'Severance's Latest Episode Just Confirmed the Season's Biggest Timeline Question

As Severance made a triumphant return with its second season last week, Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman) reveals to Mark S. (Adam Scott) that it's apparently been five months since the now-dubbed "Macrodat Uprising," where the Macrodata Refinement team tried to expose Lumon and their treatment of severed employees, and that he and his friends have become world-famous as the faces of "severance reform." However, in this week's episode, “Goodbye, Mrs. Selvig,” we finally see the outies' perspective of what took place after MDR enacted the overtime contingency to topple their oppressors, which confirms it's actually been less than a week since the events of the Season 1 finale transpired. But why did Lumon lie about all of this to the innies?

Why Did Lumon Lie About How Much Time Has Passed in 'Severance' Season 2?

As Episode 2 reveals, the stunt pulled by MDR results in both Dylan G. (Zach Cherry) and Irving B. (John Turturro) being fired from Lumon, with Mark being the only team member that Milchick attempts to coax back to work. Dylan has difficulty acclimating to life outside Lumon, and he is even turned down in an interview for a new job because he is severed, revealing that this supposed newfound fame the innies have gained was another deception. Lumon has the advantage of being able to deceive their severed employees, knowing for certain that their outies will never know what occurs while they are at work. As Milchick reveals, the new MDR hires in Season 2, Episode 1, "Hello, Ms. Cobel," had been brought in within a span of 48 hours so that Mark S. could continue his important and mysterious work — but things hit a snag when Mark refuses to do any more work without his former co-workers by his side. Episode 2 confirms that the original MDR team has been brought back in order so that Mark will complete a file ominously named "Cold Harbor," which Lumon is already stressing the importance of.

As the MDR team is reunited in a new and improved Break Room, they are shown a claymation orientation video, narrated by the one and only Keanu Reeves, which claims that the Macrodat Uprising has brought about change for severed workers. Of course, this is a tactic Lumon is partly wielding to instill appreciation in the MDR workers in order to convince them to stay and, by extension, motivate Mark to complete his work on Cold Harbor. The lies, the new Break Room, approving Mark's request for his team to be returned — not to mention the 20% pay raise Milchick promises to Mark's outie — are all in the hopes of guaranteeing Mark's continuing efforts on this mysterious file.

Mark Is the Key To Accomplishing Lumon's Goals in 'Severance' Season 2

Mark's outie seems to be starting to entertain the possibility that his late wife, Gemma (Dichen Lachman), is still alive, as the episode's final moments suggest. However, his innie seems very content with his work life as long as he is surrounded by his friends — most importantly, Helly R. (Britt Lower), even though there's an increasing possibility that this could be Helena Eagan cosplaying as her innie self to make sure Mark completes the Cold Harbor file. This episode even shows Helena stating that Lumon needs Mark in order to finish Cold Harbor, adding more fuel to the fire that she has infiltrated the severed floor as her CEO counterpart. While it's obvious Helly R. has feelings for Mark, Helena's intense study of their interactions and the long look she gives him as he enters the Lumon building could be a sign of her attempting to understand her innie's perspective.

While the meaning of Cold Harbor remains a mystery for now, Mark seems to be the key to its completion. The premiere's cryptic ending confirms a connection to Gemma, aka Ms. Casey, in some shape or form. The bond between Mark and Gemma seems to be the secret ingredient Lumon needs to see this project to the end, which is immensely heartbreaking knowing Mark initially underwent the severance procedure to escape his grief. Now, his innie is not only continuing his search for his outie's wife in the mysterious halls of the severed floor, but even his number-crunching work has some strange association with Gemma.

New episodes of Severance Season 2 are available to stream every Friday on Apple TV+.

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