The season one finale of Severance was one of the most shocking TV events in recent times, with numerous explosive twists setting the stage for the next season.
After a long three-year wait, the highly anticipated sequel is nearly here, and you may have forgotten some crucial details from the previous chapter.
The series follows severed workers Mark S (portrayed by Adam Scott), Irving B (John Turturro), Helly R (Britt Lower) and Dylan G (Zach Cherry), and is set at the all-encompassing Lumon Industries. This enigmatic company has the power to split their employees’ memories between their home and work lives.
When the defiant Helly joins the team, they collaborate to learn more about their enigmatic workplace, always under the watchful gaze of their supervisor Mr Milchick (Tramell Tillman).
Meanwhile, floor manager Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette) maintains strict control while also leading a double life as Mark’s neighbour, Mrs Selvig, reports the Mirror US.
With the second season of Severance premiering this Friday, let’s revisit the most significant twists, reveals and overlooked details from the finale, The We We Are.
What happened at the end of Severance season 1?
Throughout the first season, Helly grows increasingly anxious about the fate of her ‘innie’ as they realise that losing their jobs essentially equates to their deaths.
Dylan reveals to the team that Lumon possesses the capability to awaken their severed employees in the outside world, a process referred to as the ‘overtime contingency’.
As Mark and Helly devise a plan for Dylan to remain after hours to initiate the procedure, Irving finds out his office crush Burt (Christopher Walken) is being retired and they’ll never cross paths again.
In the preceding episode, during Dylan’s ‘waffle party’, his reward for achieving Macrodata Refinement’s quarterly quota, he sneaks away to trigger overtime while Helly, Mark and Irving’s ‘outies’ are conscious. Moreover, before they leave, Helly and Mark share a kiss in case their plan results in catastrophe.
The finale then kicks off with Mark waking up in the home of his outie’s sister Devon (Jen Tullock), embracing who he recognises as his boss, Cobel. However, when he departs, he addresses her by name and she realises the innies are awake and gets in touch with Mr Milchick.
Simultaneously, Mark’s innie meets with Devon who informs him about the death of his wife, Gemma and they also discover together that Mrs Selvig next door is actually his boss. In another location, Irving wakes up and uncovers some unsettling facts about his outie, specifically that he has been obsessively painting a menacing dark hallway presumably situated somewhere in the Lumon offices.
He also discovers US navy medals belonging to either himself or his father, along with a map and employee directory which can guide him to Burt.
Helly had the most astonishing revelation so far as she comes to the realisation that she is, in fact, Helena Eagan, the daughter of Lumon’s CEO Jame Eagan (Michael Siberry), having agreed to undergo severance to garner public backing for the practice. She’s even friends with Natalie (Sydney Cole Alexander), the firm’s PR representative who terminated Cobel.
Due to address a gala celebrating the company, Helly seizes the opportunity to inform attendees about how their ‘innies’ are being oppressed and mistreated.
Irving, meanwhile, has managed to locate Burt’s residence but his heart sinks upon learning that Burt is already spoken for. Over with Mark, he stumbles upon the most dreadful revelation yet: a photo of himself alongside Ms Casey (Dichen Lachman), Lumon’s wellness counsellor.
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Amazon/Apple TV+The shocking epiphany? She’s none other than his spouse.
Realising he might have fleeting moments, he dashes off to convey to Devon that Gemma is working at Lumon, managing only to blurt out “She’s alive!” before his ‘outie’ regains consciousness. Concurrently within the office confines, Mr Milchick grapples with Dylan, halting the overtime protocol.
Now that you’re fully briefed on the climax of Severance’s first season, one can only speculate whether this Friday’s premiere will shed light on the cryptic storyline, or if it’ll introduce an array of new brain-racking conundrums.
Severance season 2 premieres Friday, January 17 on Apple TV+.