Warning! This article contains spoilers for Severance season 2, episode 3.
Severanceseason 2, episode 3 revisited the concept of Reintegration, providing more details about how exactly the process works. A core member ofSeverance’s ensemble castin the early episodes of season 1 was Yul Vazquez as Petey, a former severed employee from Lumon.Petey revealed the concept of Reintegration inSeverance, which is a procedure severed employees can undergo to reverse the effects of the chip that separates people’s work and personal memories.
This blurred the lines between Petey’sInnie and Outie inSeverance, allowing the character to remember elements from inside work when he was not in Lumon’s offices. Given the many mysteries presented bySeveranceseason 1’s ending, such as Mark’s supposedly dead wife Gemma actually being alive, the concept of Reintegration is brought up once more in season 2.Severanceseason 2, episode 3 ends with Mark agreeing to undergo the Reintegration process to allow his Innie to remember Gemma, with the sequence detailing more about how exactly it works.
Dr. Reghabi’s Process For Reintegrating Severed & Non-Severed Minds Explained
The Process Is A Complicated Mix Of Science Fiction
In the final sequence ofSeveranceseason 2, episode 3, Reghabi straps Mark up to several oscilloscopes that monitor his brain waves. On two different oscilloscopes, the five brain waves of his Innie and Outie respectively are shown on different frequencies. The waves are unaligned, indicating Mark’s two personalities that have been separated by his severance chip. Reghabi begins the Reintegration process by holding up a tool of some sort to Mark’s head, asking him personal questions like his mother’s name, whether he loves her, and something he feels shame for.
Reghabi begins asking Mark more general questions, such as the name of a dam, but also what MDR means, known by his Innie asSeverance’s Macrodata Refinement work for Lumon. Mark does not know the answer, nor does he know where he was born or what his first memory was. This coincides with flashes of Mark S lying on a table in Lumon, just as Helly R was shown doing inSeveranceseason 1, episode 1. The episode ends with Mark’s two brain waves snapping together as several cuts between his Innie and Outie are shown, indicating his Reintegration.
What The Side-Effects Are For Reintegration
Petey’s Severance Season 1 Journey Outlined The Dangers Of The Process
BeforeSeveranceseason 2, episode 3, Mark was shown to be wary of Reintegration due to the intense side effects it caused Petey in season 1. Mark only agrees to the process once Reghabi tells him that Gemma is alive and that she has somewhat perfected Reintegration in a way that will hopefully prevent these side effects. However, it is still worth exploring what Petey experienced during his so-called Reintegration Sickness in case the same effects befall Mark inSeveranceseason 2’s future episodes.
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InSeveranceseason 1, Petey’s first Reintegration side effects began as hallucinations. Just asSeveranceseason 2, episode 3’s ending rapidly flicked between Mark’s Innie and Outie life, this also happened to Petey. However, Reghabi insisted that Petey did not follow the protocol to overcome Reintegration Sickness, meaning the flashes for Mark are likely normal. Where Petey was concerned, the character could not differentiate between his actual life and his memories of Lumon.
This caused Petey to suffer from other side effects, from dizziness, confusion, and lapses in memory to more physical reactionslike severe headaches and nosebleeds. Eventually, the side effects of Reintegration proved too much for Petey’s mind to handle, leading to his death inSeveranceseason 1, episode 3.
What Mark’s Reintegration Means For Severance Season 2’s Story
Mark’s Journey Will Likely Be Changed Forever
Knowing what happened with Petey’s Reintegration, the natural question now is what is in store for Mark’sSeveranceseason 2 story after undergoing the same process. This could mean that Mark’s Innie personality is gone forever if the Reintegration works as intended and allows Outie Mark to enter Lumon’s severed floor. Another possibility, though, was hinted at by Reghabi just before Mark agreed to the Reintegration procedure. Reghabi says to Mark that she can"sew together a version of you that loves her [Gemma] with a version of you that can…"
The Reintegration could serve as a way for Outie Mark and Innie Mark to “team up” to explore Lumon…
Reghabi does not get to finish her sentence before Mark cuts her off by accepting, but it is implied she is about to say a version of him that can successfully enter the severed floor. This could imply that the elevator still works to an extent in that Innie Mark’s personality takes over, only now with the memories of his life outside of work. This way,Severanceseason 2 could still capitalize on having two versions of the same character, only with a bit more crossover than audiences have come to know thus far.
As a result, the Reintegration could serve as a way for Outie Mark and Innie Mark to “team up” to explore Lumon with the knowledge of the inside from the latter blending with the love and drive of the former. Exactly how this will be depicted is admittedly unclear, given that the only Reintegrated person shown thus far was Petey. WithSeveranceseason 2, episode 3 implying that Mark’s process goes right where Petey’s went wrong, the possibilities for the remainder of his story have been blown wide open.
