Severance: the first episode of season 2 explained

Answers to the questions you have after returning to work at Lumon.

Three years later, Lumon finally reopened its doors. The first episode of season 2 of Severance is online, but does not pick up the story exactly where it left off… Spoiler alert!

We will not see (right away) the immediate consequences of the innie rebellion. A time jump opens season 2 and poses a ton of new questions. Mark is back at the office. For him, the rebellion has just taken place. But outside, some time has passed in the real world. Lumon thus tries to make him turn the page, to reinstate him, so that he returns to work as if nothing had happened…”I always wanted to do an episode like this, where everything would be inside Lumon. It’s more faithful to the subjective experience of the characters“, explains the creator and showrunner Dan Erickson at Variety. “Viewers are dying to know what’s happening outside so I admit that we played a little with this idea and with this tension…”

Why did Helly lie?

And when Mark reunited with his friends from Lumon, they all exchanged stories about what they saw in the outside world. Revealed to him that his Outie’s wife, Gemma, was actually Mrs. Casey. But Helly – who discovered she was actually Helena Eagan, daughter of Lumon CEO Jame Eagan and descendant of founder Kier Eagan – chose to lie. She says she woke up in “the interior of a really boring apartment“. So how should we interpret this big lie from Helly? The showrunner responds:

“All the characters were shaken by what they saw outside of Lumon. Either way. And each of them must make a decision when they return about what they are ready or willing to share. Helly made the most horrifying discovery possible. Because she is, ultimately, what she hates the most. She feels a lot of shame and fears not being accepted by her friends. She knows they all vilify the Eagans. But she is one of them. She doesn’t want to have to carry this burden.”.

How much time has actually passed?

Milchick says it’s been five months since the events of the Season 1 finale and they’ve been trying for weeks to get Mark’s team back. “In the series, we play a lot on this relationship to time which is different between innies and outies. You can never be completely sure how much time has passed, and you have to trust the company and hope that they are honest with you. As we’ve seen before, Lumon is often not honest“resumes Dan Ericksonimplying that Milchick may be deceiving his wayward employees.

Who is Miss Huang?

In the meantime, the new floor boss has hired a new assistant. A girl named Miss Huang. For what ? “It’s really strange and funny to have a kid in a leadership role. Lumon is always trying to portray himself as the good guy, and it’s awfully hard to hate a kid. It throws the innies off, because there’s almost this natural desire to protect this little girl, even if she is part of the team of oppressors.”

Where is Patricia Arquette, aka Ms. Cobel?

Absent from the office in this first episode, she was fired at the end of season 1. “This is one of the many questions we ask ourselves with the Innies after this episode.” continues the showrunner. “They have a lot of questions, and they’re wondering what they can or can’t trust, in terms of the information Lumon is giving. I don’t want to give too much away, but there has been a shake-up in the hierarchy of Lumon within the management team.”

What does Mr. Milchick want?

So Milchick took his place. But what is his ambition at the end of the day? For Dan Ericksonhe is above all “a business man. He’s a loyalist and an idealist, in a way. This is someone who believes in Lumon, but thinks it could be handled better. He is enthusiastic about continuing these reforms.”

Why did they stay?

Finally, this first episode of season 2 offers a definitive way out for the rebels. They are asked to resign if they wish. Those who called themselves prisoners have the opportunity to leave, for good! But they choose to stay. For what ? The answer is quite obvious to the showwrunner: “There are many ways to interpret this, but there is this essential thing at the heart of the series, which is that for the innies, the choice is: work or non-existence! Quitting would concretely put end to their lives. They must therefore decide whether continuing to exist is worth working for this society even if it means giving themselves to them.”