With Severance, Apple TV+ has yet again proved the worth of a weekly release schedule—especially when it comes to complete “mindfuck” mystery thrillers. Remember predicting who would die in The White Lotus after every new episode last summer? Thanks to goats, android-esque humans, and a gonzo Romeo and Juliet plot between two departments, Severance has fan theories circulating everywhere. No need to scavenge through endless Reddit threads like a severed MDR employee: the best of the best are right here.
We’re over halfway through the first season of Severance, and still, the Ben Stiller-produced show has posed more questions than answers. The big question: What is Lumon? As in, what’s the purpose? Tons of micro-questions lead up to what will hopefully be a big reveal in the season finale, so it’s time to unpack those mind-boggling twists with the help of the show’s dedicated fanbase. We’ve scrolled all the Reddit forums and message boards. Spoilers ahead!
Starting from the top with last episode, “The Grim Barbarity of Optics and Design,” two new major plot points unfurl as the MDR team is split into two pairs: Helly (Britt Lower) and Mark (Adam Scott), Irv (John Turturro) and Dylan (Zach Cherry). Both teams explore the basement floor, finding unsettling details galore—like, for example, a farm of baby goats. Mark and Helly storm into a room full of the creepy critters overseen by a man in a suit who says they “aren’t ready yet.” On the flip side of the episode, Irv and Dylan bicker over their rivalry with the O and D team, worried a storm may be brewing.
So, what’s up with those goats? “Most large companies have onsite daycare centers,” one viewer theorizes. “I could see this being a chip altered view of one of those.” Another fan of the series claims it could only be there to “disorient” the overly-inquisitive workers “to make them question their own perceptions.”
And the O and D feud is perhaps simpler than it looks: “Pure propaganda,” another fan of the series sums it up. “You don’t want people from different departments to get too close, they might start to figure out what the heck is going on.” Still, we don’t quite know what separates the MDR tasks from those performed over at O and D, or why they’re all severed in the first place.
Irving’s in a world of trouble with his Burt (Christopher Walken) affair, which coincides with his recurring black goo nightmares. Taking it back to the first episode, Irv finds black dust crammed underneath his fingernails, later having a panic attack on the job as the Venom-like lava pours in from the office’s crevices. One avid fan pins the hallucinations on subconscious thoughts that the subject can’t handle—that’s why they have to go to the wellness center to recalibrate. (As if they’re damn Wii remotes!)
Speaking of the wellness center, Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman) is another subject of discussion, especially after her hovering around in Episode 5. Cobel (Patricia Arquette) assigns her out on an experiment, which is notable in the sense that the boss is more focused on Ms. Casey than she is Helly. While Severance has revealed Cobel to be unsevered (outside of the office, she removes Petey’s implant), what about Ms. Casey? She’s “the most obvious android out of the lot of them” with “a goat’s consciousness,” according to our sleuths.
A lot of shows tend to feature one standalone episode, and folks have started vying for their favorite characters. Irv? Burt? Dylan? The most desired is Helly, obviously, thanks to her mysterious background teased in ominous video clips to her severed self. Two theories have emerged, resting on opposite poles. Helly could be in Lumon upper management, a huge twist that would explain why her outie is far more pleasant towards Milchick. But another theory, perhaps an even bigger turn of events, could be that Helly is an anti-severance activist looking to take Lumon down from the inside. Either way: give us the Helly backstory episode!
Episode 5 journeyed into the outside world a bit more thanks to the birth of Mark’s nephew. While his sister is in labor, she hunts down a cup of joe in the eerie forest-based lodge. (Who decided that setting her free was a good idea?) She encounters a woman named Gabby in a presidential-styled cabin. Who, other than Lumon, could’ve paid for this swanky spot? Fans have speculated that this could be former MDR worker Carol (with an alias), or the pregnant Lumon worker mentioned on the news a few episodes ago. Instead of hush money, perhaps Lumon is funding her entire stay at this spot.
Which leads us to the purpose of Lumon, if Helly is truly a plant from the higher ups. Most of the hypothesizing has centered on those little brain chips, which are argued to be harboring AI: “they just need BODIES to be in,” one Redditor says, claiming the work isn’t actually real. Another writes: “If the office aims to use humans as a medium for AI learning to identify and interpret fear, and other feelings presumably, then what becomes important is what the team agrees is scary together.” So, this wild theory claims that Lumon is developing feelings…for robots.
We’ll have to see what proves true and what theories are total bogus in the next few weeks as Severance airs its final four episodes. If there’s one constant in the Severance universe, it’s the near 10 thousand online fans picking apart each episode with thousands of comments on every detail — whew!
Severance airs new episodes every Friday on Apple TV+.
For more, listen to ‘Severance’ star Adam Scott on The Last Laugh podcast.
