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The lives of every severed Lumon Industries employee hang in uncertainty in the final episode of “Severance” as the Cold Harbor file nears completion. Helly R. (Britt Lower) provokes fellow employees, saying, “They give us half a life and think we won’t fight for it?”

After a brutal three-year wait, “Severance” returned from Jan. 17 to March 21, resuming with the Lumon employees who have undergone the severance procedure. This season dives deeper into the unknown, addressing the multitude of questions left unanswered after the first season.

The severance procedure offers a clean slate for its participants — fresh, untouched and untarnished. It shows what a person could have been and, in many cases, highlights aspects of the life they now yearn for. The severed employees have suffered no trauma, altering their decision-making processes. Since our past influences our present choices, we often act based on experience.

The concept of severance highlights inequality between consciousnesses. Each severed employee is cut off from the real world and treated as a mere tool for labor, not only by Lumon but by their own outies. The outies view their innies as nothing more than a workforce, lacking past lives and memories.

Throughout its episodes, humanity, equality and love are interwoven, but through a complicated and foggy lens. Viewers must string the smallest details together episode by episode. The risks the production team was willing to take, in combination with their respect for the audience’s perceptual skills, helped to make one of the most divisive and mysterious seasons on television.

Through multifaceted anecdotes, the season addresses the simple yet complex emotion of love throughout. For example, its episodes saw each Lumon Macro Data Refinement (MDR) department employee facing love entanglements with their unsevered selves.

Helly R. formed a relationship with Mark S. (Adam Scott) in Season 1, but her outie, Helena Eagan, became jealous of her innie. As the core spokesperson of the procedure, Helena is treated less like a person and more like a business venture.

Helena is Lumon CEO Jame Eagan’s daughter. After initially severing herself as an example for the company, she’s treated as less than his daughter, still lacking love and support. Her jealousy leads Helena to insert herself into her innie’s body to experience love and connection.

Mark Scout’s relationship with his innie is similarly complex. Using a camcorder, he and his innie pass messages back and forth between severed zones. In an attempt to save his supposedly dead wife, Gemma (Dichen Lachman), Mark Scout tries to trick Mark S. into an elaborate scheme.

“I have to get my wife back. I have to have her back,” Mark Scout says.

This statement isn’t just a vague longing; it’s a necessity. Since she died, Mark Scout has already been overwhelmed by grief, but if he loses her again, he may not recover. Like Helena, Mark Scout is shaped by the trauma that led him to sever himself in the first place. When the opportunity presents itself, he is desperate to see his wife again.

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Dylan G.’s (Zach Cherry) situation also stands out. In his case, he and his innie are fighting for Dylan’s wife, but she prefers the innie version. His outie threatens to quit, expressing his distaste for the entire situation.

“I hope someday she sees in me what she sees in you,” Dylan’s outie says to his innie.

Though Dylan is unsatisfied with her disloyalty, he cares more about achieving a better version of himself, which he’s sought throughout their relationship. Her disloyalty only stings more because it’s just another version of himself.

These conflicts underscore one key theme of the show: life is messy, and our experiences shape us, flaws and all. But the severance procedure skews experience, thus altering the decision making of the severed.

Beyond love and trauma, the second season also delves into the mistreatment of the labor force and corporate greed. Episode 8, “Sweet Vitriol,” provides more backstory on Lumon’s origins, revealing its foundation on child labor and the theft of the severance idea from an employee.

This theme runs through every episode, reinforced by Lumon’s lack of understanding for its employees. From melon parties to field trips showcasing the company’s past, Lumon’s superficial engagement with workers only hides its true priority: productivity. Despite the occasional corporate-sponsored amusement, hitting quotas remains the company’s only real concern.

Not only does Lumon disregard its employees, but the severed workers are also alienated from their outies. Each outie has resentment toward their innie, despite relying on them for a salary.

“He’s such a f*cking child!” innie Mark S. says of his outie.

This alienation serves as a microcosm of the American labor force. In an era of Writer’s Guild strikes and global labor movements, workers are exhausted from disrespect. The second season underscores both the mistreatment and lack of acceptance both Lumon and the outies have for the severed employees. The climactic ending represents the power workers have, especially the capabilities of the severed employees.

The season culminates with a choice: innie Mark S. fights for a newfound romance, while outie Mark Scout vies for years of emotional history. In a surprising yet pivotal twist, innie Mark S. chooses his severed romance over a real one, which gives the innies much more agency.

This final scene is complemented by French composer Michel Legrand’s “The Windmills of Your Mind.” Though composed in 1968, the song feels made for this moment. As Mark S. and Helly R. run through the red hallways, with their bodies smeared in blood, the jazzy lyrics fall upon the audience. The tension begins to ease as the audience starts to realize the severed employees’ power as they seize control.

The song’s title perfectly describes the situation; windmills represent the innies’ generation of power inside Mark Scout’s mind. They are not just a tool used for labor, but an actual consciousness that’s capable of impacting others.

The show’s perplexing narrative, combined with its deeply personal themes and evolving characters, results in a fascinating season of television. “Severance” promotes independence and equality in the workforce as key aspects of the show. Since plot twists are staple of the show, fans will have to wait for Season 3 to see what unfolds next.

Published on March 31, 2025 at 8:53 pm