Severance Season 2, episode 1: Milchicks newspaper proves Lumon is lying about severance reform

Lumon is back to their lying ways in the Severance Season 2 premiere — but would we expect anything less from the world's shadiest company?

In Season 2, episode 1, Mark (Adam Scott) returns to the Severed Floor following the Innies' daring Season 1 escape. But in a shocking turn of events, Lumon doesn't have any plans to punish Mark and his fellow Macrodata Refiners. Instead, new floor manager Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman) claims that the Innies' worries about mistreatment resonated with the outside world, leading Lumon to reflect upon its wrongdoings (aka torture). Now, Milchick claims, Mark and his fellow Innies have become the face of "severance reform." He's even got a newspaper to prove it!

The heavily redacted newspaper, titled The Kier Chronicle, features a front-page story about the Innies blowing the whistle on their mistreatment, along with two side stories about the "Baird Creek Bandit" and new Lumon recycling technology.

The key article here remains the whistle-blowing story, which is full of juicy tidbits, including mentions of new Innie privileges like "top-of-the-line recreational facilities, sexual liberation, improved snacks, and the possibility for field..." The text cuts off here, but I'm guessing it goes on to say "field trips." These seem fairly consistent with the promises Milchick makes to Mark, Helly (Britt Lower), Irving (John Turturro), and Dylan (Zach Cherry) later in the episode, although he doesn't mention "sexual liberation" to them outright.

Interestingly, the article also name drops Mark's brother-in-law, Dr. Ricken Hale (Michael Chernus), cited as author of The You You Are and These Values Nine: How I Let Kier In. The former book was key to the Innies' revolt in Season 1, but the latter book hasn't been mentioned yet. It's likely a Lumon fabrication, one meant to make Mark believe that Ricken — whose work he respects — is a dedicated follower of Kier Eagan. If Mark trusts Ricken, and Ricken likes Kier, then surely Mark should trust Kier and Lumon, right?

The many, many redactions and Ricken mention aren't The Kier Chronicle's only red flags. In fact, the title of biggest red flag falls to the front page image of Mark, Helly, Irving, and Dylan being celebrated in a ticker tape parade.

Right off the bat, it's obvious that photo has been doctored. The image of the Innies is taken from their group photo from Helly's very first day, which everyone kept on their desk.

The Innie photo has been pasted onto an image that isn't even from this century. It's actually a photo from a ticker tape parade from Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1960 visit to Rio de Janeiro. See for yourself:

The faking of the photo and the whole newspaper is continued proof of how Lumon manipulates the Innies and what little information they have of the outside world. And since that photo is a fake, it's clear there never actually was a celebration for the Innies, which means their message didn't spread as far as Lumon would have Mark believe. So why would Lumon lie about that and severance reform in the first place? Why ply Innie Mark with better perks in the hopes of getting him to remain at Lumon, when the company could theoretically just fire his Outie and replace him in MDR?

Given all this effort to keep Mark at Lumon, perhaps the key to MDR's "mysterious and important" work isn't having just any severed worker perform it. Maybe the true key is having Mark himself carry it out. After all, episode 1 ends with ominous flashes between Mark's macrodata refining and shots of Gemma/Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman). Could Lumon be exploiting Outie Mark and Gemma's relationship for the sake of their latest sinister project?

Severance Season 2 is now streaming on AppleTV+, with new episodes every Friday.