Mark Scout, known as Mark S. when working at Lumon, is a former history professor who underwent the severance procedure so his consciousness and memory are divided into two parts.
History[]
When he was a kid, his dog died and he felt it was his fault because he'd left the gate open.[2]
Mark grew up with his younger sister Devon. The two shared a close bond that continued into adulthood.
While working at Ganz College, Mark met Gemma when they were both donating blood. They started seeing each other and eventually married. Their marriage was happy, but was strained after a miscarriage and subsequent infertility. Then one night, Gemma left to go to a work event while Mark stayed behind to finish something for work. Cops came to Mark's house that night to tell him Gemma had died in a car accident.[3]
Mark S. was first a Senior Macrodata Refiner and was promoted to Macrodata Refinement Chief following his coworker Petey's departure. He was shocked when he learned he was being promoted because Petey no longer worked there, but quickly stepped into Petey's shoes, training his replacement: Helly R. Helly was combative during her training, even throwing a speaker at Mark's head. Mark ended up going off-script to talk about waking up after his own procedure. After Helly asked to leave three times, Mark took her to a stairwell, but every time she left, she found herself back there again. He told her it was because she chose to come back. When she gave up trying to leave, he took her to Cobel's office. While Milchick bandaged his forehead, Cobel talked to Helly about her behavior and gave her the disk that contained the last part of her training. Mark then went to talk to Cobel himself. She was upset with him for going off-script and told him his department could be good or bad and it came down to the people in it.
Mark went back to MDR, where Helly was finishing her training. After she was done, she asked if they ever got to leave. He said they did, but she knew it wouldn't feel like they left because the next thing they knew, they'd be back there. When she asked about having a choice, he told her that every time she found herself there, it was because a version of her chose to come there.
When Mark left work, he found a gift card and a note saying he'd hit his head on an overhead projector slide. As he drove home, he nearly hit Helly with his car, though they didn't recognize each other. Mark then drove home and the next day, Devon came to pick him up for a food-less dinner with Ricken and his friends. The conversation quickly turned to Mark's work as a history professor and then his work at Lumon and him being severed. The conversation got testy, but then Ricken settled things by saying he stood behind Mark despite the controversy.
After the guests left, Devon made Mark a sandwich and tried to buy his forgiveness. Then she insisted he stay the night, which meant sleeping in their expected baby's room. Mark struggled to sleep and got up to get water in the middle of the night. He saw a man standing in Devon's yard, but the man disappeared when a car went back. In the morning, Mark told Devon about the man and she said it was probably a stumbler from a nearby bar.
Mark went home and that night, went to dinner at Pip's to use the gift card he'd gotten. While he was sitting there, Mrs. Selvig called him and talked to him about the bins. He ended the conversation when the man he'd seen in Devon's yard sat across from him and told him to hang up. He introduced himself as Petey from work and said that he'd had his severance procedure reserved with difficulty and that both he and Mark were unhappy at work. He gave Mark a red envelope and told Mark it was nothing like they said on the severed floor. If something happened to him, he wanted someone to know the things he knew and he would prefer if that someone was a friend.
In his car, Mark opened the envelope, which contained a birthday card to a niece. On it, Petey had written a note saying that at work, they used to talk about the kind of men they were on the outside. He used to think it would take a monster to put someone in that place, but now understood they weren't monsters. He said he wouldn't force Mark to know what was going on there, but if Mark wanted to know, there was an address where he could find the beginning of a very long answer.
