Everything you need to remember before Severance, Season 2

Three years is a long time to wait… especially for all of us who aren’t cut out. I mean, well, you could argue that the entire first season of “Severance” probably should have dissuaded anyone from the idea that there was any real “upside” to being an extraordinary person. Well, say what you want about those Lumon employees, but the ability to flip a switch and suddenly fast forward to it The moment when Season 2 finally arrives It will come in handy during this long downtime, right? The Applet TV+ series has been a victim of the dual strikes that have hit the film and TV industries, but now it’s ready to put such unpleasantness behind it and kick viewers in the face with more dark, miserable, and downright bizarre office shenanigans in its sophomore season.

Of course, all this downtime was supposed to provide ample opportunity for the more forward-looking among us to rewatch Season 1 and refresh themselves on all the little tidbits that sparked so many fan theories the first time around back in February 2022. For those who’ve spent the intervening years no Doing their homework? Apple will provide a comprehensive synopsis of Season 1 before the premiere Season 2 (which, for your convenience, I’ve reviewed in its entirety without spoilers here). But even that doesn’t quite address all of the nuances, world-building quirks, and dramatic twists that defined what was truly one of the most exciting installments of any television series in recent memory.

This rollercoaster story, which followed Mark S (Adam Scott) and his teammates Severed Healy R (Brett Lauer), Irving P (John Turturro), and Dylan G (Zach Cherry), culminated in a breathtaking cliffhanger that seemed to shake the canvas forever. What led up to this important event and what do you need to remember most when Season 2 begins? Gather around for a little team building exercise, because we’re going to dive into the nitty-gritty of Season 1 of “Severance.” Praise Kier.

When it comes to preparing for Season 2 of “Severance,” it’s best to start with the basics.

Severance’s worldbuilding is as imaginative as it is bizarre. Apparently there’s the actual Severance procedure, which somehow divides memories based on geographic proximity to work into “internals” and “externals” — which we’re told is completely irreversible (although poor Betty, the former Le Mon employee who… He’s played by Yul Vasquez (who suddenly left the company early in the first season and ended up dead in the finale, which may be evidence otherwise). However, even beyond that, think of the Bizarro World of the Severed Floor marching to the beat of its own drum, waffle parties, dance sessions and all. You have an entire MDR department, where all we know is that employees like Mark S and his friends are tasked with looking at endless sets of encrypted numbers, separating each one out based on how “scared” they feel compared to harmless ones, and organizing them into Digital boxes for unknown reasons. Or take the Sinister Break Room, an incredible torture chamber run by Mr. Melchik (Trammell Tillman) for anyone unlucky enough to be caught breaking the rules. And what about the Optical and Design (O&D) department, the other department run by good old Burt (Christopher Walken), whose presence speaks volumes? last Teams that have been isolated from each other?

Looming over all of this is the always unseen and silent specter of the Board of Directors, overshadowing even floor manager Harmony Coppell (Patricia Arquette), and the menacing Egan family lineage (going back to the 19th century) responsible for this. Nightmare at first due to their fanatical, cult-like devotion to founder and quasi-religious figure Keir Egan. Now that we know that Hailey R. is actually the girlfriend of Helena Egan, the daughter of Lumon’s current CEO, Jimmy Egan (Michael Seaberry), there’s no telling what will happen once (or if) the rest of our inner heroes discover the truth for themselves.

Once Severance brought us into this iconic world, viewers were quick to ask a very important question: What kind of person would voluntarily sign up for a horrific life on the Severed Floor that they would never be able to remember? As it turns out, only one was badly damaged. When we first meet Mark Scout, he’s getting ready to go to work in the morning by having a frustrating crying session in his car. We eventually find out that his wife, Gemma (Dechen Lachman), died tragically in a car accident two years ago, leaving Mark desperate enough to spare himself pain for eight hours a day – even if it means undergoing a procedure that amounts to surgery. A controversial choice politically, morally and ethically. However, by the end, Mark and I discover that his wife has actually been alive all this time, and has been secretly kept at Lomon where her inner self, known as Mrs. Casey, works as a health advisor to the other employees.. Mark S.

