What happened in Severance season 1? Full recap ahead of season 2

But what is the severance procedure, and how has it affected those involved? We’re here to catch you up before season 2 kicks off.

If you want to read our review for what’s to come, we highly recommend it.

Here’s everything you need to know before returning to the world of Lumon Industries.

How does the severance procedure work?

Severance is an organised surgical procedure in which a Lumon Industries employee agrees to split their work and home memories. In theory, this allows them to achieve a better work/life balance.

“Outies” arrive at work, take the elevator to the special severed floor, before coming-to at the end of the work day to return home.

“Innies” have no knowledge of who they are in the outside world, and live to work, existing only within the confines of the Lumon Industries building, from 9am to 5pm every day.

Ms Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette) works as management on the severed floor, Mr Seth Milchick (Tramell Tillman) acts as the supervisor for MDR, and Ms Casey (Dichen Lachman) is the Innies’ wellness director, offering them small glimpses to who they are as people.

What happened to Helly in Severance season 1?

Helly is our initial introduction to the office. A newly severed employee, she immediately wants to leave – and not even a ‘team-building melon bar’ sways her.

Trying to get her Outie’s attention, she writes notes that are removed by elevator sensors, scrawls in Sharpie on her arms, and makes official resignation requests to get out.

When her Outie, who is in charge of the decision, forces her to remain where she is, denying any appeals, she radically threatens to cut off her fingers, before trying to kill herself in the elevator, triggering a temporary switch between Innie and Outie before she’s saved.

Despite all of this, her Outie refuses to stop the use of severance, sending her a video instructing her that she has no choice but to continue.

What happened to Mark in Severance season 1?

We meet Outie Mark as a broken man after the death of his wife, Gemma, two years prior. He opted into the severance procedure to be more functional at work while mourning his wife’s death.

In work though, he is somewhat thriving in macro-data refinement (a project whose purpose is never made clear). After the resignation of best friend Petey, he is made head of department and his first task is to get Helly settled in.

But there are elements to Mark’s life that he’s not aware of. For example, his friendly next door neighbour, Mrs Selvig, is actually Harmony Cobel, who has been integrating herself into his everyday life.

Innie Mark bonds with an increasingly erratic Helly, with multiple strange occurrences (including a goat-feeding department in a dark hallway) making him realise something is amiss. Over time, he becomes the de facto leader of the team and their escape plans.

Outie Mark gets a shock when “stranger” Petey approaches him with a warning about what is going on at Lumon, before dying after a failed attempt at “reintegration” - a process to merge the two sides of his brain. We later find out reintegration is supposedly impossible.

Reaching out to a scientist who knew Petey, Mark discovers there is something strange going on at Lumon, just as heavies working for the company start hunting them down. He makes it out safely, but the scientist gives him a special keycard, which he then smuggles into work.

What happened to Dylan in Severance season 1?

Dylan is the quiet and more compliant member of the team, relatively content living out his days filing the numbers he’s asked to.

He also enjoys receiving the positive treats he gets if he and the team meet their quota, even though he’s not exactly sure what he’s doing every day by organising numbers on a screen.

Despite this, Dylan is a highly suspicious person, especially when it comes to people from other departments. This eventually catches the eye of Ms Casey, who monitors him through therapy-session style discussions.

But when a glitch accidentally switches Innie and Outie Dylan for a brief period of time in an “emergency override” he realises the life he’s not being allowed to see – especially a young son he never knew existed.

With his mind blown at this information, Dylan later lashes out at a team building dance party, punching Milchick in the face in frustration. He then informs the rest of the MDR team that if they can get the override working, they can warn people in the outside world about the mistreatment of severed employees. Mark realises this is what the keycard is for.

What happened to Irving in Severance season 1?

Irving is the oldest member of the team, and has a sustained love of Kier Eagan, the founder of Lumon Industries who many in the outside world consider a God-like figure. He is a devout worker, and just wants to get through the day as calmly as possible.

During the course of season 1, he finds himself meeting and bonding with Burt (Christopher Walken), a team member of optics and design (O&D) who helps decorate the office. Eventually their connection turns romantic, but they’re torn apart when management realises MDR and O&D teams are bonding, banning them from talking and forcing Burt into retirement.

This leaves Irving heartbroken and desperate to reunite with him.

What happened in the season 1 finale?

In the season 1 finale, the team have successfully managed to win over Milchick by meeting their quota – and they’re rewarded with yet another office party. Dylan, as top refiner, gets his own special waffle party as well.

This gives the team time to set up their plan, with Dylan sneaking into the security office and switching Helly, Mark and Irving from Innie to Outie. Before it kicks in, Helly kisses Mark.

Irving is at home and is painting a picture of a dimly-lit hallway over and over, and discovers his Outie is also suspicious of the severance procedure, creating a list of severed employees and their Outie address. Through this, he goes to find Burt, but is left heartbroken to discover that Burt’s Outie is married to another man, not knowing he exists.

Helly comes to and is revealed to be Helena Eagan, the daughter of the Lumon CEO and his heir-apparent. Her decision to be severed was to essentially be propaganda for the controversial procedure, presenting it as successful and harmless in a speech at a fancy dinner she is attending.

Mark finds himself at a party for his pregnant sister and his brother-in-law, who is an acclaimed author of self-help book, The You You Are. Ms Cobel is one of the attendees. Unaware that she goes by a different name in the Outie world, he alerts her to the switch by referring to her as Ms Cobel rather than Ms Selvig.

After being fired earlier that day, Cobel sees this as an opportunity to get back in Lumon’s good books, alerting them to the issue.

As the net closes in on them, Milchick gets to Dylan to stop the link and switch them back from Innie to Outie, prompting a violent struggle.

Helly takes the stage and speaks about the horrors the Innies are enduring to a crowd of stunned watchers, Irving decides to bang on Burt’s door anyway, and Mark discovers his dead wife, Gemma, is actually Ms Casey, rushing and screaming to his sister “She’s alive”... just as the connection is lost.

Severance season 2 launches on Friday 17th January on Apple TV+ with new episodes airing weekly. Season 1 is available now – sign up for Apple TV+ here.

Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what's on tonight. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.