If you haven’t seen the show, Severance is set in a dystopian version of the present, an alternate world where a revolutionary medical procedure by a company called Lumon Industries allows people to become “severed.” The result is a sort of sentience-split, where the person lives their normal “outie” life outside of work, but when they arrive at Lumon’s work floor, their “innie” takes over – with no memories of their outside life, and little knowledge of the world beyond. 

If that wasn’t weird enough, there is clearly something amiss at the cultish Lumon Industries. It’s run by an institution that follows the Kier Egan religion, revering the titular Kier as a god, and then there’s the goats. Don’t even ask about the goats! The technology within Lumon is weirdly antiquated, and everything is coated in a veneer of uncanny valley so it just seems… off. 

The story follows – among others – Mark S., who gets severed to deal with the grief over his dead wife; the rebellious Helly R.; a lonely man called Irving B.; and a man who never found his place in life named Dylan G. They all have their own reasons for submitting to the severance process, and they will all make you wonder if you’d do the same thing in their position. 

Produced and sometimes-directed by Ben Stiller, the TV show makes the work/life balance a literal split, and it raises a lot of ethical questions. The most obvious of which is whether it’s right to create a new identity whose sole purpose is purely to work? The outies make the decision and sign a contract with Lumon, and should the innie want to quit – effectively erasing that work-centric consciousness from existence – the outie has the final decision.

Innies are – for all intents and purposes – slaves, with no control over their own lives. And many of them are created purely as a vessel to channel their outies’ unhappiness, like Mark’s sadness, or Dylan’s lack of confidence. And the puppeteers of the whole messy situation is the insidious Lumon, creating new devotees by metaphorically baptising these newborn personalities into their world of worship and work. 

And let’s face it, the innies are suffering. They have no rights or agency, and their whole existence is within the walls of their department – they’re not even supposed to mix with other parts of the building unauthorized. They’re not supposed to question their place in life, or their belief in the Eagan way, much like examples of real-world cults. 

Lumon Industries treats the innies as nothing more than numbers while masquerading as a company that cares. It has no problem “firing” employees who show individualism or resistance while trying to placate their workforce into servitude with bizarre rituals flavored as employee benefits, such as “waffle parties” or celebratory “leaving parties” for former employees – who the innies see as being dead. 

To add another sinister layer, Lumon’s workplace handbook is essentially a religious text called the Book of Kier, one of the few reading sources available to innies. Restricting their knowledge of the outside world is such an oppressive tool that finding a self-help book titled The You You Are – written by Mark’s brother-in-law, Ricken – changes their lives. 

There’s social corporate parallels you can take from Severance if you dig deep enough. Real-world big companies are often embraced for no other reason than because they dominate the market and we don’t have any other choice. How can you take another stance, when you don’t know any better?

But perhaps the creepiest thing is that we’re not as far off from Severance as you might think! Companies like Amazon and Google, rightly or wrongly, try to foster an atmosphere of belonging and “family,” but big companies generally can’t make personal connections with their employees. Some companies embrace mantras and slogans like hymns, while others see overworking as a good thing to be encouraged rather than dissuaded. 

Retail workers especially will know how much they’re encouraged to “smile and be happy” regardless of their actual emotions. Some companies even want employees to sign non-complete contracts that impose restrictions on where they work after they leave their current position! 

Despite Lumon Industries - and their sheltered lives in general - forcing beliefs onto the innies, though, there’s also an undercurrent of faith and doubt running through the series. The innies are practically brainwashed (they don’t know anything but what they’re told, after all) yet they still find ways to grasp some kind of life. 

Are the innies the same people as their outies? It’s hard to say for certain. But they make the best of the situation they’re given and find a way to connect with others despite knowing their existence is short and their world oppressive. There’s lots to admire about that will to live, and lots to take away from how large companies should (and should not) treat their employees! 

Ricken’s book gives the innies some fleeting concepts of the world outside. They start to question the beliefs being fed to them, and start looking inward for answers instead. They even begin to form relationships in the most unlikely of places, all of which contribute to their emerging personalities.