The following article contains spoilers for Season 2 of Severance.
The second season of Severance just wrapped up, once again delivering a sharp, and sometimes silly, critique of capitalism and the modern workplace. The show’s premise—splitting a person’s consciousness between work and personal life—highlights a harsh reality: we spend a third of our lives trapped in the hellscape of work. This is clear from the opening scene of season one, when we see one of our main characters, Helly, wake up on the “severed” floor of the Lumon company with no memory of who she is, stuck in a job she never chose and is unable to escape no matter how hard she tries. The series’ ability to capture the horrors of work through haunting symbolism—like repeated sequences of Lumon employees wandering endless hallways like rats in a maze—made season one brilliant, leaving us all on the edge of our seats waiting for season two.
Season two does not disappoint. It deepens the show’s critique of capitalism by exploring how work shapes our identities, damages our relationships, and ultimately strips us of our sense of freedom. This is clear in Dylan’s character arc. Dylan, one of the severed workers, finds himself unemployed at the beginning of season two after his innie—the severed consciousness trapped at Lumon—manages to escape. Suddenly, he is confronted with the grim reality of job hunting. His relationship with his family becomes strained, and he struggles with feelings of failure and the loss of identity that can come with unemployment. This loss of self becomes even clearer when we see him interview at a door factory, where he’s forced to pretend he’s passionate about…doors. The interview is an awkward and all-too-familiar experience—having to convince a prospective employer that this job is the only one you’ve ever wanted, when in reality, it’s just a job. In the end, Dylan is forced to return to Lumon, underscoring the lack of real choice under capitalism. Even after the dramatic season one escape from Lumon, he finds himself trapped by the need to work. The experience seems to strip Dylan of his sense of self as he becomes emotionally disconnected from his wife. This idea runs throughout the series, as Lumon employees are constantly called upon to serve the mysterious corporate cult that worships its founder, Keir Egan.
The season finale delivers one of the show’s most unsettling revelations: the severed workers have been unknowingly creating new severed consciousnesses of Gemma, Mark’s wife. The very thing that Mark, Helly, Dylan, and Irving have tried to escape—the severance procedure itself—is what they have been unknowingly expanding. Not only are they contributing to severance, but they are doing it to someone deeply important to one of their own. This moment encapsulates one of the series’ central messages: workers are so disconnected from the nature of their labor that they often have no idea how their work is being used, or who it is ultimately harming. What might seem like mundane, meaningless tasks can have devastating consequences—not just for society, but for the workers themselves.
Meanwhile, Milchick, a Black middle manager, struggles for recognition from Lumon’s faceless, unaccountable board. His loyalty is rewarded with a condescending gift—paintings of the company’s founder altered to include his face. When he attempts to connect with a higher-up over their shared racial identity and the awkwardness of the gesture, there is a tense moment of recognition before the issue is passed over. His arc highlights how even those who enforce company rules are dehumanized, reduced to tools of corporate power rather than individuals with their own identity.
Of course, these are just a few of the many symbols woven throughout Severance. There are countless hidden messages, unsettling moments, and layers of meaning left to uncover, but we’ll leave the rest for you to find and discuss. With every episode now available on Apple TV, Severance is available to binge. It’s strange, gripping, and full of unexpected twists, but more than that, it’s deeply thought-provoking. Taking the time to reflect on its messages gives us a chance to examine how our own reality is mirrored in this eerie, dystopian world.
