In season one, Helly R. decides she no longer wishes to work at Lumon. Her outside self (her “outie,” Helena Eagan) rejects this request, sending her inside self (her “innie”) a stern recorded message: “I am a person. You are not. I make the decisions. You do not.” Yet throughout the show, we see the innies making decisions at work and forming meaningful relationships with their coworkers. Even though these memories are inaccessible once they leave work, are their experiences not real while they are at work? Characters come to believe that once a severed employee stops working at Lumon, their innie dies. As season two progresses, we see how strongly the innies wish to be seen as real persons and to have their lives validated. This culminates in a conflict between the innies and their boss, and even between a character’s innie and his outie.
In one episode, the philosophical discussion of personhood turns spiritual. Burt, a former Lumon employee, discusses a sermon he heard in which the pastor claimed innies and outies each have separate souls. Bert believed he was doomed for Hell, so he underwent the severance procedure to give his innie a chance at salvation. This raises the stakes of the severance procedure, as it could literally have eternal consequences.
Severance raises a critical question: What does it mean to be a person? This simple question is deeply profound and difficult to answer. Personhood criteria may include things like consciousness, self-awareness, and rationality. However we define it will have important ramifications on the value we give ourselves and others. In both Severance and the real world, the definition of personhood may also determine who lives and who dies.
Human Beings vs. Human Persons?
One blogger wonders if Severance is “a stealth critique of the pro-choice movement.” He compares innies to the unborn, as both are viewed by some people as not being actual persons. In season one, an innie remarks, “But we’re people, not parts of people.” This is parallel to an unborn human being distinct from the mother. But unlike the innies of Severance, the unborn cannot fight for their right to live. Also, severed individuals are two persons inhabiting one body (albeit, at different times). In the case of the unborn, the child and mother do not share a body; the unborn resides within the mother’s body. Yes, the child is completely dependent on Mommy for survival, but they are still two distinct humans. Thus, the critical reflection is this: If innies are true persons who deserve to live, then why not the unborn? This is where the concept of personhood is important.
One argument from the pro-choice—or more accurately, pro-abortion—position is that the unborn may be human, but they are not persons. Therefore, it is not wrong to kill the unborn. Thus, we return to our initial question: What does it mean to be a person? One set of criteria is known as the SLED test: Size, Level of development, Environment, and Degree of dependency. A pro-abortion advocate may argue that the unborn fail these tests in some way, thus they are not persons. Yet, if we apply them to born humans, we would assume that smaller, younger, or unhealthy humans are less valuable than larger, older, or healthier humans. And why should a baby inside the womb be less valuable than that same baby upon emerging from the womb? (Or in Severance terms, when an innie baby becomes an outie baby.) Furthermore, there does not seem to be a meaningful difference between a human being and a human person. It is a distinction without a difference.
Conclusion
We live in God’s world, and his truth permeates all creation. As sub-creators designed in his image, God’s truth will also be reflected in the good stories we create. The blogger connecting Severance to the abortion debate admits that the show creators most likely did not have the pro-life position in mind when creating the show. But the connection cannot be denied, intentional or not. Severance offers many important ideas upon which to reflect, such as the nature of personhood and what gives us value. The implications of these ideas can be literally life or death. If an innie and an outie sharing the same body each deserve to live, how much more does a distinct, living, preborn human have the right to life?