Nothing is as it seems on Severance

[Editor’s note: In anticipation of Severance’s upcoming second season, The A.V. Club is recapping season one of the show for the first time. Expect a new recap to drop daily through September 2.]    

Severance’s first episode is a tantalizing amuse-bouche. The second continues to whet the appetite as we learn what fuckery is going on inside Lumon Industries. There are incredible teases about the jaw-dropping ways this conglomerate is cultivating its own little universe. Nothing is right in here—not the choreographed, cheesy way in which Mr. Milchik speaks, not Ms. Casey’s (Dichen Lachman) odd wellness sessions, and not what lies beyond the Break Room. What exactly are Mark S., Helly R., Irving B., and Dylan G. slogging through their day doing? In their severed office—an eerily large room with four tiny desks attached in the center—they’re staring at numbers all day. Even they are not sure what data they’re refining and for whom. It appears this experiment, if that’s what it is, is connected to how the refiner’s brain maps or reacts to the “scary” numbers. The space in which all this occurs is equally jarring and clinical. 

“Half Loop,” the show’s second hour, focuses on the dual identity of these folks, who are both the outies who opted for this and the innies who suffer the consequences. Through Mark’s adventures in here, we get an interesting picture of those repercussions. For example, the details like the innies never experience sleep—not even a little nap when they’re tired, lest they’re sent to be reprimanded. Their sunshine-less days begin and end within the same walls, and there’s no inkling of a weekend, a holiday, or other happy events. They have no breaks and, in corporate speak, the grind never stops. 

Much like the visual of Helly being brought into the severed world, it feels like they’re all newborns struggling to figure things out without proper support. Even Mark, who’s been here for two years, has to discover how to replace Petey as the boss single-handedly. All he gets is a list of menial, thankless tasks like cleaning the refrigerator, wiping down the cubicles, and, curiously, acknowledging Kier Eagan’s portrait. (Let’s file that one for later because WTF?) Is that what Lumon is testing, whether its creations rebel or remain cogs in the machine? To go even deeper, Milchik proclaims at Helly’s welcome party that the innies should be grateful because part of the package is that “things like death happen outside of here.” Lumon sells this fantasy to the vulnerable, including a grieving Mark, to lure them into a hellish place. This company doesn’t bestow employees with an opportunity to let go of their pain. Instead, they prey upon Kier-specific reasons that Severance is leisurely fleshing out. So will severed folks have any free will? 

At one point, though, innie Mark goes against protocol and hides the former team photo with Petey because he misses his friend and is concerned about him. Milchik finds this act “sweet,” but cracks are already forming because Helly’s need to know life beyond Lumon is affecting the rest of them. Inner Helly’s outbursts about feeling trapped are sympathetic, but it’s right to be suspicious of her—or at least the real her, who is thrilled to volunteer for a new job. “Half Loop” opens with her going through the severance surgery with Milchik by her side. (Of course, the person is wide awake while under the knife.) He’s also there for Helly each time she runs out to the stairwell, giving us a new perspective on the scenes from episode one. She feels vital to Lumon’s mission because her inclusion in the program is dubbed as a “miracle.” Outie Helly has a larger role to play, whenever that may be. For now, Innie Helly thinks she has all the power because she scribbles “I Quit” on a post-it note and makes a run for it. It’s only day two but she’s done with this bullshit. This is despite learning that no communication is allowed with their outer selves, and the chances of resignations being accepted are slim to none. Thankfully, Mark saves her in time, incurring the wrath of whatever Cobel is about to do to him in the Break Room.

Severance doesn’t reveal just yet what happens to him, but safe to say it isn’t pretty. After spending half the episode inside, “Half Loop” takes us to Mark’s actual life as he goes on a few adventures on his day off. Remembering that Petey’s note had an address on it, he drives to what turns out to be a chilly greenhouse with dead plants. How did Petey discover this place and why is he hiding here? Lumon’s subsidizing housing seems to have taken over the town, which could explain Petey’s odd choice of location. Anyway, he convinces Mark that things aren’t right with the MDR department, playing him a recording of Mark apologizing over and over to Milchick for…something. He sounds broken and terrified in this recording. It’s enough of a sign to him that, at the very least, his innie would want to keep investigating. So he brings Petey home to warmth and a shower, although his reintegration sickness gets worse once the water starts falling on him. Oops. At least our guy has given Mark a map he’s drawn of the severed floor. Perhaps it’ll lead Innie Mark and his crew to other departments, including Optics & Designs. 

Aside from MDR, “Half Loop” reveals that Lumon’s got O&D’s apparent two-person team on the floor, led by Burt (Christopher Walken). Irving and Burt have a meet-cute outside Ms. Casey’s office while admiring a painting of Kier. It’s an extremely wack piece of art in which Kier is portrayed with a whip, controlling an old woman, a young one, a clown, and a half-human, half-goat. It’s weird and given the amount of focus it gets, I’m sure there’s a deeper meaning to it. In fact, Severance uses these two episodes to set up an insane number of mysteries. Will each one get a fulfilling answer by the time season one (or even the series) wraps? It’s TBD, but I’m along for the joyride.

Stray observations

• • Color theory in episode two: Gemma’s candle that Mark unearths from her box is half green, half red—a representation of being both severed yet belonging to the outside world. As for red, several things around Mark’s house are that color, from his bathrobe to his pet fish to the clothes he wears (including in the opening credits).
• • Milchick says with reverence that he loves looking at Kier’s huge wall structure when the sunlight falls on it. Okay, dude, chill. He also boasts about knowing his favorite breakfast—three eggs and milk—which Helly rolls her eyes at and says “I’ve heard.” Hmm.
• • So the glass cube that Lumon randomly gifted Mark has to have some hidden meaning, right?
• • Lumon’s reward structure is explained slightly more as Dylan tells Helly that depending on how well they do, they’re given stuff from erasers to waffle parties. No pencils though. Is it because they’re sharp and can be used as weapons?
• • During Irving’s wellness session, Ms. Casey spews some facts about his outie that Irv isn’t supposed to react to (for fear of points being deducted). Who knows how true it is but, on the outside, Irving loves films, dancing, music, and swimming. More interestingly, he “values water,” is a friend to the “children, elderly, and insane,” and is skilled at love-making.
• • John Turturro and Christopher Walken are about to break some hearts, huh?
• • Mark goes on a date! Alexa (Nikki M. James) is a doula, so Mark’s pregnant sister is playing matchmaker. She’s lovely. She also raises a valid concern to him about the cons of his job. He may have a love interest while at work and wouldn’t know a damn thing about it, just like he could have a family up here. But she doesn’t realize forgetting is the appeal.
• • Mark and Alexa encounter protestors from the Whole Mind Collective who are spreading the word about Lumon’s potential atrocities. They claim the company wants to legalize the procedure to make it more widespread for nefarious reasons. A drunk Mark argues with them about it, making his date question his sanity a little bit.