I Still Can't Stop Thinking About 'Severance's Most WTF Scene

The premiere of Severance Season 2 this week has left me contemplating some of the strangest moments from Season 1. As the workers of Microdata Refinement prepare to enact their grand plan of utilizing the Overtime Contingency Protocol to expose the secrets of the severed floor to the outside world in the episode titled “What's for Dinner?”, Dylan (Zach Cherry) partakes in his end-of-the-quarter reward: a waffle party. Said party takes place in the Perpetuity Wing of the severed floor of Lumon Industries, in the replica home of Lumon's founder, Kier Eagan. While the prize for being number one in your division for the quarter does indeed include a plate of waffles, it also includes a surreal, seemingly sexual encounter with four masked strangers meant to represent Kier's “Four Tempers,” which we first saw depicted in a painting in Episode 2, “Half Loop.” The real kicker is that the winner is required to wear a mask modeled after Kier Eagan’s face while indulging in the experience.

Nothing Could Have Prepared Me for 'Severance's Waffle Party

While the illustrious waffle party was teased various times in Season 1, nothing could have prepared me for what it entailed. Although a room full of goats in a corporate office building should have convinced me to expect the unexpected, the waffle party is easily the most bizarre moment in Severance thus far. Everything Kier-related within the Lumon banner definitely operates under a cultlike mindset, so why not have sexual encounters steeped in Kier lore to make it work appropriate? Maybe that's why scenes from the waffle party are intercut with Harmony Cobel’s (Patricia Arquette) rage-fueled outburst after being fired from Lumon, but the whole scene made me feel completely uneasy.

Nothing is more comforting than a cryptic message left on the plate of the delicious breakfast treat you just ate, right? It might have been the eerie score, the bust of Kier staring right at Dylan as he enjoyed his waffle, or the erotic Four Tempers cosplayers, but everything about this scene feels so nervewracking. Maybe the masks invoke the fear I had when I first watched The Strangers, or maybe I'm just not into corporate-mandated sexy time. Not to mention, with Dylan bailing before things get going, we are left with no idea how this encounter would even play out, nor if every waffle party plays out the exact same way. It raises so many questions in this regard — who else at Lumon has experienced a waffle party? How many times have they experienced them? Why does it seem so normal? Why was Dylan so excited about this? These are questions that I doubt will earn answers, making this scene even more mysterious and freaky.

Waffle Parties Serve a Greater Purpose in 'Severance'

In an interview with Variety, Severance creator Dan Erickson explained that the waffle party is another way for Lumon to create the perfect work-life balance. Since the outie version of a severed worker is likely to have sexual experiences, so should their innie. A waffle party is where the audience gets a front row seat to what sex looks like on the severed floor — at least, sex that is condoned by the powers that be. While the company forbids any sort of intimacy or romance between coworkers, this provides an outlet for their employees in the strangest way possible, and all in reverence for Kier Eagan. Erickson also stated that the idea of the waffle party started off as a joke — a joke turned into reality that will forever be seared into the fabric of my brain. Thanks, Severance!

All of this connects back to Lumon’s religious, cult-like tendencies, including the cat o’ nine tails placed next to the mask of Kier on his bed, the tassels of which are labeled with Lumon's Core Principles — Vision, Verve, Wit, Cheer, Humility, Benevolence, Nimbleness, Probity, and Wiles. These attributes were all apparently portrayed in Kier, which every Lumon employee is expected to adhere to, in order to honor the legacy of the founder through the work of his company. The placement of the flogger seems to insinuate that Dylan may have had the option to beat the Core Principles into the Four Tempers as an act of pleasure — if he'd stuck around to finish his waffle party, that is. Not to kink shame, but that’s some twisted fantasy to play out during work hours.

Season 2 of Severance premieres January 17. Catch up on Season 1 on Apple TV+ in the U.S.

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