Mark went home, where he talked to Mrs. Selvig about the bins again, unaware that Mrs. Selvig was actually his boss at Lumon, Ms. Cobel. She told him he was a good person.[1]
The next Monday, Mark entered MDR and started on the senior refiner morning checklist. While dusting a group picture with Petey, he became sad and decided to take all the copies of the picture and put them in the storage closet. Once the rest of the team was there, he helped get Helly set up and explained what she would be doing. She found it odd, but he told her it would take a while, but it would make sense once it happened. Irving asked him about the missing pictures and he said he'd removed them in anticipation of them taking a new picture with Helly at her party. Irving pointed out that that violated protocol, but Mark ignored him. When Helly asked if she could quit, he said she could submit a request with her outie, but admitted they usually got rejected. Milchick then came in with a melon bar for Helly's party. They played a game to get to know each other and when it was Mark's turn, he tried to say that something about him was that he loved the game. But when Milchick said that he'd said that the last time they played, he said he'd broken protocol by removing the pictures early. Milchick questioned him feeling sad about Petey but not the others who had left. Mark said it was because they knew the others were leaving and didn't know anything about what happened to Petey. Milchick said that things like death only happened outside and they should be grateful they didn't have to think about that. Then he sent them to eat their melon. While taking their new group photo, Helly stepped away and wrote a note to her outie. Then she tried to leave with it. Mark followed her to the elevator, but she got on before he could stop her. The elevator stopped and sounded an alarm. When Doug Graner appeared to take Helly to the break room, Mark stepped in to take responsibility, saying she was his first trainee and he'd forgotten to review data-smuggling policy with her. Graner took Mark to the break room instead, where Cobel met him in the room.
That night, Outie Mark had a date with Alexa, Devon's midwife. They talked about him being severed and working for Lumon. And as they walked around, they ran into protestors from the Whole Mind Collective, who opposed severance. Mark got in a fight with them, but quit when he looked at Alexa.
When Mark got home, he had a beer despite having multiple drinks on the date. Mrs. Selvig came over and brought him chamomile cookies and told him to come by her shop for a bath bomb that would help him sleep.
The next morning, as he went to leave for work, Mark found the flier from the WMC in his pocket and called in sick to work. Then he drove to the address on the card Petey gave him and found Petey living in a greenhouse there. Mark told him about the break room, where they were forced to recite a statement of contrition until the person with them believed they genuinely regretted what they'd done. Petey also said he'd been mapping the severed floor and left a copy of it for innie Mark to find before he left. Petey said he'd been experiencing reintegration sickness, which caused him a lot of pain.
Mark brought Petey home with him since Petey couldn't return to his own home. He said Petey could stay on his couch and found a sleeping bag for him to use.[4]
Mark spoke more with Petey about his reintegration and told Petey he wouldn't be reintegrating himself because severance had helped him, despite the negative things Petey told him about the company. The next morning, when Mark went to leave for work, he told Petey that he'd lost his wife a few years prior and that severance helped him deal with that. Petey said he used to come to work with red eyes and they joked that he had an elevator allergy. He was taking the grief to work with him, only he didn't know where it came from.
When Mark got to work, he found that the new group photos had come in. Helly also told him he'd been gone the day before and she successful refined some data while he was gone. Mark then read the morning announcements for his first time as the new department chief, including the news that Helly's resignation request had been denied, which upset her. Mark found Helly twice trying to send her outie messages. He stopped her both times and warned her that it would be worse for her if she tried it. Then he took Helly and the rest of the MDR team to the Perpetuity Wing at Irving's suggestion, to show Helly what kind of history she was part of. While they were there, they played "Eagan Bingo," except Irving, who treated the wing with reverence. This led to an argument when Irving discovered their game. The argument was interrupted when Mark noticed that Helly had left the room. He chased her to a stairwell, where she broke a window and stuck her arm out with a note in her hand. Graner found them and had Helly come with him to the Break Room.
At the end of the day, after everyone else had left, Mark decided to replace the old group photos with the new ones. As he opened the last frame, he found a map of the severed floor behind the picture. He put the map back in the frame with the new picture and left work.
When Mark got home, he found that Petey was gone. He drove around and found Petey at a convenience store, being cared for by EMTs. He watched from a distance as Petey collapsed and the EMTs said he wasn't breathing. Mark went back home and removed all evidence that Petey had been there. Then he heard Petey's phone vibrating with an incoming phone call.[5] Petey's phone continued ringing, so Mark hid it in a box of camping equipment.
