Everything you need to remember before leaving Season 2

Three years is a long time to wait…especially for all of us single people. I mean, okay, you could argue that the entirety of Season 1 of The Rift was probably meant to dissuade anyone from thinking that there are any “advantages” to being an ini. Well, say what you will about those Lumon employees, but the ability to flick a switch and suddenly fast-forward to moment when season 2 finally arrives would be appropriate during this long hiatus, wouldn’t it? The Applet TV+ series has been the victim of the dueling blows that have hit the film and TV industry, but now it’s ready to shake off all that trouble and kick viewers in the face with even more dark, dystopian and downright weird office shenanigans. the second season.

Of course, all this downtime should have given more forward-thinking pencillers ample opportunity to re-watch the debut season and brush up on all the nitty-gritty details that first sparked so many fan theories back in February 2022. For those who spent these years no doing homework? Apple will provide a comprehensive synopsis of the first season before the premiere Season 2 (which, for your convenience, I’ve reviewed in full spoiler-free for /Film here). But even that doesn’t quite address all the nuances, world-building quirks, and dramatic plot twists that defined what was truly one of the most exciting installments of any television series in recent memory.

This rollercoaster story about Mark S. (Adam Scott) and Severed co-stars Heli R. (Brit Lauer), Irving B. (John Turturro) and Dylan G. (Zach Cherry), ended with a thrilling scene that seemed to shake the board forever. What led up to this momentous event and what do you most need to remember when Season 2 begins? Get together for a little team-building exercise, because we’re about to dive into the finer details of the first season of The Rupture. Praise Kier.

When it comes to preparing for The Rift Season 2, it’s probably best to start with the basics.

Severance’s world-building approach is as imaginative as it is surprising. There’s apparently an actual disconnection procedure that somehow separates memories based on geographic proximity to work into “comes” and “disconnects” — and which we’re told is completely irreversible (though poor Petey, a former Lumon employee played by Yul Vazquez, suddenly left the company at the beginning of season 1 and ended up dead, which may be evidence to the contrary). Still, even beyond that, think about the amazing world of the cut floor marching to the beat of its own drum, waffle parties and dances and all. You have an entire Macrodata Refinement (MDR) department where we only know that employees like Mark S. and his friends, tasked with sifting through endless blocks of encoded numbers, separating each one based on how “scary” they feel compared to harmless, and organizing them into digital containers for reasons unknown. Or take the ominous Rest Room, a stunning torture chamber run by Mr. Milchick (Tremel Tillman) for anyone unlucky enough to be caught breaking the rules. And what about Optics and Design (O&D), another department run by good old Burt (Christopher Walken), whose existence is much another teams that were separated from each other?

Overhanging all this is the specter of an invisible and eternally silent Council that outranks even manager Harmony Cobell (Patricia Arquette), and the menacing Egan family dynasty (which dates back to the 1800s) is responsible for this nightmare because of their fanatical, cult-like devotion to founder and quasi-religious figure Kir Egan. Now that we know that Heli R. is actually the nanny of Helena Egan, the daughter of current Lumon CEO James Egan (Michael Seabury), there’s no telling what will happen when (or when) the rest of our heroes learn the truth for themselves.

After “The Rift” dropped us into this peculiar world, viewers quickly asked one very important question: What kind of person would willingly sign up for a horrible life on the Cutaway Floor that they would never be able to remember? As it turns out, only extremely damaged. When we first meet Mark Scout, he is getting ready to go to work in the morning, sobbing in his car. We eventually learn that his wife Gemma (Dichen Lachman) had tragically died in a car accident two years prior, leaving Mark desperate enough to put himself out of pain for eight hours a day – even if it means undergoing a procedure. which is considered a politically, ethically and morally controversial choice. However, in the finale with Ini Marco, we learn that his wife has actually been alive all this time and has been kept a secret in Lumon, as she herself, known as Mrs. Casey, works as a wellness consultant for the other employees. Mark S. is included.

