The Ending Of Severance Season 1 Explained

The controversial severance procedure implants a chip in the brain, which activates when someone arrives at work and shuts off when they leave. This essentially splits their consciousness in two. Outside of work, the affected person is the same individual they have always been — this personality is referred to as an "outie." Inside work, however, they are someone totally new, with no memories of the outside world or who they were before they arrived at the office. This personality is referred to as an "innie. "

This means employees can work a full day and leave with none of the mental baggage that comes with office life. That sounds nice in theory, but "Severance" explores the moral implications in horrific detail. For the innies, there is no sleep: Their lives are one long, continuous workday, conducted in a wholly manufactured world of fluorescent lights, mindless office chit-chat, and company politics. It only ends with retirement, when the person in question essentially murders their innie. Furthermore, the severance procedure is permanent: A severed innie cannot be reintegrated with their outie self. Or at least, that's what everyone says is true. When someone named Petey does get reintegrated, this fact threatens to destroy the public's perception of severance completely.

Macrodata Refinement is where viewers spend most of their time. This is a department within Lumon consisting of four employees, whose job is to scan encrypted files (shown as a series of numbers) and filter out (or refine) certain kinds of data. The only way they can tell which numbers need to be filtered out is by experiencing emotional reactions caused by said numbers.

At the start of the series, we learn that there's a bit of a departmental shake-up going on. Petey (Yul Vazquez), the department chief, has left the company, and no one knows what's happened to him. Losing one of their own throws this tightly-knit group's entire ecosystem out of whack. Information beyond this is thin on the ground, but it's said that several years before the events of the show, a battle between Macrodata Refinement and the Optics and Design division, a department that handles the artwork on display as well as the designs of handbooks, tote bags, and more, took place. Apparently, Optics and Design lost their minds and slaughtered several Macrodata Refinement employees. However, Optics and Design is told that Macrodata Refinement has sacks of larva that devour their hosts and replace them. Both stories are absurd, while the truth behind the interdepartmental conflict is much stranger.

The leads of "Severance" are Mark Scout (outie) and Mark S (innie). Both are portrayed by Adam Scott. Mark Scout is a lonely, alcoholic man grieving the loss of his wife Gemma, who died in a car accident two years prior. His sister Devon (Jen Tullock) tries to keep him grounded, but her self-help guru husband Ricken (Michael Chernus) annoys him, so they don't spend much time together. Mark agrees to be severed to escape his grief for eight hours a day.

Mark S is promoted to the role of department chief after the sudden departure of his best friend, Petey. Though he's been happy at Lumon, he's unnerved by the new role. This is soon exacerbated by a number of strange events. A new hire starts asking questions he can't answer. He finds a map of the building left behind by Petey. A random office where a man is feeding goats crops up. The more Mark S learns about Lumon, the less comfortable he is working there.

On the outside, a reintegrated Petey tracks down Mark's outie and stays at his house as he struggles to keep his two identities straight. Hearing Petey's stories about what working at Lumon is actually like makes Mark question his employment there even further. When Petey dies as a result of being reintegrated, Mark decides to find out more about his employer.

Lumon keeps its employees motivated by offering them incentives. These are boring prizes awarded to people who meet and exceed their quota. Be it finger traps or waffle parties, these incentives really aren't worth the hard work that goes into winning them. But Dylan (Zach Cherry), Macrodata Refinement's overachiever, has committed himself to accruing as many incentives as possible.

Dylan presents himself as a cocky know-it-all who is only interested in being awarded dumb trinkets, but in truth, he's a Lumon devotee. When his coworker Irving (John Turturro) begins meeting with an Optics and Design employee named Burt (Christopher Walken), Dylan loses it. First of all, departments are not meant to interact. Second (and most important), Dylan believes Optics and Design murdered several Macrodata Refinement employees and doesn't trust them one bit. When he finally gets a glimpse of his life as an outie, though, everything changes. Dylan no longer cares about incentives and rules: His only goal is to escape Lumon for good.

A lot of what happens in the "Severance" Season 1 finale begins when Macrodata Refinement employees find a copy of "The You You Are," a book written by Mark Scout's brother-in-law Ricken. Originally, Ricken left it on Mark's front porch as a gift. It's stolen by his neighbor and brought into work for Milchick to read, in an attempt to see if there are any hidden messages in it. The Macrodata Refinement crew finds it in a conference room chair while walking the halls.

Although he knows he should turn it in, Mark S keeps it hidden in his desk. He reads it when he thinks no one is looking and in the bathroom. The writing is a little silly and self-indulgent, but to Mark S, it's a revelation. He's especially affected by several passages that declare people should be defined by their life experiences, rather than their work life. Dylan finds the book in Mark's drawer and is also profoundly moved by it.

While most people in the outside world likely consider this book to be half-baked nonsense, to the sheltered and deprived innies, it's life-changing. It's also definitely more revealing than the phony wellness visits they have with dull Ms. Casey. Motivated by Ricken's prose, they're able to orchestrate a plan that will allow them to get the truth out about Lumon.

Before he dies, Petey leaves an old cell phone at Mark's house. Mark sees that someone has been calling it continuously. He decides to answer it, and is directed to meet a woman named Regabhi (Karen Aldridge). A Lumon employee, she's the person who implants the chips in everyone's heads. She's also the person who reintegrated Petey, and maintains that if he followed her instructions, he'd still be alive.

Mr. Graner (Michael Cumpsty), head of Lumon security, arrives to apprehend Regabhi. She murders him, steals his security card, and tells Mark to take it to work with him, as his innie will know what to do with it. Said innie discovers the key during a short dance party held in Helly's honor. He brings it up to his coworkers, and they use it to access the security office.

While in there, Helly steals the instructions for activating the overtime contingency. Their plan is simple: They will work hard to meet their quota so that the brass will allow one of them to get a special reward. Dylan, the chosen employee, is rewarded with a glass cube carved with the image of his Macrodata Refinement coworkers and a strange cabaret performance conducted in a replica of the founder's home. Halfway through, he sneaks away to the security office, locks the door, and activates the overtime contingency, which requires he hold down two switches without letting go.

As he excuses himself to speak with Devon, Mark S accidentally calls Harmony Ms. Cobel, rather than Ms. Selvig. Realizing the overtime contingency has been activated, Harmony perceives a chance to impress the board by stopping Helly from speaking out. She calls Milchick, who springs into action. Meanwhile, Irving arrives at Burt's house and sees that Burt is living with someone else. Still, he has to speak to him.

Mark tells Devon everything and mentions that Selvig is his boss. Devon freaks out, thinking Harmony/Selvig's left with her baby. They search the house and find the child safe and sound in one of the bedrooms. Elsewhere, Milchick makes it to security, but finds that Dylan has tied the door shut with bungee cables. Sawing the cables with a pocket knife, Milchick tries to entice Dylan with new incentives and information about his kids, but Dylan will not give up.

Just before Helly goes on stage, Harmony arrives and begs her not to. She even says she'll make sure that Mark S (whom Helly has developed feelings for) suffers. Meanwhile, Mark S finds a photo of Mark's allegedly deceased wife, Gemma — and realizes she's Ms. Casey, the counselor from work. As Helly tells the audience the truth about Lumon, Irving pounds on Burt's door, Milchick breaks into the office and tackles Dylan, and Mark S shouts, "She's alive!" But then, the overtime contingency ends, restoring them to their outie personalites.