Severance - Analyzing Mark Scout + Theory 

The funny thing about Mark is that he is happy at work and miserable in daily life which is the reverse of how most people are.

I get the sense that Mark joined wanting to become the innie. To him being trapped outside is the real hell.

Definitely something up with Rickon's friends. Defintely could be a coincidence, but I've always been suspicious of "Rebecc." The lack of an A at the end of the name reminds me of how Helly's father is named "Jame," another common name with the last letter dropped off.

I definitely think that you're on to something about the town itself being an extended testing are or "proving ground" for severed people. Ricken's friends are also giving me "Stepford Wives" vibes, as if they are reverse severed, which would make the town one large severed floor.

Really enjoy your commentary! If I remember correctly: in that first hallway walk when we are introduced to Mark S, after throwing out the tissue in his pocket, he sniffles a moment later. Trauma is a theme I reflect on a lot with this show and the affects of trauma live primarily live in the body, not the mind. That moment always struck me as a first early whisper about that. He may not understand that he was crying, but he's still a little congested because his body hasn't forgotten.

I don't care what anyone says... THIS is the golden age of T.V. A director can truly count on the audience to pick up every crumb they leave, and because of that, directors leave more crumbs :)

Babe wake up another severance character analysis dropped

Best severance content on yt. Keep it up

I genuinely loved this show and these videos are literally the only thing bridging the gap, keep up the videos I really enjoy them

You're right about Severance season 2, I can't fucking wait for it. I haven't been this obsessed and excited about a TV show since LOST was a thing.

The only thing that turns me off to that theory is that Cobel was not supposed to be spending that much time with Mark, making me think he wasn’t supposed to be monitored. However I think lots of Ricken’s friends especially the one taking credit for finding the baby could be severed

I can’t wait for season 2! Hurry up! Loved your video! Thanks again!

One reason that was given to Mark’s boss for her being fired was that the company discovered she was stalking him outside the office. Which means her observing and experimenting on him beyond was exclusively on her own, and not a part of the company.

If the town itself is an experiment, I don't know why Harmony would be fired, also Lumon was not happy with her living next to Mark. Even with that caveat, I still lean toward the town being apart of Lumon, especially since PE is the state. Possibly how the Vatican is it's own government. Great video!

Already liked before finishing the video! Thanks for all the great Severance content. Can't wait for season 2!

I think marks character arc will be reintergrating. Both versions of him will improve themselves and their situation and then he will combine into one, he will achieve work/life balance.

My husband and I have watched the entire show probably over 10 times now and we pick up new revelations each time we watch it. The subtle facial expressions to show how the character of Mark develops is brilliantly done. Also, side note, there is no cleaning staff on the severed floor. Mark vacuums, dusts and fills the soap dispensers. Odd for a department chief to be given those tasks.

I still don’t understand the idea of Mark (& other characters) using severance to escape some type of grief. The outies’ experience in & out of work is instantaneous. They experience ZERO relief from their grief by being severed. 🤷‍♂️

I don’t necessarily think the entire town is a severance experiment but I definitely think Lumon is just there to test and improve the chips. It’s why Cobell keeps putting Mark and Gemma together to see if they recognise each other, and I believe the MDR team is refining their own chips as when Helly is struggling to hit her deadline no one else can split the work with her. Also when Dylan activates the OTC there is a mode called “BEEHIVE” which I’m sure is the grand Eagan plan to create a hivemind of severed individuals!

Such an amazing analysis of mark. So many new epiphanies. I didn’t realize how each character played a roll on helping mark find his correct and how helping others is a way for him to help himself.

I recently watched Severence and loved it so much. Yours is the first content I’ve come across on RU-vid and I suspect I will now have to subscribe and see what else you’ve got!