Back at work, Mark looked at the map Petey had left him. When he left the bathroom, Irving mentioned that Helly was still in the Break Room despite it being several hours into her second day there and asked if Mark could check on her. Their conversation was interrupted when Burt came in, bringing the new handbook tote bags and offering up a tour of O&D. As Irving life to take him up on that, Helly returned and reported that she'd had to recite the compunction statement 1,072 times. Helly talked to Dylan about her experience until Mark reminded them they weren't supposed to talk about it.
When Helly found the map in Mark's drawer, she confronted him about it, calling him a hypocrite for lecturing her about policy while he had a hidden map of the floor. She was also surprised he wasn't planning to do anything with the map even though his best friend had left it. Mark took the map and shredded it to prove to Helly he didn't care about it.
Irving came back to MDR and said there was an emergency. Then he led Mark and Dylan to a room where he'd found a book, The You You Are, on a chair. Dylan thought it was a message from Petey, while Irving thought it was a loyalty test. Mark decided he'd take it to Milchick. When they got back to MDR, they found Helly missing. She had gone to Cobel's office and threatened to cut off her fingers if Cobel didn't allow her to record a video to her outie. Once she'd recorded the message, they all escorted her to the elevator to leave. She quickly returned with a message from her outie refusing to let her quit.
At home that night, Mark got a notification telling him about an article reporting Petey's death. Mark decided to go to Petey's funeral. When he ran into Mrs. Selvig there, he said he'd read that Petey worked at Lumon and thought they might have known each other. He met Petey's ex-wife and daughter. June, Petey's daughter, learned that Mark was severed and asked if he'd ever considered that maybe severance wasn't the best way to deal with his problems. Mark admitted he didn't know. When the funeral started with a video of Petey playing music with his daughter, Mark became overwhelmed and had to leave. He went home, but instead of going inside, he left again and drove out to a remote location, where he touched a tree and cried.
Despite having said he'd turn the book into Milchick, Mark kept it and secretly read it in the bathroom. Then he was called in for a wellness session with Ms. Casey, who gave him a ball of clay to mold his feelings. He molded the ball into the shape of a tree.[6]
Mark returned to MDR and then left for the day. When he got to the elevator, he found Helly hanging there. He grabbed onto her, holding her body up, and called for help. Graner came, untied Helly, and then ordered Mark into the elevator. When Mark returned to work, he found Cobel and Milchick waiting for him. Cobel said that it happened on his watch, implying that it was his fault. She also told him Helly was bruised, but would be okay. With Helly gone, Mark hid in the bathroom to read The You You Are, which he found inspiring.
When Mark left work one day, He found several missed calls from Ricken, telling him that Devon was in labor. He went to the birthing retreat, where he ran into Alexa. He apologized for the night of their date, but she said it was okay. Mark then supported Devon and helped Ricken hang up kelp. During a contraction, he admitted to her that he thought Lumon was up to something. Soon afterward, Devon gave birth to the baby.
Mark returned to work and learned it would be Helly's first day back. Milchick encouraged him to have kind eyes when greeting her as it would be innie Helly's first time being conscious since the attempt. As she stepped off the elevator, Mark told her they'd gotten rid of everything that might be dangerous to her. He tried to talk to her about the attempt, but she walked away from him.
Ms. Casey was assigned to watch her, which annoyed Helly. Mark distracted Ms. Casey by spilling a drinking. While Ms. Casey was gone getting something to clean up, Mark took Helly out of MDR. He tried to ask her how she was. She said that she told her outie she wanted to quit and her outie told her she wasn't a person, so that was bad. Their conversation was interrupted by a cry. They followed it to a room where Wyatt was feeding a goat and surrounded by other goats. He told them that they couldn't take the goats because they weren't ready yet. He told them to go. They left and Helly questioned if the goats were the data they were refining. Mark didn't think it was. He said he knew Helly didn't want to be there, but he was glad she was. Helly then agreed to clean up the map for Mark, because his drawing was bad. Ms. Casey found them and Mark said they were on their way back from a mental health walk. She was relieved they were not hurt.[7]
At home, Mark took Petey's phone out of the basement, took out the battery, and threw both separately in his trash can.
