It’s been a long vacation, but it’s time to get back to work at Lumon Industries asSeverancehas finally returned forSeason 2. The series is known for building suspense in the workplace unlike anythingon TV right now, thanks to the unique work dynamics implemented at Lumon, like the severance procedure. Another of those is the Overtime Contingency Protocol,a dangerous measure that the innies from Macrodata Refinement learn about at the end ofSeason 1, prompting a great cliffhanger right as the season ends and hinting at disastrous consequences for the company.
The Overtime Contingency Protocol Can Activate an Innie Outside Lumon Premises
Theseverance procedureconsists of implanting a “severance chip” inside a new hire’s brain, splitting them into two different personas. The outie is the original inhabitant of the body, who gets to enjoy a life without experiencing weekday working hours, while the innie is a persona created by the procedure, who only experiences life at work. Upon arriving at Lumon premises,the outiecrosses a thresholdon their way to the severed floor, which puts the innie in control, and this is reversed when it’s time for an employee to leave.
The change from outie into innie and vice versa is spatially dictated, meaning itonly happens at Lumon. However,the Overtime Contingency is so far the only known protocol that can activate an innie outside the severed floor. The regular procedure requires at least two people, with the commands to activate OTC located at the security office on the severed floor. After a specific command sequence is inserted into the computer, two switches that are across the doorway from each other must be held down, requiring either someone who is able to do it themselves, or two different people to do it, while at least one other person supervises what happens to the innies outside.
Once activated,OTC directly affects the severance chip, triggering the switch from outie to innie even outside Lumon. This poses a huge risk, and this protocol should only be triggered with a lot of planning and preparation to avoid any complications, including constant supervision of the innies and monitoring by the severed floor’s supervisor, Ms. Cobel (Patricia Arquette). Of course, that’s not how it happens when the OTC is triggered in Season 1.
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“Hey, kids! What’s for dinner?”
OTC Is a Dangerous Measure and Only for Last Case Scenarios
InSeveranceSeason 1, the OTC is triggered twice: first in Episode 6, “Hide and Seek,” and then in the finale, “The We We Are.” In “Hide and Seek,“Seth Milchick(Tramell Tillman) activates the protocol at Dylan G.’s (Zach Cherry) outie’s house to inquire about a stolen ideographic card that Dylan took from the Optics & Design department.Milchick’s plan goes awry when Dylan’s outie’s son enters the closet, revealing that he is a father. Milchick has help from an unseen Lumon employee to activate the OTC, however, and does so without Ms. Cobel’s knowledge.
The second time OTC is activated is after Cobel is fired from Lumon, leaving Milchik temporarily by himself to keep the severed floor operational.The Macrodata Refinement employees conceive a planthat involves Dylan locking himself inside the security office and pressing both switches simultaneously, while Mark S. (Adam Scott), Helly R. (Britt Lower), and Irving B.’s (John Turturro) innies are activated outside. Dylan isn’t able to hold it for long, especially once Milchick finds out and breaks into the security office, but, when he does, the damage has already been done.
This shows that OTC is actually a last resort, a protocol that should only be activated when no other option remains.Milchick’s sloppy management of the OTC revealssensitive informationto Dylan’s innie, including that he has a son and the existence of the protocol itself. The security office on the severed floor being so easy to access is also a huge risk, given how an innie can stumble upon it as easily as Mark and Helly stumble upon the strange goat room. Seeing how Milchick is already referencing a “severance reform” taking place as the result of the innies' actions, the consequences of the OTC being triggered in the finale are probably disastrous for Lumon, meaning that access to this protocol will likely be much harder for any innie that may want to try and activate it.
SeveranceSeason 2 is available to stream on Apple TV+ in the U.S. New episodes air on Fridays.
Mark leads a team of office workers whose memories have been surgically divided between their work and personal lives. When a mysterious colleague appears outside of work, it begins a journey to discover the truth about their jobs.
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