Spoiler warning : Severance in the outside town has class implications to it. The politician’s wife who severed herself to not experience the pain of pregnancy and labor, for example. I also wonder if Mark, his wife and Irving, as teachers and artists, are specifically targeted to be co opted into the Lumon system. Maybe the book club members were once intellectual luminaries who are being purposefully degraded to make the general populace more compliant.

i'm way late to the game on your vids on Severence, but after rewatching for the third time, decided to peruse the tubes of you for some deep dives, and I've watched a bunch of your stuff. Love the light, albeit brooding snark to dig into these wonderful characters and settings.... but i legit cackled and scared the cat @ 08:31 Very well done and cannot wait for what is to be revealed in January 2025.

I have a different take on Mark. It was obvious to me from the beginning that Mark was an arrogant middle-manager type. He's under pressure in the real world and at the office. He's managed whilst managing and victim to the situation he's found himself in. I'd argue he's not as much as a pushover as he first seems though. He's more confident and take charge around people he knows and in a familiar environment. We see this in his dynamic with his sister and when he's voicing his distain the first time we hear "hey kids, what's for dinner". However he is uncomfortable (and certainly passive-aggressive) in unfamiliar surroundings - or when there's a hierarchy. When he meets Petey for the first time in the diner, he's taken aback and defensive as he's caught off guard. With Cobel, he's almost reticent when he's told he will be the new data refinement manager and generally under the thumb in that relationship. By contrast, when he's dealing with her as a neighbour - and whilst he's unsevered - he's almost humouring/ talking down to her. He treats Ricken much the same. We also see how Mark's demeanor changes when Milchick is introducing Helly to the group. He keeps pushing him for answers and rolling the ball back to him. Mark's also just along for the ride with the whole Rugabe story arc. As the protagonist, we see have to see different sides of Mark to serve the story. In some of these situations it's easy to conclude that Mark is non-confrontational, but he's constantly on the back foot and ill-prepared. Throughout the first season we get to see all the different ways he reacts when he's not had a chance to reflect on the consequences of his actions. He only really shows Helly all the sides of his character, as she's not easy to manage, he has to change tact to keep on top of her. He certainly grows as a character throughout the season and we see his rebellious side inevitably come out towards the end. I think next season we'll see more of the side of him. Great video/ content and as always I can't wait to hear your thoughts.

Big side note but I absolutely love your voice and the aspects of your personality that comes through these videos. This show is so good. It makes me wonder about the brains of the actual writers even more than these characters. Where did this idea come from?! Is this possibly a peek into our own future? lol Anyways, love the work on these videos. You really dissect the show in a way that makes me appreciate the show more than I already do.

This show reminds me of Mr. Robot, one of my fav shows of all time. The cinematography, framing, direction and pacing are similar. I hope this show also keeps getting better and better and becomes as good or even surpasses Mr. Robot. It has too much potential.

To me the whole show boils to one question: When you severence yourself, are your innie and outie two different people or just one who has memories blocked for some hours of the day? Mark is not benefitting anything from his 8 hours without grief a day. When he goes to work, for him the pain starts immediately after he steps to the elevator and then out of it. He doesn't "rest" for the work day, just like his innie doesn't ever leave the workplace. His outie only benefits from the severence if he believes that he is happy while he works. Just like his innie tries to benefit from the affects of his outies sleep time without ever getting to sleep himself. Helly is a brutal change to that: She makes herself to be a compleately different person from her outie. For her the thought of herself enjoing life after work is not enought as she never gets to experience it. And that distrust towards the outie really changes everything in the workplace as it is contagious.

Great analysis! The character development is one of the reasons I love this show. I can’t imagine anyone other than Adam Scott for the role of Mark, which speaks to his amazing delivery. Hope you’re planning on continuing these videos when season 2 rolls around! 😊

I was surprised how much I cared for Mark at the end, and all the others. Im really enjoying all of your severance videos. It feeds my curiosity and i cant wait for season 2!!