At work, Mark continued reading The You You Are.
Irving said he wanted the whole MDR team to go to O&D together, to unite the two departments as Keir intended. Helly was immediately on board, but Mark was more reluctant, especially after he noticed Ms. Casey was missing. However, after finding out that Ms. Casey had been sent to the Break Room because of it, Mark led his entire team to O&D, in direct defiance of Cobel's removal of their hallway privileges until they met their quota. Burt led them into the storeroom and introduced the two teams. They shared their mutual lack of knowledge of what they were actually working on and decided that Burt and Mark, as the department heads, would reach out to the goat room, the other department they were aware of, and figure out what they knew. Their conversation was interrupted when Milchick came in and returned the MDR team to their department. Cobel was waiting for them and sent Mark to the Break Room.
On his way into the Break Room, Mark passed Ms. Casey, who was leaving. He apologized to her as they passed.
That night, Mark went on another date with Alexa. His knuckles were bruised and he told her that Lumon had said he jammed his hand while replacing a water cooler jug. They talked about Devon's baby and struggles with breastfeeding and then Mark talked about Gemma. He asked if that was weird, but Alexa said she thought it was healthy not to split his life. When she realized what she'd said, she cringed, but he made a joke about it.
After they ate, Mark saw a poster saying June's band was playing nearby and they decided to go The watched as the band performed a song about how much Lumon sucked and then Mark talked to June. When a fight broke out nearby, Mark and Alexa decided to leave. Mark explained that June was the daughter of a co-worker of his who died. Alexa leaned in and kissed him and went home with him.
Mark woke up and had a flash of Petey collapsing. He got out of bed and retrieved Petey's phone and the battery. He turned the phone back on and answered it when it rang. He told the person on the other side that he was a friend of Petey and wanted to understand. They arranged to meet at Ganz College. When he got there, Asal Reghabi asked if he'd come alone. He said he had and he used to work at Ganz, which she knew. She told him to come with her.[8]
Asal led Mark to a more secluded area, where she told him she'd put the chip in his head and was the only person who could deactivate it. When he stood by his decision to sever, she asked if he ever thought about his innie and how his innie felt about it. Graner came in and told Mark they worked together at Lumon. Before Graner could question him further, Asal came up behind him and hit him with a bat, killing him. Then she had Mark help her move the body. She told him Graner was the head of security at Lumon and gave Mark his key card and had Mark give her Petey's phone. Then she told Mark to go home and get rid of his clothes.
Mark collected his clothes in a trash bag. Alexa found him and knew he'd left in the middle of the night. He told her he just felt the need to go for a drive because their relationship was kind of a big deal for him.
The next morning, Mark put the trash bag in his outdoor trash can and took the key card with him to work, hiding it in his pocket. When he got to the severed floor, he was surprised to have Milchick greet him. Milchick escorted him to MDR, which now had a door that required a key card to open. Milchick denied that they were trapped. Later that day, Milchick brought in a cart for a Music Dance Experience to celebrate Helly getting to 75%. When Irving pointed out that she was only at 73%, Milchick said they all needed something nice. He put the music on and all of them except Dylan started dancing. The Music Dance Experience abruptly ended when Dylan lunged at Milchick, knocking him over and biting him. Once Milchick left, Dylan explained that he'd been woken up outside Lumon. Helly realized they could do that for themselves and Mark showed them the key card he'd found in his pocket, which he thought was Graner's. They used it to leave MDR. Dylan stayed behind to distract Milchick if he came back. Once they were out, Irving left to go to O&D to check on Burt while Mark and Helly went to the security office. There, they found a binder that had a page about the Overtime Contingency. Helly ripped it out and the left when they saw Cobel coming down an elevator to the floor.
