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Severance
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Manhattan | Culture > Entertainment

What’s an Innie?: Why Everyone is Talking About ‘Severance’

Allyson Haskins Student Contributor, Manhattan College
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Manhattan chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

Severance took the world by storm, its second season gaining even more critical acclaim than the release of its first, which had a gap of 3 years between both releases. Severance is an Apple TV show created by Ben Stiller, starring a star-studded cast such as Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, John Turturro, and more. The show’s excellent directing style and top-notch acting make it an easy fan favorite, with each episode giving some insight into the overall mystery without giving too much away. There are so many theories and different ideas that can be applied to Severance, with not many getting fully confirmed.

The premise of the show follows Scott’s character who is both an innie as Mark S. and an outie as Mark Scout. His character leads two lives, having gone through the act of being ‘severed,’ which means an implant was put into his brain that, when triggered, makes him forget all memories that he has of an outside life and essentially makes him a completely new person. When Mark Scout steps into work, he becomes Mark S., who doesn’t know his last name, anything about his home life, etc. This is the same as many of those who are severed in the show.

The show dives into why Mark got severed and the connection the characters who are on the ‘severed floor’ have in the outside world without knowing it. It also leads into the question of what those who are severed are truly doing in their work, with Mark S. being a part of a team of “macrodata refiners” that includes Irving B., Dylan G., and Helly R. Every character has their own eccentric personality and the actors do such an amazing job of conveying the difference between the outie and the innies personalities. 

I started watching Severance whilst the second season was airing with my boyfriend and we finished the first season within a week. It’s one of those shows you don’t want to stop watching, and every detail forces your eyes to stay on the screen at all times. As the episodes go on, the directorial style just gets better and better, hiding more Easter eggs and becoming more of a cinematic masterpiece. In comparison, I’d say the show’s general ideas and the topics it hits would be comparable to episodes of the Netflix series Black Mirror, which is another show that I love. If you’re debating whether or not to finally start Severance, do it. You won’t regret it. It is a genuine masterpiece, and I am on the edge of my seat waiting for season three. I also tell everyone to watch it, just so I have more people to discuss theories with.

Allyson Haskins

Manhattan '27

Hi! My names Ally, I’m from a small town in Pennsylvania and I'm currently in my sophomore year at Manhattan University. I am a Marketing and Communications double major with a concentration in PR.

I absolutely love traveling, no matter how far or how close the location is as long as its something new. I've been to 48 states, and Maine was my absolute favorite. But, I have 7 siblings so family vacations are a bit stressful, so I'd prefer to go when I'm older.

I've written for an environmental magazine called EcoGenZine during high school and have always loved writing since I was a child. I usually find inspiration from TikTok or Pinterest where my collections are growing to be a bit too large. I love taking criticism on my work, oddly, and learning from others' work.