What Gemma Being Alive As Ms. Casey Means For Mark & Lumon Industries
Mark's character in Severance Season 1 is anchored on the death of his wife. Mark thought his wife had died and even went through a severance surgery to help him cope with his loss. 50% of Mark's life will be lived without the intense grief over his wife's passing by severance. But the most intriguing notion from Severance Season 1 turned out to be true when it was discovered that Mark's wife Gemma is alive, just serving Lumon as the severed Ms. Casey, wellness counselor.
This discovery might mark the start of Lumon Industries' collapse... "She's alive!" innie Mark yells to sister Devon in the last scene of Severance Season 1. Mark has told his sister about what happened on Lumon's dark Severed Floor, and he is clutching Gemma's picture at the time. These components could provide sufficient hints for outie Mark and Devon to begin to piece Lumon Industries together. This might also cause outie Mark to discover his wife is alive and housed forever inside Lumon.
Why was Helly/Helena Eagan severed?
Regarding Helly, Severance season 1 centers on her status as the most recent severed member of Lumon. Helly is depicted struggling to accept her new job, going as far as to try and possibly hang herself in order to leave. Helly insists that her outie must keep working as a severed Lumon employee, even though she does not think her outie would wish this upon herself and orders her to videotape. This whole plot comes much more clearly in the Ending of Severance season 1.
The last episode of the show supports the long-held belief that Helly is Severance's Helena Eagan, daughter of Lumon CEO Jame Eagan. The season 1 finale of Severance shows Helena undergoing severance as a PR gesture to support the widespread application of the surgery in American culture. Helena wants to demonstrate the world that it is both safe and worth by letting herself get severed. Still, innie Helly subverts Helena's goals by undermining her speech. Taunting repercussions for the firm in Severance season 2, Innie Helly tells the Lumon gala audience of the enslavement and suffering of the innies.
Know each other, do Burt and Irving?
John Turturro's Irving uses his time as an awakened outie searching Burt in the Severance season 1 finale. Christopher Walken's Burt works for Lumon in the optics and design division. The two develop a close relationship during season 1, which prompts Irving to attempt to locate Burt on the outside to either confirm their link or warn Burt's outie of the threats his innie encounters under Lumon's service. The last minutes of Severance Season 1 feature Irving hammering on Burt's Kier Town door.
It is yet unknown how Irving's outie will respond to Burt and whether the two Severed workers know one another outside world. But Milchick tackles Dylan before Burt can respond, so Irving's innie will vanish and his outie will come waking in front of Burt's house. Burt was shown before this living contentedly with another partner. It is yet unknown how Irving's outie will respond to Burt and whether the two Severed workers know each other outside of their environment. Having said that, a widespread belief is that Burt and Irving are a real pair, which explains their personal connection as innies and points to an affair because Burt seems to already have a lover in Severance season 1's episodes.
Why Mrs. Selvig/Harmony Cobel Tried To Stopper The Innies?
Harmony Cobel serves as the antagonist of Severance season 1. Living next to Mark's outie, Mrs. Selvig, Cobel is the autocratic manager of the severed workers at Lumon. Selvig is an enigmatic individual with sometimes unknown motives. Often presented as a firm believer in Lumon's way of life, she is trying to stop the innies from stirring disturbance. Having said that, one popular belief has gathered data implying Cobel/Mrs. Selvig is really on Lumon's employees' side. Severance season one's episode eight "What's for Dinner?" has most of these clues.
Cobel is sacked from Lumon in this episode for hiding from the board items like Helly's suicide attempt. Cobel was also actually pleased and encouraging of Mark's choice to leave Lumon. But in the last scene, she runs to stop Dylan in the security room and Helly's innie from speaking at the Lumon PR event, even phoning Milchick in her desperation. Cobel sees the incident as a fast approach to get back into Lumon's good graces by safeguarding their severance procedure, therefore extEnding the unsettling real-world Severance comparisons.
How will Milchick punish Dylan and the other macrodata refiners?
Apart from Cobel, Milchick provided the other enemy of Sevarance season 1. Severance shows at length what occurs in the Break Room when workers misbehave, and Milchick was usually the one in charge of keeping the innies in line during business hours. Unfortunately for the innies, this new Macrodata Refining Department violation most certainly calls for a far more severe, graver penalty. Lumon's reaction to the incident probably consists in the elevator to the enigmatic deeper levels of the structure as well as the several inexplicable severance chip methods.
These protocols include Beehive, Branch Transfer, Clean Slate, Elephant, Freeze Frame, Glasgow, Goldfish, Lullaby, Open House apart from Overtime. Context cues alone suggest that the erring staff members would soon find their memories deleted, reprogrammed, sent to another department, or maybe placed in suspended animation until their next job. Whatever the penalty will reflect darker aspects of Lumon - and Milchick - in Severance season 2.
Does Irving's father know of Lumon Industries?
Apart from his friendship with Burt, Irving's part in Severance's season 1 finale exposes many more things. Irving's innie reveals one such at the house of his outie. Irving's father was a well-decorated Navy veteran, as his uniform, photo, and the other medals hanging on the wall show. Some of these medals, which imply Irving followed in his father's footsteps and had prior job with the Navy, could even be Irving's.
