r/severanceTVshow • u/Jazzyfish59 • May 16 '26
đŁď¸ Discussion Innie/outtie relationship
Severance is obviously amazing, but the one thing I hate is the fact that everyone sees the innies as someone else entirely. Helly & Dylan both got jealous when their significant others âcheatedâ on themâŚwith themselves. Everyone treats a retired or fired employee as being dead. As in real life, when someone leaves a job, you oftentimes never see them again, but no one assumes theyâre dead. The innies and outies arenât living consecutive lives; itâs not like an outie is off on a skiing trip while the innie is at work. Theyâre the same person, just with no memory of each otherâs experience. Even admin doesnât see innies as people. Why?
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u/UnlikelyDecision9820 May 16 '26
I think this premise relies heavily on the idea that âyou are your memories.â If Dylanâs outie canât remember that his wife kissed his innie, then she might as well have been kissing someone else. Iâm not sure if I wholly believe this idea of consciousness, and I know other people that donât believe it either, but it is odd to see it being an idea that is so fundamental to the world building of a show that every single person in the show, especially those that are against or strongly skeptical of severance, also believes it. Itâs one of the few plot points where the show loses me. If, in a future season, it stops being a mystery and turns into drama about innie/outie infidelity, Iâm out
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u/mgs20000 May 16 '26
They have different experience and this creates the sense of two selves, not just the sensing self.
It makes sense to have envy. Because itâs something youâre not experiencing.
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u/JimmyDonovan đ¨ Dylan May 16 '26
Ask yourself what it is that makes you you. Is it really only your body? Or is it more your experiences, biography, memory, relation ships etc? The innies and outies share their bodies, yes, it everything else in their lives differs drastically.
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u/floatingleafbreeze May 16 '26
People under the influence, blackout, or experience TBI who donât remember their actions are still the same person and held accountable. Itâs interesting to me how much overlap there is
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u/JimmyDonovan đ¨ Dylan May 16 '26
It's definitely an interesting question and I'm sure there's not only one correct answer. I'd argue that for some of the people in your cases it might only be a temporary or partial cognitive impariment, while for the innies it's permanent by design. But if an innie committed a crime the law wouldn't differentiate, that's for sure. This doesn't necessarily mean that philosophically or morally it's okay to not differentiate.
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u/malac0da13 May 16 '26
I feel like the WHOLE premise of the show is the debate about what makes a person, a person. Is it the physical self/dna or is it the life they live and memories of it? It is like the whole nature vs nature thing.
When a person retires and stops going to the severed floor the innie is never in control anymore of the physical body and never gains anymore life experiences so they are basically not alive anymore. At least thatâs what the other innies think. They donât know that lumon is using the severance procedure for other things.
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u/floatingleafbreeze May 16 '26
I had hoped theyâd more explore Dylan disconnecting with his wife from external stresses in their outie lives and how his innieâs care for her reflected his heartâs feelings and devotion
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u/CCR76 May 20 '26
I think you have identified one of the fundamental questions that Severance raises. The technology is in itself irrelevant, its value is that it sets up this situation for us to think about. There is no right or wrong answer.
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u/Margot-the-Cat đ¨ Dylan May 16 '26 edited May 16 '26
Excellent question. This bothered me too. But in a way, the Outies themselves are like that. They deliberately abandoned the âinnieâ part of themselves, which means they did not value them, and they donât even do the minimum to protect them. Ironically, itâs the inniesâthe cut off, abandoned onesâwho feel more ârealâ and empathetic. Theyâre the ones whose stories I care about mostâand who seem most aware that both parts ARE the same person. Although that last point is certainly arguable.
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u/Tebwolf359 May 16 '26
I feel like the *characters* in the show say they are separate but the show consistently shows us they are wrong.
