already know the work therapist is Mark’s not-dead wife) Mark finally gets a free moment with his sister and explains everything that’s going on. She’s surprisingly very cool with the whole thing. Unfortunately for Mark and all of his other MDR buddies, Mrs Selvig is there. Work-Mark accidentally calls her Ms Cobel – alerting her to the fact he is not Home-Mark. She races to the big Lumon conference to save the day, but shows up just a little too late. In the final moment of the season, Mark sees a picture of his supposedly dead wife and holy shit, it’s Ms Casey. “She’s aliiiiiveeee”.
Shoutout Work-Dylan. Just a real class act, selflessly staying behind and holding “the portal” open for his team.
A few things unmentioned that will probably be a focus in Season 2
- Mark’s sister meeting the senators wife at the birthing retreat, and then her having no idea who she is later on. Clearly severed for childbirth.
- Home-Dylan. Never got to really meet him and figure out if he is indeed a body builder like his innie thinks he is.
- Helly. I have to imagine we’re going to see our first innie “death” next season, where they figure out you can just unsever/ resever to start fresh.
- Obviously finding out what the f is going on with Home-Mark’s not-dead wife and how she’s a full time innie
- Milchick seems to have some ulterior motives, not telling Cobel a few key things. Maybe he’s an inside man for the resistance??
- What the fuck those goats were about