What Being A “Part-Time” Severed Employee Means In Severance
Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Severance season 1!
The world of innies and outies is incredibly hard to grasp in Severance, with the idea of "part-time" severed employees being one of the strangest concepts in the TV series. In Severance, employees of Lumon have their personalities split in two, with innies being their state of consciousness while at work and outies being their state of consciousness while not at work. The idea of a part-time severed employee completely goes against this, but there may be some in Severance.
Severance season 2 is finally here, with the highly-anticipated continuation of season 1 coming nearly three years after Severance's first batch of episodes. Severance season 1 ended with a bang, with it featuring Mark's innie learning that his outie is married to a coworker he knows as Ms. Casey. This reveal has completely flipped the world of Severance on its head, raising all kinds of questions that season 2 may have to answer.
A Part-Time Severed Employee Is Only "Awake" For Less Than Half The Work Day
But It Isn't Known Where They Are The Rest Of The Time
In season 1, Ms. Casey tells Mark that she is a part-time innie, with this being a confusing concept. According to Casey, she has only been awake for around 1000 hours, with her innie only being active during Lumon's 30-minute wellness sessions. Her innie then seems to deactivate after these sessions, which is completely different from how the other innies work.
The rest of Severance's innie characters are awake for the entire work day, with them transforming from and back into their outies while on the elevator that leaves the severed floor. This rule is consistent for the rest of the innies seen in the series, with Ms. Casey's unique position as a part-time employee raising an interesting question about her outie.
Are All Part-Time Severed Employees Missing An Outie?
And What Is Lumon Doing With Them?
Ms. Casey's status as a part-time severed employee was already confusing enough, but the reveal that her outie is Gemma at the end of Severance season 1 makes things even more confusing. According to Mark's outie, Gemma is dead, with him not knowing that Mark's innie is working with Gemma's innie, Ms. Casey. Since everyone believes that Gemma is dead, Ms. Casey may not have an outie, meaning that this may be a fact for part-time severed employees across the board.
The most likely scenario is that Ms. Casey only became part-time after Lumon seemingly killed Gemma. It isn't known if Gemma is still alive somewhere or if she is being held captive by Lumon, with this being one of Severance season 2's biggest mysteries. However, the world of part-time innies will undoubtedly be further expanded as Severance season 2 continues.
Severance
- Release Date
- February 18, 2022
- Showrunner
- Dan Erickson, Mark Friedman
- Directors
- Ben Stiller
- Writers
- Dan Erickson
Cast
Mark Scout
Helly Riggs
Severance is a psychological thriller series featuring Adam Scott as Mark Scout, an employee at Lumon Industries who undergoes a "severance" procedure to separate his work and personal memories. However, as work and life personas mysteriously begin to collide, it quickly becomes clear that not all is as it seems. Created by Dan Erickson and directed by Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle.
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