the second season of “Severance,” Mark (Adam Scott) has arrived at a special cabin room that presents him with a strange and rare opportunity. While inside the cabin room, Mark is his “innie,” that is, he only has memories of working inside the bleakly corporate basement of Lumon. He has no memories of his life outside of Lumon. Then, when he steps through the door out to the balcony, Mark reverts to being his “outie,” that is, he only has memories of his ordinary life and can’t remember anything that occurs inside the walls of Lumon. Although Mark is merely swapping back and forth between two sets of memories, the bifurcation has led Lumon employees to think of themselves as two different people.
Outie Mark, by that point in the series, has discovered that his presumed-dead wife Gemma (Dichen Lachman) is actually alive and being held captive inside a Lumon sub-basement. To free her, though, Outie Mark must convince Innie Mark to help. Innie Mark, as one might suspect, is reluctant. Because he has no memories of Gemma, he has little at stake in rescuing her. Also, Innie Mark has developed feelings for his co-worker Helly (Britt Lower), and leaving Lumon would essentially end his life.
Thanks to the balcony at the cabin, Mark’s two halves can communicate. Outie Mark records a message on a camcorder while sitting on the balcony, and then steps inside, where Innie Mark takes control and watches the message. Innie Mark then records his rebuttal and steps outside, where Outie Mark watches. It’s the easiest way for Mark to talk to Mark.
Scott spoke with EW recently, and he described that scene as immensely weird. He found that, while rehearsing the scene and nailing the technical aspects of playing two characters, Scott would have to pause to note that “Severance” is a very strange program.
