One Line in Severance Just Changed Everything We Know About Lumon
Could one of the series' foundational relationships be hiding a dark secret?
Severance has always explored the disparity between the innie and outie versions of its severed characters. Helly is smart-mouthed and headstrong, while Helena is poised and a powerful executive. Innie Dylan is enamored with his wife, while outie Dylan is content in his hum-drum suburban life. However, Irving seems very similar in his innie and outie worlds, both suspicious of Lumon’s true intentions.
In Season 2 Episode 6, we got a glimpse of another Outie’s life: Burt, the O&D employee Irving had a relationship with on the severed floor. After the Overtime Contingency brought the two together on the outside, Burt invited Irving to dinner with his husband, Fields (John Noble). The dinner party was about as awkward as you’d imagine, but it revealed some key information about Burt — including a throwaway line that may throw his whole character into question.
Spoilers ahead for Severance Season 2 Episode 6, “Attila”!
A slip-up from Fields may have ruined Burt’s entire plan.
During the dinner, Burt and Fields explain why they call each other “Attila.” Burt says it started 10 years ago, but Fields corrects him, saying, “And it wasn't 10 years ago. It was 20, because I remember we were having drinks with your Lumon partner.” Burt quickly corrects him, saying the severed procedure only started 12 years ago.
As Irving is leaving the dinner, Burt apologizes for Fields’ behavior, saying, “He gets fuzzy. Like saying I worked at Lumon 20 years ago, which is, of course, before severance even existed.”
His insistence to correct what Fields was saying is incredibly suspect. Is Fields actually correct, meaning Burt did in fact work for Lumon before severance was even invented? If that’s true, then Burt’s outie actively chose to participate in Lumon’s agenda — and could still be doing so today.
Burt’s dinner party invitation may have been a ploy by Burt, still working for Lumon as an Outie.
In fact, we may have seen a glimpse of Burt’s ulterior motives at work. While Irving’s at dinner, we see Mr. Drummond (identified by his “frolic” hand tattoo) rummaging through Burt’s things, including documents of Lumon’s severed employees.
Even the smallest elements of the dialogue lend credence to this theory, because even if Fields got his years mixed up, why would they have drinks with Burt’s Lumon partner if he was severed? Why would Lumon, a company that goes to extreme lengths to hide what really goes on within the severed floors, tell Burt he was explicitly retired because of an “unsanctioned, erotic entanglement with another worker?”
Once you begin to think of Burt’s outie as a malignant presence, it’s hard to see him as anything else. He says he agreed to become a severed employee as a way to get a fresh start and a chance to get into heaven, but is that just a story to make him seem noble? He really could be the embodiment of Lumon’s evil intentions all along.
