Warning! SPOILERS for Severance.
Severance deals with a frightening, but curious concept of a world in which the employees of a certain company have their personal memories separated (or "severed") from their work-life memories, but one theory posits that two of the show's characters aren't really severed. The new Apple TV+ series has Ben Stiller as a producer and mixes elements that range from The Office to Black Mirror. Severance follows the story of Mark Scout, an employee of Lumon Industries for over two years, and Helly, who has just joined the company.
Although Lumon Industries is an important and well-known company in that universe, its huge complex is not very populated by employees. In the small rooms that Mark and Helly work in, there are only two other desk workers as well as a supervisor and the head of the department. There is also not much furniture in the offices, and most of the tech available is old-fashioned.
All the contradictions surrounding Severance's Lumon Industries collaborate with the idea that not everything is what it seems to be at that company. In addition to the obvious problem behind the severance process, it's possible that other secrets are being kept from Severance's characters. This is all complicated by a theory claiming that two people at Lumon Industries are not actually severed.
Theory: Harmony Isn't Severed (& Is The Real Boss)
While all Lumon Industries’ employees must say something nice every day about the portrait of a mysterious figure known as Kier Egan, it remains unclear who the real boss of Lumon Industries is. All the focus given to the creator of Lumon Industries may just be serving as a red herring to throw off audiences from the fact that Harmony Cobel, played by Patricia Arquette, is the one who really runs the company. Harmony seems to know a lot more about the secrets of Lumon Industries than any other employee, and it looks like the character is more than just the head of the department.
Harmony strictly follows the company's guidelines and is the one who judges and lectures employees when they do something wrong. It is also through Harmony that the mysterious board of the company communicates with the employees, although no one ever really hears them say anything. It’s possible that such a board does not even exist, and that everything is a fake-out to hide that Harmony is the one calling the shots at Severance's Lumon. It is also curious that, of those who work on that floor, Harmony is the one who doesn't show any sort of personality trait. Even though characters such as Mark and Helly are completely disconnected from their outside world versions, they have at least developed a level of personality in the workplace.
That could also indicate that Harmony hasn't gone through the severance process. In fact, there are more reasons to believe that Patricia Arquette's character isn't severed than the other way around. Early in episode 1 of Severance, Harmony tells Mark a story about something her mother used to say. Had the character been severed, she could not possibly remember something like that. At no point does Mark question that she has an outside world story to tell, which indicates that people might know that Harmony isn’t severed.
Another element that makes Harmony one of the most intriguing characters in Severance is her being Mark's neighbor in the outside world. If Harmony does have access to her memories, then she is for sure remaining close to Mark with an ulterior motive. Mark may have a part to play in Lumon Industries' long-term plans, and it may be Harmony's role to keep him in check.
Milchick Is Suspicious - Is He Unsevered?
After Harmony, Milchik seems to have the most power within that department in Lumen Industries. Tramell Tillman's character acts as a kind of supervisor of the department's employees and has a deep understanding of the company's rules and methodologies. He was the one who walked Helly through her admissions process, and most likely the one who did the same for other employees like Dylan and Irving.
Milchik also appears to have been with the company for quite some time. The character has mentioned some memories of Kier Egan, the creator of Severance's Lumon who are either no longer alive or not part of the company. Milchik has also shown odd behavior towards his employees, sometimes treating them with cordiality, sometimes in a more intimidating way. The best example of that is in Helly's first group dynamic, in which Milchick vehemently reprehends the new employee for asking too many questions about Lumon Industries.
Like Harmony, Milchik seems to know a lot about Lumon Industries for just a manager. That may indicate that he is also unsevered, although there are not many other clues to support this hypothesis. An interesting twist would be if the outside world version of Milchik was completely oblivious to Lumon Industries' secrets, while his work self is one of those responsible for keeping Severance's memory-splitting process going.
Why Some Severance Characters Aren't Severed
There is more to Severance's memory switch than the show has revealed. It would be naïve to believe that everyone within that department actually went through the severance process, and it is likely that at least Harmony hasn't had her memories split. If there really is a board in charge of the company, it makes sense that one or two workers would be chosen to have the privilege of keeping their memories in exchange for keeping the other employees on track.
It is also possible that the entire memory switch practice is just the first of many secrets that Lumon Industries hides. Since the show's universe relies on a Christopher Nolan-level of sci-fi tech that is advanced enough to separate control a person’s memory with just a simple chip, nothing in Severance can be taken as absolute truth. There's no guarantee that those characters haven't already had their work-life memories reset several times, or that there's even a third mode that their brains can switch to.
If there are indeed two or more characters in Severance who aren’t severed is a question that only the next episodes of the show will answer. As of now, viewers would be smart not to trust anything a character in Severance says or does. Even simple employees such as Mark might not be aware of what they’re being part of, and that makes the waiting for the rest of Severance’s season 1 even more exciting.
Severance releases new episodes every Friday on Apple TV+.