We don’t receive nearly the same level of insight into the inner lives of Mark’s co-workers when they’re off-duty, but it’s clear that almost all of their personal lives bleed into their privacy. Irving B. suffers. From a horrific hallucination caused by the oil that drowns him in the work, what we eventually learn is a lingering subconscious remnant of an outsider’s hobby of creating oil paintings that reflect, disturbingly, certain elements of the cut floor. More importantly, his romance with Burt finally awakens him to a life outside of work. When Dylan G. underwent the “Emergency Overtime Protocol” in a later episode of the first season (used by Mr. Melchik to wake up the staff at the house in case of an emergency), he was shaken by his inadvertent discovery that he had children and an entire family. To the core. As for Hailey R., well, knowing that her outside partner is none other than the future heiress to the company that’s currently oppressing them will certainly haunt her. She mentions that she previously attempted to die by suicide when her partner refused to accept her resignation from Lomon. Now that we know why, there’s nothing Hailey (or Helena, for that matter) can do with this information.

Seriously, what’s up with Mrs. Selvig? The Season 1 premiere of “Severance” went to great lengths to establish Harmony Cobel as Mark’s creepy, sociopathic boss who drank the entire Lumon Kool-Aid…until, in its final moments, it dropped the twist on us that Cobel lives right next door to Mark’s house under the alias of Mrs. Selvig. Was this evidence that the company was going out of its way to spy on its employees, or was there something else going on? Undercover as Mark’s crooked old neighbor, Coppell clearly took an unhealthy amount of interest in him – but oddly enough, she also seemed concerned for his well-being. Yes, she’s a straight-up Kier fanatic and has built a literal shrine in the basement of her house and was apparently born and raised in the Lumon sect from a young age. She even uses her Selvig persona to worm her way into Mark’s family, posing as a nurse/lactation expert to help Mark’s sister Devon (Jane Tullock) and her flighty novelist husband Ricken (Michael Chernus). But what exactly is her endgame here?

The first season doesn’t fully answer these questions, though we see Coppel become progressively more manic and ineffective in each episode as the insiders rebel against the system. After being distracted by her personal investigation into former employee Betty and her suspicions that he has somehow “recombined” his memories between his inner and outer self before his death, Coppel determines her fate. By the time Mark’s co-workers spend their workdays wandering the halls of Lomon rather than actually improving their overall data, and Hailey R. In her suicide attempt, Coble completely lost any semblance of control she once had. When the board discovered that she had neglected to report Hailey’s near-death experience and that she had been visiting Mark’s sister, she was abruptly fired despite her decades of service to the Egan family.

Undeterred, she once again showed her loyalty when she realized that the inner figures had finally made contact with the outside world and tried to contain any damage they might cause. It remains to be seen what her fate will be in Season 2, but it’s wise to expect the unexpected when it comes to Coble.

Forget that gratuitous little goat, that perfect copy of Kier Eagan’s house just parked in the middle of the Eternity Pavilion, or even that unbearably creepy O&D painting that represents a coup against the rest of the cut floor (which proved to be just a red herring, another attempt by Le Mon To keep the different sections suspicious of each other rather than uniting as one). The entire first season has been relentlessly building our inner energy to find the courage and inspiration – with a little help from the self-help book Ricken made his way to the Severed Floor and then blows the minds of our heroes – to finally strike back at their goal. Employers.

At various points, they each find their own catalyst to “burn this place to the ground,” as Irving Bee said. Bert’s forced retirement provides this turning point for Irving, while Dylan’s brief glimpse into his other half’s life does the same for him. For Hailey, the most outspoken campaigner against the blatant wrongs committed against her, her long-awaited plan and blossoming romance with Mark S. They’re the only things that keep them going…and yes, the latter culminates in a passionate kiss just before they venture out their boldest action against Lomon yet. However, when it comes to Mark, he receives one final push from his outsider. While all of this was happening at Lomone, his old friend Betty called from outside Mark Scout, hooked up with rogue former Lomone employee Rigaby (Karen Aldridge), who knows how to re-integrate internal items, and even stole an artifact. A security key card that would allow him to access certain areas of the broken floor.

After all is well, the Innies respond with their plan to activate overtime emergency and sound the alarm on Lumon. While Dylan stays behind to keep his fingers on the keys before Mr. Melchik can close it, Irving sets off to find Bert’s way out, and Mark discovers that his late wife is Mrs. Casey and that she is actually alive, and her Helly Lomon has crashed. Sponsoring the ceremony by revealing the truth about what is going on inside it. Fans will finally see how this issue will be resolved when “Severance” Season 2 premieres on January 17, 2025 on Apple TV+.