I hadn't read or seen anyone else pose the theory about the whole town being part of a larger severance experiment, but that really could explain some things. Especially interesting to me is that they use the state abbreviation PE, which isn't actually a real abbreviation for any US state. It's interesting that there are not just 1, but 2 questions about recalling names of states in the initial orientation interview for newly severed individuals. That does seem to indicate that it's especially important that severed individuals would not question inconsistencies in state names or abbreviations.

I love your videos! They make it easier to wait for S2 😊

I can't wait for season 2 aaaah. You are getting me hyped again haha

Great vid. Idk if I'm board with thinking that the whole town is severed but it would make sense with Rickens friends at least. They seem to have that childish air to them like the innies on the severed floor have. Devin is such an outlier and I can't figure out why she seems to be one of the few stable ones we've seen ( or why she married Ricken in the first place lol ). I've heard the theory that Devin and Mark are related to the "black sheep" Eagon that Irving referred to in the Perpetuity Wing and that somehow their minds were erased from this knowledge. Thoughts?

Great vid as always. Can't wait for season 2. I've just noticed the seperated red and blue fish in Mark's house. Also your voice would massively improve British railway safety videos. I'm sure you could make temporary block working and train protection and warning systems sound interesting rather than inducing an instant coma!

When season 2 comes out will you review each episode as it comes out?

I absolutely agree with you. Season two cannot come fast enough. It’s eating me alive. Keep your videos coming my brother. Thank you.

The fact that Mark has 3 love interests simultaneously now 😭. I love how smoothly it works. Of course it's gonna be between Jemma and Helly. And if he ends up with Helly a lot would have to happen trying to get Jemma back. Anyway I just find that fact so damn funny.

Please do Rebek! Didn’t she say something about needing to change her name again? Separately, I think that Ricken was told that his name was “Rick N.” but misinterpreted it.

I feel like we’re all dancing around the fact that Mark is probably a descendent of the family He was probably drinking / drunk driving/ causing the death of his wife… and let’s just toss in that she was pregnant …for those extra tears & guilts he can’t seem to let go of. Not to say that he wasn’t a target? Maybe the family disagreed with the marriage? Idk about that last part Because clearly he has a sister that would be able to KNOW ‘their ancestry’ And they probably wouldn’t be so poor?😂😂😂

on Mark's desk, he has an Allentown Head Cube. I looked it up and there was an explosion in Allentown in 2011. In the Show Raghabi tells Mark his Innie is 2 years old. I think that implies that the show is set in 2012-13 if the numbers do in fact cause explosions in the real world.

I think it funny My innie coworkers would be all like : “you have alcohol on your breathe and look hung over” And I would be like “ must had a great party last night” My innie coworkers are like : “everyday” ???? The reality is that my outty is an alcoholic!! and he must be functional as well … yikes!!

Hmm. "PE," (the abbreviation for their state, as far we know) Also could stand for Psych Experiment. :/

4:00 I found it interesting how, when he was confronted by Helly & Alexa, with the map from Petey and then talking about how he deals with his "dead" wife Gemma, he ripped up both pictures. 🤔.. Or, well, put one in a shredder and hand shredded the picture of his wife*

If you.would ever sever someone from their own episodic memory, and therefore create a ‘new’. ‘Innie’ you essentially create a new consciousness. We can see that those whom have been severed form ‘’new’ conscious memories within Lumen. It’s a whole new person, subservient and a Tabla Rasa. The severance process is just a whole new way of experimenting w/ consciousness transfer. R.E. The ‘revolving’

After the book release party I'm convinced the outties are also innies. The broken history and the nonsense in the reading shows they have no exposure to the real outside. I dont think it's the alternate timeline theory, it's an alternate "truman show" reality.

