Severance‘s “Attila” served a Cuban-glazed ham with a side of deep theological questions about the human soul and accountability. But the episode also put in motion a possibility that would raise equally complicated, yet far more urgent questions about body autonomy and parental rights. It’s something that would also have huge implications for the most evil company in the world. When Helly R. learned what Helena Eagan did during the ORTBO, she responded with defiance rather than despair. She refused to let her Outie steal an experience and connection that was rightfully hers. Now that both Helena and Helly have had sex with Mark, though, its not clear what would happen if Helena/Helly gets pregnant? Which one of them would be the child’s mother?
During Severance‘s first season, Natalie went on GNC News to address a public controversy related to severance. An employee “became pregnant at work less than a month after her company went severed.” Natalie avoided discussing the pregnancy, let alone the legal and moral implications surrounding it, while the overmatched news anchor tried to ask substantive questions.
Lumon will have no choice but to deal with those upsetting issues (at least internally) if Helena Eagan finds herself in an even more complicated situation. Unlike that unnamed employee, whose Outie found herself pregnant without consent, Helena Eagan, intentionally slept with Mark S. (She appears to also be trying to sleep with his Outie, too.)
Just a couple of days later her Innie also slept with him, meaning it would be impossible to know whether Helena or Helly conceived their child.
Such a development would further complicate Mark’s story. Mark Scout the Outie is still desperate to rescue his wife Gemma from Lumon, someone he said he tried to have a child with. (It didn’t work out.) At least for him, though, his Innie and his Innie alone slept with each woman. Mark S. would be responsible for fathering a child. (The company, the law, and Mark himself obviously might not feel that way.) But Helena and Helly would both be able to claim they are the rightful mother, which they both certainly will do.
Helly R. is a good, caring person. She would not abandon her child, especially to the Outie she loathes. But Helena Eagan is jealous of Helly R’s life already. She would love nothing more than to claim that baby as hers even if she somehow knew Helly was the one who conceived with Mark. Helena is the one who said Helly is not even a person.
It’s not as though Helena would be allowed to let Helly raise the child anyway. Their shared body would be carrying the future of Lumon. Only Eagans ever serve as CEOs. Both the Board and her father would almost certainly force Helena to have that baby against her will. They could even turn Helly on full time to ensure that happens. Senator Arteta’s severed wife burdened her Innie with the most painful part of pregnancy. Lumon is far more powerful than a politician and his wife. It can seemingly do whatever it wants to both Helena and Helly.
This is a troubling, complex problem, one it now feels as though this sci-fi show about a monstrous procedure has been building to. The senator’s wife’s story suddenly feels far more important. Same as Natalie’s appearance on the news and Mark talking about his and Gemma’s own attempts at becoming parents. And all those babies Ben Stiller wanted included in season two’s opening credits might as well be screaming in unison at this point. But this is the exact type of question we should expect when someone like Helena Eagan exploits her workers so much she literally steals their body and their identity for herself.
The severance procedure is an abomination no matter what a God-fearing man like Fields might think. It doesn’t create a new soul, it merely splinters one in two. But at least the questions surrounding what happens to an Innie when they die are will be addressed in the afterlife. Creating a whole new life without knowing if an Innie or an Outie is the mother is a problem Lumon might soon have to deal with in this life. The entire future of the company could rest on whether Helena, Helly, or both will become a mom.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. He’s starting to think getting severed is a bad idea. You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.