Back in MDR, Helly and Mark told Dylan what they'd found. He offered to stay behind at the end of the work day to be the one to activate the OTC. Despite it being meant for two people, he insisted he could do it. When Irving returned, escorted by Milchick, he told them they should burn Lumon to the ground.
At home, Mark was drinking when Alexa came over to get her phone, which she'd left there. He tried to assure her he was ready for a relationship, though she didn't believe him. He tried to prove it by ripping up a picture of Gemma, but Alexa left anyway. Once Alexa was gone, Mark gathered the pieces of the picture and taped it back together.[9]
Mark, Dylan, Helly, and Irving prepared their plan to activate their innie selves while outside Lumon. This involved pushing to meet their quota, which allowed one of them to have a waffle party. When Helly finished the Siena file, Mark met with Cobel, who celebrated their success, and told her the waffle party would go to Dylan. She told him to report to Wellness for a session before returning to MDR. When he got there, he learned that Ms. Casey had been fired and that her life had consisted of mostly half-hour wellness sessions, which made the day she spent watching Helly the longest she'd ever been awake for and the highlight of her life. She then read him facts about his outie.
Mark went back to MDR and told the others about his session and Ms. Casey being fired. He asked if they were sure about their plan, but before they could answer, Milchick came in with their pre-waffle party egg bar social, which they enjoyed. At the party, Mark admitted to Helly that he was scared of getting caught. He just hoped that he had things he cared about on the outside. The party was abruptly ended when Milchick left to attend to a management issue.
Before leaving for the day, Mark, Helly, Irving, and Dylan talked over what Dylan would do. Mark said it was important for them to be prepared to wake up in any possible situation, as they had no way of knowing what their outie would be doing. Then they needed to find someone they could trust as quickly as possible and tell them everything as they had no idea how much time they would have. Mark, Helly, and Irving then got on the elevator one at a time. Before Helly left, she stepped out of the elevator to kiss Mark just in case.
Mark went home and went to Mrs. Selvig's house to invite her to a party at Ricken and Devon's. Despite being upset, she decided to go in her own car so she could leave if she wanted to. When Mark got to the party, Ricken told him the reading would start in eight minutes and was upset that Mark hadn't brought his own copy to read along. Mark then talked to Devon and said they should talk later about a life change he was pondering. Mrs. Selvig/Cobel overheard this and asked Mark about it. He said he was thinking about quitting because he didn't think he needed severance anymore. Cobel encouraged him to do it, to get away from Lumon.[10]
When Mark's Innie was activated, he looked around and tried to figure out where he was. Throughs some conversations, he figured out that Devon was his sister and Ricken his brother-in-law. He told Ricken how much his book meant to him, though Ricken believed he was being sarcastic. Finally, during a reflection break, Mark was able to talk to Devon. Devon suggested going to reporters instead of the police because of Lumon's influence. They had to be careful who they talked to. Mark then remembered to ask why Cobel was there. When he described her, Devon realized she's the woman Devon knew as Mrs. Selvig. Since she had left Eleanor with her, she immediately panicked and went to find her. They searched the house and Mark found her in a room, safe in her car seat. Also in the room, Mark found a picture of himself with Gemma, whom he recognized as Ms. Casey. He took it and ran into the living room, telling Devon she was alive just as his Innie was deactivated.[11]
Outie Mark woke up and learned from Devon and Ricken what he'd said. Ricken believed that Mark's comment referred to Eleanor and Mark said he was sure of that as well. Devon was less sure, but went along with them. Shortly thereafter, Milchick arrived, saying he imagined Mark was confused and wanted to answer his questions. He explained what had happened and said he wanted Mark to return to work on Monday.