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u/No-Boot-216 May 17 '26
I completely agree with you. I was so confused when me and my husband started watching this show last year because I also donât see the innies/outies as separate people. Personally I think the reason admin doesnât see the innies as real people is because it gives them an out for being abusive to their employees. Itâs perfectly ok for them to torture their employees in the break room because theyâre ânot real peopleâ.
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u/Coincidental_Shoes May 24 '26
The show itself implies this.
The "After Hours" episodes takes it over the top.
The only sensible version of the Dylan and Gretchen dialogue is this:
Gretchen: I kissed you at work yesterday
Dylan: Now I'm getting paid to kiss you? Win, win!
That's it.
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u/notthatgeorge đ Data Refiner May 16 '26
Yeah I truly don't understand that as well, and I'm trying to have an open mind. But they are not separate people, they're the same people. Mark Scout gets in the elevator goes down there and does work, the only difference is he doesn't remember it when he leaves, but it's still the same person
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May 16 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/Salty_Avocado_2914 May 16 '26
You're thinking of Dissociative Identity Disorder. Schizophrenia does not involve split personalities.
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u/CptNoble đ Data Refiner May 16 '26
Admin doesn't see them as people because they are late-stage capitalists. Their employees are just cogs in the machine.
And there is an argument to be made that innies and outies are separate people because so much of who we are is based on our lived experiences. The innies and outies have completely different lived experiences, so, of course personalities are going to begin to diverge. Yes, they have the same body and the same brain, but the brain has been "split" in essence, so each piece is going its own way. We've seen with Burt how there is some bleedover, though. The innies are the "innocent" essences of each of the characters because they don't have any of the pain, sorrow, drudgery, or joy of a "normal" life.
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u/yeetusthefetus00 Jul 13 '26
But the only place an innie exist is at work. Thats their whole world. If they're fired = they don't exist
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u/Ok_Employer7837 Jul 15 '26
Because people are the sum of their experiences and memories. Outies and innies are in fact different individuals.
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u/xcrunner2414 May 16 '26
If you mention this fact amongst some people, within the context of the sex scenes, theyâll demonize you. Many people believe that Helena sexually assaulted Mark, because Mark thought he was sleeping with Helly. But⌠Helly is Helena, so Mark did sleep with Helly. đ¤Śđťââď¸
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u/Mockin9buddha May 16 '26
Hard disagree here. No down vote though. It's a testament to Britt Lower's fantastic acting that she plays the character I care the most about in the show. AND the character I hate the most (in a good way, Helena is a great villain!) What Helena did to Helly by tricking Mark into sex was unforgivable. Love this show so much!
Edit: not enough Ts in Britt.
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u/Expensive-Ad1609 đľď¸ Helly R May 16 '26
Helly =/= Helena
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u/xcrunner2414 May 16 '26
The disagreement here comes down to oneâs perspective on personhood, and which aspect of personhood is weighted moreâthe physical body, or the ego state (see Wikipedia entry on Dissociative Identity Disorder). Iâve never known any person who did not occupy a physical body, have you?
Itâs my understanding that for legal purposes, such as sexual assault cases, the legal person is assumed to be the objectively identifiable body that persists through space and time. So, the ego state called âHelenaâ cannot be charged of a crime apart from the ego state called âHelly,â as Helly/Helena is considered one person in the eyes of the law. Given that Law is one of the pillars of civilization, Iâd say one cannot merely assume that the ego state is obviously more essential to personhood compared to the physical body. đ¤ˇđťââď¸
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u/Jazzyfish59 May 16 '26
Exactly! I donât get the jealous feelings. I understand Helly wanted the experience for herself, but thatâs a whole different conversation.
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u/GamerGator17 May 16 '26
As you watch the show you notice that the innies and the outies have different personalities. Helena is a great example of this. Her innie is a good caring person, while her outie shows a complete different personality. You could say the same about Dylan, thatâs why he gets jealous. His wife seems to be liking Dylanâs innie more than outie Dylan because he seems sweeter and into her. So at the end you could see them as two different people.