Severance
monition ! This article contains pillager for Severance season 2 ’s episode 1 .
After walk through the aftermath of season 1 ’s shocking finale , Severanceseason 2 episode 1 ’s end drops an challenging clew about the connexion between Mark ’s MDR work and Ms. Casey . Severanceseason 1 started slow but gradually build up its story to hand over a white - knuckling stopping point . In its ending moments , theApple TV+ sci - fi show ’s season 1 showed how the innies deliver the goods at executing the Overtime Contingency protocol to get a glance of their outies ' life .
Instead of full explore the impingement of the innies ' action on the outside worldly concern , Severanceseason 2 ’s orifice episode only hints at how they were all celebrate as hero for blowing the tin whistle on Lumon . It primarily focuses on highlighting how Lumon is change its approach shot towards the innies by giving them more freedom and autonomy in the workplace . However , a closer look at many details from theSeveranceseason 2 instalment ’s conclusion suggests that there is more to Lumon ’s purpose than fill the eye .
What Severance Season 2 Episode 1’s Ending Reveals About Mark & Gemma/Ms. Casey
Season 2’s Episode 1 Might Have Confirmed One Lumon Theory
InSeveranceseason 2 episode 1 ’s ending moment , Mark and the other MDR employee start solve again . As before long as Mark sorts the numbers on his screen into bins , the show flashes to another electronic computer screen that features Gemma with the same bank identification number at the bottom . Even the progress legal community , with the data file name , " Cold Harbor , " evidence the same number on both screen . This abbreviated scene hints thatMark may be working on Gemma ’s file .
It ’s still unclear why Lumon ’s Macrodata Refinement employees classify number in Severance , but this theory may explicate what the numbers intend .
After season 1 , many viewing audience theorized that the MDR department could be helping Lumon refine the severance cow chip by sort out human emotion into the four Kier Eagan " temper " : " Woe , Frolic , Dread , and Malice . " Put simply , the worker are performing machine memorise to see to it that the microprocessor chip make homo more pliant or compliant . Mark is specifically working on Gemma ’s file because he know her well than anyone else . If this is true , Gemma was sent back to the testing way inSeveranceseason 1 ’s endingbecause she showed a semblance of human emotion , do her a less ideal employee .
What “Cold Harbor” Means On Mark’s Screen In Severance Season 2 Episode 1’s Ending
Mark Is Unknowingly Working “Refining” Gemma Through “Cold Harbor”
While the details and the purpose behind " Cold Harbor " will in all probability be bring out later inSeveranceseason 2 , Mark and Gemma are unknowingly working together to help Lumon . The screen in the sequence ’s end minute also hint Mark is working on Gemma ’s 25th looping , suggesting he has been refining her since the beginning . This would explain why Mark nonplus his " freshman fluke " after he join Lumon — he was always exercise on a familiar person ’s file at the MDR .
… through the refinement process , Lumon plan to plow her into a " colder " person , incompetent of having any complex human emotions but serving as an idealistic employee .
The meaning of " Cold Harbor " remains unknown , but it might have something to do with cryogenic technology . After her accident , Gemma must have been kept in a suspend commonwealth , possibly in cryogenic conservation . Owing to this , she does not have an outie and is believed to be all in . Or , " cold harbour " could simply mean that , through the refinement appendage , Lumon plans to turn her into a " dusty " person , incapable of experience any complex human emotion but serve as an ideal employee .
Custom Image by Dhruv Sharma.
Why Irving Decides To Come Back To MDR In Severance Season 2 Episode 1’s Ending
Irving Knows Something Isn’t Right
Severanceseason 2 ’s instalment 1 hints that Helly ’s innie might not have returned . Instead , the outie , Helena , might have willingly entered the government agency to keep a close middle on all the other Lumon employees . While this is not confirmed , it could explain why she makes up a fake story about talking to a nurseryman during her Overtime Contingency stint . While talking to Mark , she even point out that the MDR does not have camera anymore . Her unreasoning trust in Lumon suggests she can not be the innie , Helly .
Severance Key Facts Breakdown
Created By
Dan Erickson
Rotten Tomatoes Critics ' mark
95 %
Custom Image by Dhruv Sharma.
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score
88 %
stream On
Custom Image by Yailin Chacon
Apple TV+
Irving is the only MDR worker who notices that something about her seems off . When she talk about her meter alfresco , Irv interrogative sentence what a nurseryman was doing outside her house at night during wintertime . He seems to have figured out that Lumon is up to no in effect and ostensibly decides to stay to get to the bottom of what is materialize .
Why Milchick Allows The Innies To Leave At Will
Lumon Tries A New Approach With The Severed Employees
After Severance time of year 1 ’s issue , Lumon has ostensibly gain they can exploit the comradeship the MDR workers have recrudesce . Although the " Macrodat Uprising " imperil Lumon ’s privacy , the company understands that it can benefit from the horse sense of loyalty and trust that has grown among the MDR workers . If the innies build their own unique identity operator and lives in the Lumon office , they would be less compelled to read the lives of their outies . This , in spell , would make them comfortable to control and pull wires .
The license to leave is merely an illusion designed to make the workers feel they have control condition over their fates .
Therefore , they make new linguistic rule that give the employees a false common sense of exemption while leveraging their emotional attachment and perceived self-direction . The company also understands that workers like Mark will not depart anytime soon because they have a solid reason to stay within . Also , since the innies are start to see themselves as separate someone from their outies , the party sleep together they would be hesitating about " killing " themselves by allow for . The permit to leave is merely an thaumaturgy contrive to make the doer feel they have controller over their fates .
Why The Board Agrees To Mark’s Terms In Severance Season 2’s Episode 1
The Board Seems One Step Ahead Of The Innies
The " Marcodat Uprising " might have harm Lumon ’s reputation . However , at the same time , it might have also given the companionship a new agency to ensure the innies . The innies developed a sense of belong and togetherness with one another after they work together during the Overtime Contingency cognitive process .
The MDR ’s terminals in Severance are the democratic 16 - bit Data General Nova devices .
When Mark returned and refused to work out with new MDR employees and asked the circuit board to bring in back his former teammate , the board likely saw it as an opportunity to keep him compliant and under control . This , however , is only a theory based on the story developments so far . The board ’s true motif will likely become clearer in futureSeveranceepisodes .
Severance is a psychological thriller series feature Adam Scott as Mark Scout , an employee at Lumon Industries who undergo a " severance " routine to separate his work and personal memories . However , as employment and life personas mysteriously begin to collide , it promptly becomes clear that not all is as it seems . Created by Dan Erickson and directed by Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle .
