second season severance payPremiering tonight on Apple TV+, it proves that the corporate sci-fi drama still has its charm. But it also used to be (check notes) three years It's been a while since we last saw an episode, so I can't blame you for feeling a bit fuzzy about what happened back then. Luckily, we sympathize with you more than Lumon does with the fired employees, so we've prepared this refresher course for the new season (which we'll revisit every week).
Any big ideas?
in the world severance payPowerful company Lumon has developed a new medical procedure that allows certain employees with sensitive duties to mentally separate work and home life. Through the chip in their brains, they essentially become two people sharing the same body: a "layman" who lives in a world far away from Lu Meng and has no idea what is going on there; and an "introvert" who lives in a world far away from Lumeng. Never mentally leaving the "isolation floor" of the Lumon Building and knowing only the bare minimum about the outside world.
Lumon is run by the Eagan family, who have built an entire religious cult around the idea that company founder Kier Eagan is a divine figure worthy of worship.
Who is our hero?
The play mainly tells the story of four roommates who work in the mysterious macro data refinement department, but they themselves do not understand this department. (Mostly, their job involves staring at a bunch of floating numbers on an old computer monitor and placing them in different virtual bins based on how the numbers Feel.) The four people are:
- Mark (Adam Scott), leader of the MDR team. Innie Mark is level-headed, easy-going, and as happy as can be in such a strange and restrictive environment. Otty Mark, on the other hand, is a mess as we discover he volunteered for his severance package as a way to cope with the grief of his wife Gemma's death in a car crash.
- Haley (Britt Lorre) is the newest member of the team. Hayley immediately hated everything about her inner life and did whatever she could to quit, even if it meant she would cease to exist. When her grandmother refused to let her — coldly telling Innie Helly in a recorded video, “I I am a person. you no. ” — Hayley attempts suicide, but is thwarted by management's quick intervention. She grows to love Ini Mark and kisses him.
- Owen (John Turturro) is an overly artistic type and a devout believer in Kiel's worship. He begins a flirtation with Burt (Christopher Walken), a veteran employee from another independent unit, and becomes frustrated when Otty Burt chooses to retire, effectively killing Innie Burt.
- Dylan (Zach Cherry) is the team player who seems least bothered by his introversion and most enjoys doing the job and earning the perks. But when he discovers his grandmother had a wife and child he will never know, his entire worldview crumbles and he joins others in rebelling against management.
Who is our villain?
In addition to Helena and other members of the Egan family, Lumen is represented by the two bosses of the cut-off floor, who themselves are not cut off: Harmony Korbel (Patricia Arquette) , a religious fanatic of Keir Egan, and her follower Mr. Milchik. (Trammell Tillman), who smiles in the face of all threatening behavior, including the various forms of psychological torture he inflicts on members of the MDR. For unknown reasons, Ms. Corbell also lived next door to Oty Mark, posing as a soap saleswoman named Mrs. Selvig. Later in the first season, she was suspended for allowing various introverted shenanigans, most notably Haley's suicide attempt.
Who else do we need to know?
Mark's sister Devon (Jean Tullock) lives nearby with her inspirational writer husband Rickon (Michael Chenous). Oti Mark thought Ricken was a pretentious man, yet when one of Ricken's books ended up on the chopped floor, Ini Mark was fascinated by it.
And there's Petey (Yul Vázquez), who used to work with Inni Mark, Owen and Dylan in MDR until his amateurish decision to undergo an untested "reintegration" procedure, Blending his introverted and extroverted selves together. The procedure didn't entirely work, and Petey eventually died from complications.
Patty's reintegration was carried out by former Lumon employee Regabi (Karen Aldridge), who claimed she installed Mark's severance chip. She comes to believe that Severance is evil and does everything she can to resist Lumeng while going off the grid. Later in the first season, she murders the security captain of the quarantined floor in front of Oti Mark.
On the quarantined floor, everyone enjoys visiting the health counselor Ms. Kathy (Dichen Rahman), but when she retires like Innie Burt, everyone is sad.
Additionally, there were baby goats on the chopped floor. No, we don't know why.
How does season one end?
Innie Dillon learned about his introvert family when Mr. Milchik used an "overtime emergency protocol," which allows introverts to temporarily control their bodies and stay away from the cut-off floor. Dylan told the other members of MDR about the agreement, and they decided to use it to get out of the building and try to tell the rest of the world how bad their conditions were. When Dylan barricades himself in the room controlling the overtime emergency, Mark, Haley and Owen find themselves drawn into their lives on the outside. Inimak is surprised to see his idol Rickon and inadvertently calls Ms. Corbell by her real name, letting her know that the Ini family has rebelled. (She notified Milczyk and briefly kidnapped Devon and Rickon's child.) Innie Owen set out to find Ottie Burt and was dismayed to discover that Burt was having a relationship with another man. Haley is horrified to discover that her partner is Helena Egan, and her family orders her to accept a severance package as a glorified PR stunt. The season ends with Milczyk crossing Dylan to shut down the overtime contingency plan, but only after Ini Mark discovers that Ms. Kathy is actually Ody Mark's "late" wife Gemma and that Hayley is in Lumon The event ended with a speech explaining who she really was. and pleads for help escaping the nightmare of a life cut off.