Warning: the following contains SPOILERS for Severance.
Severance protagonist Mark Scout, during his wellness check, confirms the theory that innies and outies are still connected via the subconscious mind. During Mark's wellness check-in Severance season 1, episode 4 “The You You Are,” severed floor boss Harmony Cobell instructs Casey, the counselor, to light a scented candle that was made by Mark's late wife. Casey then tells Mark to sculpt out his feelings, resulting in Mark's hands forming a tree. The tree represents the location where Mark's wife died, which Mark's outie only recently visited prior to the wellness check. In short, olfactory triggers can cause innies to somehow access outie memories, potentially undermining the very purpose of the severance chip.
It's no surprise that the severance chip isn't working exactly as intended. From the strange work that the Macrodata Refinement Department performs on a daily basis, to the fact that refiners actually have no idea what they're doing, it's implied that the entire severed floor is part of some huge secret corporate experiment. However, while Lumon Industries' real purpose is shrouded in mystery, what's clear is that the tech giant's proprietary severance chip has a key weakness that can be very easily exploited.
Severance, through Mark's tiny clay sculpture of a tree, reveals that the memories of severed employees aren't perfectly bifurcated. Scents are apparently enough to trigger leaks between innie and outie memories – suggesting that a variety of other sensory inputs can trigger similar leaks as well. In fact, innies are only allowed access to a highly limited assortment of the most basic foods – likely part of Lumon's attempts to prevent taste-based inputs from triggering outie memories while employees are at work. Moreover, this policing of sensory triggers could also be connected to why Lumon Industries uses unique retro technology on the severed floor, as the mid-century retrofuturistic look of the office is a lot less likely to trigger any outie memories related to modern technology.
Indeed, olfactory triggers that cause innies to connect with outie memories are just the start of Lumon's problems. As Helly's innie is determined to resign or somehow escape the severed floor, it's only a matter of time before Helly figures out that random sensory inputs could potentially overcome the programming of the severance chip. Whatever the outies of the macrodata refiners are hiding from their innies, it could all begin to unravel at the presence of just one familiar smell.
Severance certainly excels at keeping fans in the dark about what's really happening in the small basement departments of Lumon Industries. However, as the severance chip is apparently not entirely foolproof, the truth might be well within the grasp of Lumon's severed employees. If a smell or scent doesn't trigger the unraveling of Lumon's deep, dark secrets, it could be a familiar sight, sound, taste, or touch that finally does the trick.
Severance releases new episodes Fridays on Apple TV+.