The next morning, Mark had breakfast at Pip's with Devon, where he told her he was going to quit. She asked if he was sure he didn't want to be sure what his innie meant, but he insisted Mark was talking about Eleanor, because he'd seen and identified Gemma's body. He was upset by Devon's assertion that Gemma's death affected her as well and left. Milchick came to his place that night with a gift basket and the offer of a 20% raise for him to return to work. He reminded Mark that he'd undergone the severance procedure to escape the pain of losing Gemma and told him that innie Mark was free of that pain.[12]
Mark returned to MDR only to find that the rest of his team was gone and three new refiners: Mark Wilkins, Gwendolyn Y., and Dario Rossi, had been brought in to replace them. Mark refused to accept Milchick's insistence that the others didn't want to return and tried to sabotage the new refiners. He distracted Milchick and ran to Milchick's office, where he used the speaker to appeal directly to the board to bring his team back. Milchick found him and escorted him to the elevator. When he returned to work, his team came in behind him to his delight. Milchick called them all to the new, improved Break Room, where he showed them a video about the uprising and explained that they, not their outies, had a choice to stay or leave. He gave them until the end of the day to decide. Mark told Helly about his desire to find out where Ms. Casey was, as he believed he was his outie's wife and they both decided to stay. As they sat down to get to work, Irving and Dylan joined them, having also decided to stay.[13]
Wanting to find out what really happened to Ms. Casey, Mark and Helly made posters with a drawing of her face and made copies to show people from other departments. They took theirs to the goat room, where they found a tunnel to a back room. They crawled through and found a room full of goats. They were confronted by Lorne, who denied making use of the Wellness department and rang a bell, summoning the other employees, who surrounded Mark and Helly. When Helly held up the poster and explained that they were looking for her, Lorne said they decided they were going to send a courier to tell Milchick what they were doing. Mark said they might kill Ms. Casey if they found out and he worried about it happening to others if they stood by and let it happen to Ms. Casey. The goat wranglers decided to let them go without intervening after they showed they didn't have pouches on their bellies.
Outside work, Mark counted the seconds it took to get from his car to the elevator to the severed floor. Then he went home and he and Devon tried to figure out how to burn an afterimage onto his cornea that would stay long enough for his innie to see it. He tested this out in his car, but when Asal Reghabi found him, she told him it wouldn't work because the switch dilated his pupils for a second. She told him that the only way to get information in and out of Lumon was reintegration. He was reluctant until she told him his wife was still alive as of the last time Asal saw her. Asal started the reintegration process, showing him the two waves that represented the two halves of him and how he'd make them one again. As she worked, she asked him questions, first about his outie life, but then also about his work at Lumon. He struggled to answer the questions as the waves merged until finally, he remembered waking up at Lumon for the first time with Petey's voice welcoming him.[2]
Irving woke up one day in a frozen tundra. He soon met up with Helly, Mark, and Dylan. They found a television, which played a video that explained that they were on a corporate retreat that would last two days, during which they would traverse the terrain of Dieter Eagan National Forest. The answer to the question of who Dieter was is in the fourth appendix of the compliance handbook, which was forbidden on the severed floor. They would follow Kier's path in the forest, which is where he first tamed the four tempers, and they would have help along the way. They saw what that help was when they spotted a figure that looked like Mark across the way pointing them in the right direction. With no other option, they followed his directions. Next, they came across a figure that looked like Helly and they followed her directions to a cave containing the fourth appendix. Helly started reading it and it told the story of Kier and Dieter's journey. They continued walking, following that path. When Irving noticed Mark and Helly talking privately, he asked Mark about it. He admitted he didn't trust Helly because her story of what she saw outside didn't add up. Mark brushed off his concern.