Apart from continuous paintings of the enigmatic elevator from Lumon, Irving's house also reveals that Irving's outie has been compiling data on the employees of the corporation. Apart from Irving's intentional endeavor to compromise Lumon in some form, this suggests that his father might have some influence on Lumon's past. Early severance operations could have been conducted under military, or at least U.S. Navy, influence. Lumon may have severed war veterans as an experimental treatment for PTSD, much as severance helps Mark process the trauma of her death.
Season 1 Ending Confirms of Every Theory Severance
Severance season 1's finale is clearly full of twists, turns, and reveals. Several of these reveals were the subject of fan theories as Severance season 1 was airing on Apple TV+, with the finale providing vindication for the theorists. For one, Helly's real identity as Helena Eagan is the biggest revelation in the Severance season 1 finale and was also one of the more prevalent theories.
One theory that was not addressed in season 1's ending was the true meaning of Severance's numbers which are the subject of the innie's work. Similarly, the longer glimpse into Irving's outie life also confirms the theory that, despite his fierce loyalty to Kier Eegan and the founder's ideals on the inside, Irving's outie is not so steadfast in his devotion. The various reveals from Irving's home, such as the paintings of the elevator that goes further down into Lumon's basement and the extensive notes on the locations of Lumon's severed employees, confirm the theory that Mark may not be the only outie investigating Lumon's ulterior motives and shady business practices. Finally, another theory that was confirmed by Severance season 1's ending concerned the character of Gabby. Gabby was introduced earlier in Severance season 1 as someone connected to Devon, Mark's sister. Several hints were included in the show that Gabby, the wife of Lumon-backed senator Angelo Arteta, had been severed to avoid the pain of childbirth. In Severance season 1's ending, Gabby outright mentions that she was severed at Lumon's PR event, raising major questions for Severance season 2 regarding the wider use of the procedure.
What Severance's Cast & Crew Have Said About Season 1's Ending
Since Severance season 1's ending in 2022, the cast and crew have the show have spoken about the various reveals and twists it presented. Concerning why the showrunners decided to end Severance season 1 at that specific cliffhanger, Entertainment Weekly managed to glean some answers from Dan Erickson. Erickson stated that he and other Severance creators had long discussions and multiple potential endpoints for season 1. Erickson revealed that it was actually director Ben Stiller who suggested that Severance's season 1 ending coincides with the in-universe ending of the Overtime Protocol:
I was like, "Okay, people are gonna be mad!" But I think it's by far the most effective point where we could have ended this part of the story, storytelling-wise and for the characters. They've all finally gotten what they asked for, and it has raised all these new questions... Speaking of Stiller, the actor-director spoke to IndieWire about finding the balance between Severance season 1's ending and season 2's beginning. Stiller states that he hopes the first season has enough mini-answers to keep fans hooked while making it clear that the entire story of the show is yet to come into focus. This hints at major developments in Severance season 2. Erickson echoed this sentiment when speaking to Esquire, stating that "we wanted this cliffhanger episode to be the moment where we finally get to hit the ground and go, go, go."
How Severance's Ending Sets Up Season 2
Severance season 2 has been officially green-lit by Apple TV+ and, while the production has been somewhat troubled, the continuation is set to premiere in the latter half of 2024, or the first half of 2025. Although it is impossible to say how season 2 will end, it stands to reason that it will begin with the Macrodata refiners' outies scrambling to react to what their innies have done. In the meantime, Lumon's board is bound to make big changes to the severed floor.
Each of the many massive reveals from Severance season 1's ending will undoubtedly play a part in Severance season 2. From Gemma's fate as Ms. Casey to Helly's identity as a key advocate for severance, the show will grapple with the many different storylines at play. However, it will likely be a bumpy ride for the Lumon employees, as the company's retribution will surely be swift for almost being exposed as a morally corrupt workplace by Severance's tormented workers.
Severance Season 1 Episodes
Severance Season 1 Episodes; Director; Writer; Release Date
"Good News About Hell"; Ben Stiller; Dan Erickson; February 18, 2022
"Half Loop"; Ben Stiller; Dan Erickson; February 19, 2022
"In Perpetuity"; Ben Stiller; Andrew Colville; February 25, 2022
"The You You Are"; Aoife McArdle; Kari Drake; March 4, 2022
"The Grim Barbarity of Optics and Design"; Aoife McArdle; Anna Ouyand Moench; March 11, 2022
"Hide and Seek"; Aoife McArdle; Amanda Overton; March 18, 2022
"Defiant Jazz"; Ben Stiller; Helen Leigh; March 25, 2022
"What's For Dinner?"; Ben Stiller; Chris Black; April 1, 2022
"The We We Are"; Ben Stiller; Dan Erickson; April 8, 2022
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From director and executive producer Ben Stiller and creator Dan Erickson comes “Severance.” Mark Scout (Adam Scott) leads a team at Lumon Industries, whose employees have undergone a severance procedure, which surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives. This daring experiment in “work-life balance” is called into question as Mark finds himself at the center of an unraveling mystery that will force him to confront the true nature of his work… and himself.