After the tragedy of her son's true love dying in a car crash which would explain her interest in Mark recognizing his wife him helping her out and then ultimately realizing because of what the severance was doing after she noticed that Mark was his any outside explains why she traveled so fast to get back to the Egans to save her butt and get back her job she was fired from, so she can keep watching over her son, to the point and manipulation of convincing him that they're on the same team she will reveal that she rescued the love of his life. This would explain why it was so important for her to find that connection between in my opinion her son and the love of his life and that's why it was so important to her so that she could know that love ultimately prevails. And then use the three in an executive position to get all the already rebilled members of the MDR which would increase their army to 6 people with one executive having the power to take over the secret control room to assist all MDR members to escape... just like she did (in my opinion) with Pete to have that tape recording that was smuggled out with Mark's voice from the break room how else could he smuggle it in and out of the severance compound without sensors being connected. Ultimately to fulfill her plan to bring down the Negan family and Severance, especially the Negan family for denying her Birthright because she was 1st born bastard of Helly's father. Ask her if Haley's father raped her and sent to her an orphanage. In killing her mother to hide the truth, that's why the shrine to her mother is a motivation for what he did to her mother in total manipulation to silence the truth. Notice the one man that was willing to kill and ultimately cover up after Mark and the woman that helped him Escape to be silenced. So she sent the only main threat to her plan to intercept the people that she was using for her plan to eliminate the man, Sarah plan cannot be uncovered because that body was never found. Sorry, that was long-winded you'll have to read between the lines using Speech-to-Text but basically. I believe it's a family Revenge by somebody that was a bastard and never accepted as an Eagan. And she will manipulate Mark into anger internally that motivates him that this company killed his wife.... or I could be complete for shit and rambling ramble Ramblin but I think there are some good points in there what do you think? Do you think it boils down to a basic one-sided Revenge story, for the Negan family disowning them? Get ready and put on your tinfoil hat. Her whole plan is to take control of severance with the new generation and negan's and control accomplish by outtie Helly becoming the president in a recognizing mark and Covell true Egan errors in the series ends with all three in charge. Not to destroy the company but to take their true seat on the throne of severance?

Wait, your telling me I get paid to essentially sleep 16 hours a day and the only cost is a version of me gets put into a Sisyphusian hell? Sign me up I hate that guy!

I don't know if you ever put thoughts on a comment I left about Cobel, that I think she is feeling guilty about something that revolves around Mark. Just because she apologises so often to him, especially the one time she threw the cup and said she knew he could handle this and that's why shw did that, I have a suspicion it's about Gemma. Just how she is apologising for all the things in about every scene we have with her, from the noise in the morning, the recycling bin thing, how she is weirdly allowing him to be close to Gemma. This is too consistent in my eyes to not be intentional. Cobel must have wronged Mark in some way.

Christopher Walken’s father’s name is Egan

dude i love your videos very much

Ooh, the whole towns being open testing grounds would go along with what we read in the Lexington letter about the Lumon hiring ad coming on the bus radio. They seem to be pushing the limits of social engineering. If this theory is true, though, I don't see how Mark's sister fits into this. She seems disturbed and confused by the senator's wife not remembering her. However, her husband and all of his friends seem like "innies" and she treats it as not more than a little silly. There's something more to Devon, I think.

Your writing is so engaging, I just want to keep listening 👂

Excellent video. I think it’s the best Mark S analysis I’ve seen so far really enjoyed it and made me appreciate the character and all his layers even more

Mann your voice is relaxing.

Bro the sound at 3:22 scared the living hell out of me Good video :)

Question: Why does Mark change his watch before going up the elevator into work?

Hear me out: Mark S. + beard = Kier

The shot of Helly trying to run through the door while Mark is around the corner waiting was the perfect clip to show alongside what you were saying!

(my) General theory is he was targeted my Lumen. Lumen killed wife, used wife to see if his subconscious can connect the neurons coming from both severed ends. A quality test, from ground zero. Truman Show run by Skynet?!!??!? whatever. None of my friends have finished or even started this first season. RU-vid is my only friend here. #tootiredforreddit

Omggg dats me on the screen ❤

❤❤❤ Love love love your Severance analysis videos. Liked before watching and thoroughly enjoy every one of these character breakdowns as well as the theories/speculations included with each (as well as the little *captions randomly sprinkled throughout) Like you (and undoubtedly so many others) I am still on the edge of my seat waiting for season 2!! 💉 🧠

Yaaay its always a good day when you upload a new video!