We don’t get the same level of insight into the inner lives of Mark’s colleagues when they’re not working, but it’s clear that each of their personal lives almost spill over into their childhood lives. Irving B. experiences horrific hallucinations of oil drowning him at work, which we learn in the finale is a residual, subliminal holdover from his sidekick’s hobby of creating oil paintings that, disturbingly, reflect some elements from The Cut Floor. More importantly, his rewarding romance with Burt finally awakens him to a life outside of work. When in the next episode of Season 1, Dylan G. going through the “Overtime Emergency Protocol” (used by Mr. Milczyk to wake the house staff in case of an emergency), his accidental discovery that he has children and an entire family shakes him to his core. And as for Helly R., the realization that her ugly girlfriend is none other than the future heir to the company that now oppresses them is sure to haunt her. Remember that she tried to commit suicide earlier when her team refused to accept her resignation from Lumon. Now that we know why, there’s no telling what Heli (or Helena, for that matter) might do with this information.

Seriously, what happened to Mrs. Selvig? The Season 1 premiere of “Severance” went to great lengths to make Harmony Cobell a terrifying, almost sociopathic boss Mark who has completely drunk the Lumon Kool-Aid … until in the final moments, he dropped the twist on us that Cobell is alive next to the clothes Mark goes by the alias of Mrs. Selvig. Was this evidence that the company was going out of its way to spy on its own employees, or was something else going on? Undercover as Mark’s quirky old neighbor, Kobel clearly had an unhealthy interest in him—but strangely enough, she also seemed legitimately concerned for his well-being. Yep, she’s a straight up Kira fanatic who built a literal shrine in her basement and seems to have been born and raised into the Lumon cult from a very young age. She even uses her Selvig identity to infiltrate Mark’s family, posing as a nurse/lactation expert to help Mark’s sister, Devon (Jen Tallack), and her novelist husband Ricken (Michael Chernus). But what exactly is her endgame here?

The first season doesn’t fully address these questions, though we do see Cobell gradually become more obsessive and ineffectual with each episode as the young people rebel against the system. Distracted by his personal investigation of a former employee of Petey’s and suspicions that he somehow “reintegrated” his memories between internal and external characters before his death, Kobel decides his own fate. By the time Mark’s colleagues spend their work days wandering the corridors of Lumont instead of refining their macro data, Haley R. attempts suicide, Kobel has completely lost any semblance of control she once had. When the Council discovers that she didn’t report Helly’s near-death experience and that she was visiting Mark’s sister, she is abruptly fired, despite decades of service to the Egans.

Undeterred, she once again shows her loyalty when she realizes that the innies have made contact with the outside world in the finale and tries to contain any damage they may cause. It remains to be seen what her fate will be in Season 2, but it would be wise to expect the unexpected when it comes to Kobel.

Forget about those inexplicable baby goats, that perfect replica of Kier Egan’s house that just parked in the center of the Eternity Wing, or even that unbearably creepy painting of O&D staging a coup against the rest of the Cut Floor (which turned out to be a red herring, another attempt by Lumon to keep different departments suspicious of each other rather than coming together as one). All of Season 1 relentlessly built up our skills, finding the courage and inspiration in ourselves—with a little help from Ricken’s self-help book that made its way onto the Sliced ​​Floor and subsequently blew our heroes’ minds—to finally strike back at their employer.

At different times, each of them finds their own motivational factor to “burn this place to the ground,” as Irving B. so memorably put it. Burt’s forced resignation is a turning point for Irving, while Dylan’s brief glimpse into his other half’s life does the same for him. For Heli, the most outspoken fighter against the egregious wrongs perpetrated against them, their long-awaited plan and her whirlwind affair with Mark S. is the only thing that keeps her going… and yes, the last one ends with a passionate kiss before they do their most daring act yet against Lumon. When it comes to Mark, however, he gets the final push from his exit. While all this was going on in Lumon, Mark Scout was contacted by his old friend Petey outside, he made contact with a rogue former Lumon employee Regabi (Karen Aldridge) who knows how to reintegrate innies and even stole a map a security key that would allow him to access certain places on the Cut Floor.

When all is well, the innies strike back with their plan to activate the overtime contingency and announce Lumon. While Dylan stays behind to keep his fingers on the switches before Mr. Milchick can turn it off, Irving goes in search of Burt’s belongings, Mark discovers that his late wife is Ms. Casey and is in fact alive, and Helly smashes the Lumon- sponsoring a gala concert, revealing the truth about what goes on inside. Fans will finally get to see this issue resolved when The Gap Season 2 premieres on Apple TV+ on January 17, 2025.