Although many aspects of Gemma’s characterization inSeveranceseem unknown after season 1, the show drops enough clues surrounding Mark’s wife’s identity and significance to make room for myriad theories. Ms. Casey (later revealed to be Mark’s wife, Gemma) almost comes off as a secondarycharacter in Severance season 1’s initial moments because of her limited screen time. Since theApple TV+ sci-fi show’s season 1 does not reveal Mark’s wife’s face until its last few episodes, it is hard not to wonder what role Ms. Casey plays in the overarching story.
However, whenSeverancefinally uncovers some details surrounding Mark’s innie’s past and reveals the truth about his outie’s wife, the mystery surrounding her fate in the outside world and her innie, Ms. Casey, becomes the key to theorizing what Lumon is up to.Severanceseason 1’s endingleaves viewers with more questions than answers. However, it clearly establishes that the “Ms. Casey reveal” will tie into the larger narrative of Lumon’s purpose with the severance procedure.
Severance Season 1, Episode 7 Revealed That Mark’s Wife Gemma Is Actually Alive & Works At Lumon As Ms. Casey
Mark’s Innie Seems To Know Nothing About His Outie’s Wife’s Identity Until Episode 7
From its early episodes itself,Severanceseason 1 reveals thatMark got himself severed after his wife’s death. He believed that forgetting about his life in the outside world for a significant chunk of his days helped him deal with the grief surrounding his wife’s demise. However, season 1’s episode 7 hints that there is more to Gemma and Mark’s story than meets the eye when it finally reveals a picture of Mark’s wife. After featuring a sequence where Mark gets drunk and tears his wife’s photo to show Alexa he is over her, the show briefly zooms in on Gemma’s picture.
Severance: Who Petey Was & How He Really Died
Petey was one of the most interesting characters at the beginning of Severance, but he unfortunately passed away very early into the series.
With this,Severanceseason 1 episode 7’s ending confirms that even though Mark believes his wife is dead, she is actually the counselor, Ms. Casey, from Lumon. Mark’s outie, of course, does not know this because he has no memories of what happens inside the Lumon office. However, things take an intriguing turn towards the end ofSeveranceseason 1 when Mark’s innie gets activated outside through the Overtime Contingency Protocol and learns the truth about his wife’s identity.
Why Lumon Industries Faked Gemma’s Death
Little Seems To Known About Lumon’s Motives & Gemma’s Outie’s Condition
Gemma’s innie, Ms. Casey, barely shows any emotions and almost sounds robotic when she conducts wellness sessions with the employees. This suggests she has no memories of the outside world and only knows how to carry out her job in Lumon. Although she shows some semblance of feelings inSeveranceseason 1’s episode 8 when Mark empathizes with her during a wellness session, she is not like other severed employees. While others seemingly retain many aspects of their outie’s personality and seem human,Gemma’s appears a little too one-dimensional.
The fact that Ms. Casey has no scars from her outie’s accident raises many questions about whether she is the same person as Mark’s Gemma.
Even though Ms. Casey claims to have spent 107 hours alive in Lumon, Helly has way more depth to her personality in her first few minutes at Lumon. This makes it hard not to believe that Lumon not just merely faked Gemma’s death and severed her but alsomade her go through an entirely different recruitment procedure. Gemma’s story suggests she died after a major accident involving a head-on collision with a tree. The fact that Ms. Casey has no scars from her outie’s accident raises many questions about whether she is the same person as Mark’s Gemma.
Ms. Casey, whose outie is Gemma Scout, seems to be the only Lumon worker whose innie and outie have different names.
During Mark and Ms. Casey’s wellness session in season 1’s episode 8, Milchik and Cobel watch them from a distance and find it surprising that they remember nothing about each other from the outside world. Their reaction seems to confirm that, like Mark, Helly, Irving, and Dylan, Ms. Casey, too, should have her outie’s memories stored in an inaccessible part of her brain. However, her extreme social awkwardness and blank demeanor hint she is nothing like the other severed workers.
What Ms. Casey Being A “Part Time” Employee At Lumon Industries Means
She Could Be Working In Two Different Lumon Departments
Ms. Casey’s “part-timer” status could be hinting at how she is different from the other severed employees. She probably went through an entirely different process before she became an employee and, unlike others,may not even have an outie. As a part-timer, Ms. Casey could also be shifting between two different departments at the Lumon office. She probably spends half her time as the counselor and the remaining hours on her shift on another floor. This could also mean that instead of having an innie and an outie, she has two innies, switching back and forth between two roles at Lumon.
How Mark Discovered That Gemma Is Actually Ms. Casey
His Innie Learns About His Outie’s Life Through The Overtime Contingency Protocol
AsSeveranceseason 1 progresses, Mark, Irving, Helly, and Dylan gradually grow resentful towards Lumon and try to find new ways to resist its control over their lives. Dylan, too, reaches his breaking point when Milchick uses the Overtime Contingency Protocol to find out where he hid a card he stole from the O&D department. After Milchick uses the protocol on Dylan, allowing Dylan’s innie to be activated in the outside world, Dylan’s innie ends up seeing his outie’s son.
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After returning to Lumon the next day, Dylan’s innie tells the others about the protocol, and they set out to use it to blow the whistle on Lumon. While Dylan stays behind to implement the protocol, Helly, Mark, and Irving head out, hoping their innies will kick in. The protocol works andMark’s innie eventually spots a picture of his wife in his sister’s home. Moments before the protocol ends, Mark rushes out to the living room of his sister’s home, screaming that his wife is alive.
Why Cobel Sends “Gemma” To The “Testing Floor” At The End Of Severance Season 1
Among The MDR Workers, Only Irving’s Outie Seems To Know About The Testing Floor
When Ms. Casey tells Mark about her retirement inSeveranceseason 1’s finale, he assumes Lumon has fired her and apologizes for landing her in trouble. However, instead of getting a farewell like Burt Goodman and being sent outside permanently, Casey gets transferred to the testing floor in an elevator. Little is known about the testing floor afterSeveranceseason 1’s events, but, strangely, Irving’s outie keeps painting the dark corridor and the elevator that leads one to it.
One common theory is that Lumon is testing a cloning technology on the testing floor, and Ms. Casey was created through it.
Something sinister is probably happening on the testing floor, which would explain why Irving’s outie is so deadset on exposing it. He probably keeps drawing it becausehe hopes that elements of his memory will permeate into his innie’s mind. His plan also works to some degree, given how his innie gets random visions of black paint creeping up on him in the Lumon office.
One popular theory is that Lumon is testing a cloning technology on the testing floor, and Ms. Casey was created through it. Since she seemingly failed her test of fitting in with human innies inSeveranceseason 1, she was sent back to where she was created. Another theory suggests that Gemma somehow survived the accident and is being kept alive on the testing floor. This would explain why Cobel warns Helly’s innie that Lumon will keep Mark and the others alive and make them suffer if she exposes the company.
Severance
Severance is a psychological thriller series featuring Adam Scott as Mark Scout, an employee at Lumon Industries who undergoes a “severance” procedure to separate his work and personal memories. However, as work and life personas mysteriously begin to collide, it quickly becomes clear that not all is as it seems. Created by Dan Erickson and directed by Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle.