I didn’t even catch the tissue part! Makes so much sense I’m definitely gonna need to rewatch the first season just to catch all the subtle details

"Emotional lobotomy"

Hellie is perfect casting.

glad to see more Severance content!

Excellent breakdown of Mark! And I agree 100% with the comparison to him and Truman. He really is Truman! Also, the theory about others on the outside being Severed seems very possible. And more Mark videos please!

Okay so that's my daily conspiracy 10 hat crazy ass Theory but what do we really know but just theories my friend keep up the good work! Would love to hear your thoughts in my incoherent speech to text! Hope to hear from you soon brother keep up the great work! Plan on becoming a patron very soon so you can continue to do this work. Thanks again brother! Love what you're doing!

You do my favorite breakdowns ive found on this series, sorry I'm so late to the party!

The truth is Mark never actually escapes his emotional situation. Every time he is Mark, he is miserable and coping with the death of his wife. He doesn't even get to enjoy the break of having to focus on work. It's almost a bit masochistic. Unless, his wife also worked for Lumen and he wants nothing to do with them and is forced to stay there because there is no where to go?

Just before mark found out his wives still alive they were hunting a missing baby so the people around mark will think he was just talking about the baby being alive ?? Why no one noticed this

Love everything you're doing man's so happy to see you're back. I love how you are expanding upon theories and reusing each character with a Grayson effort of intellectual insight. I'm telling you brother you definitely how the finger on the pulse of everything to the point where the Riders don't want you to know. Like the goats, "Mel Cech"(I know that was spelled wrong...but...fuck it 😂) and I truly agree with your theory that "Harmony Cobel" is an " Eagan", I would like to add the eat she is a bastard or an illegitimate child of the Eagan family, at some point gave birth to "Mark S". After

HAAA! The music before she swings her bat tickled me!!!

Can’t believe you only get ~2k views. This channel is amazing

I just said to myself novelist files be taking some deep dives and then the lightbulb with all the aha moment I was like oh my God how embarrassing but I get it now

"In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength" - Iroh

When Mark walked in and threw the tissue away no alarms went off. That implies that Helly could have gotten away with any message she was trying to get out. Also that clip that they are implanted with looks identical to the "V-chip" they were putting in volunteers in California years ago.

Love how you give us a chance to use the chicken exit before the spoilers start

Just watched the show. Amazing! My question that no one is asking: why does Mark change his watch when he gets to work? That’s seems like such an odd thing. It must have a meaning/significance.

Very well written. Fine job.

but Cobel gets in trouble with the board for being too close to Mark? In regards to the theory at the end

I'm currently watching Parks and Recreational, based on recommendations. I usually avoid sitcoms. Adam Scott. Was Mark written specifically with him in mind? Severance is almost his private sequel

Saw a new video of yours today (then went back to watch this and others I missed) and realized when I clicked on it immediately that I oughta become a patron lol. Thanks for pumping out some really great Severance discussion videos and keeping me sane until season 2. You also have a really great conversational quality to your scripts--not trying to make it parasocial or anything, but it definitely feels more like chatting with a bud about theories and stuff and I dig that. Keep it up!

I just finished this show a couple of weeks ago, and just finished it the second time this week. Your channel is awesome, thanks for giving me something to occupy my time while waiting for season 2!

I was waiting for this video, it is shorter than I expected, but I see that you are waiting to be deeper in certain things in other videos, im excited to wath them.

Best severance content on RU-vid thank you !!!

Sunday made that much more perfect! Awesome!

Fantastic videos

the "escape" part makes no sense to me since he will not remember the break. Actually he will feel worse since hes exhausted most of the time. Maybe its because he gets to sleep most of his free time?!