As they continued walking, they found a dead animal. Irving suggested eating it because they didn't know if there would be food waiting for them whoever they were going, but they decided not to. Irving admitted that he didn't trust Lumon to take care of them, which caused an argument. Finally, they reached a waterfall and Milchick appeared to tell them they'd followed Kier and Dieter's path and reached Woe's Hollow. He led them to their tents, where Miss Huang had prepared a grill for them to cook their meat. He also told them all about the amenities.Then he read them more of Keir and Dieter's story, ending with Dieter's death. Helly and Mark began laughing and Milchick had their marshmallows thrown into the fire before leaving. Once he was gone, Irving again pestered Helly with questions about what she'd seen on the outside. Helly said he was just upset because he would never see Burt again. Irving took his torch and walked into the forest alone while the rest of them went to bed. Mark went into Helly's tent and they had sex. When they were done, Mark asked her about her outie. She only told him she was someone she didn't like, which made her feel ashamed. While they were talking, Mark glitched for a second, but told her he was okay.
The next morning, Mark learned that Irving hadn't come back to the camp the night before and Helly was also missing. They heard yelling and found Irving threatening to drown Helly, saying she wasn't really Helly, but an Eagan. After dunking her under the water a few times, Helly told "Seth" to do it already and Milchick called for someone to remove the Glasgow block. Helly switched back to her innie self and Milchick told Irving he was fired. Dylan apologized for not believing Irving, but Milchick ordered them to cease communication. Then he had Irving walk into the forest and told him it would be like he never existed.[14]
With the first phase of reintegration complete, Mark waited for Asal to say they could start the next part. In the meantime, he showed some signs of reintegration sickness and took multiple medications. Asal also began staying with him.
When Mark returned to work, he, Helly, and Dylan were told Irving wouldn't be coming back. He also to them that Helena Eagan had come to work among them to learn their grievances like Kier had done before her. When they returned to MDR, they found all traces of Irving erased, including his work station. Dylan asked for a funeral and Milchick agreed to arrange it while they worked on their files. At the funeral, Milchick gave them a few seconds to remember Irving and had Dylan give a eulogy. Then he gave them a melon shaped like Irving's head to enjoy. Mark left soon after that and Helly followed him. He admitted that he didn't trust that she was Helly and couldn't continue the search for Ms. Casey because Lumon knew about it and was watching everything they did.
Mark went back to MDR, where he worked on Cold Harbor until he got it to 85% completion. When he saw it was 5:54, he got up and left for the day. Milchick stopped the elevator and got on. He asked if the funeral had helped Mark and Mark placated him by saying yes and agreeing to put everything behind them. Milchick finally let Mark leave.
Back at home, Mark found Asal in his basement, looking through Gemma's things for something to rattle his memories. He asked when they could continue the process and she said possibly the next day. When they came across a box of cremated remains, Mark asked who it was. Asal told him Lumon had someone at the morgue on payroll. When he asked if they were hurting Gemma, Asal admitted she didn't know. Mark went to go upstairs, but had flashes of memories of Ms. Casey reading facts about his outie to him during a wellness session. Then he remembered being in a hall at Lumon and seeing Ms. Casey there.[15] Mark told Asal what he'd seen and asked what Lumon was doing to her. Asal said she didn't know but she knew that Gemma was essential to them. Mark said that he'd spent a lot of time bargaining after Gemma's death, thinking about things he would change to have more time with her and was not facing that being a real possibility.
At work, Dylan told Mark and Helly about a map he'd found in the break room. They were upset with him for leaving it there. Helly said she had a hall pass and offered to use it to go get the map. Mark later told Helly about Milchick threatening him in the elevator. Helly felt it was part of a plan to drive a wedge between them to keep them from working together. Mark also confessed that he'd had sex with Helly's outie believing she was Helly. Helly said it was okay, that he thought it was her, but then left. When she returned, she told Mark that it sucked that Helena got to have sex with him and she didn't. He offered to describe it to her, but she said she didn't want Helena's memory. She wanted her own. They slipped away and found an empty room, where they had sex. On the way back to MDR, Helly asked Mark if it was different with her. Mark responded by pressing her against the wall and kissing her. When he pulled back, she told him he was bleeding. They went to Miss Huang, who had Mark hold pressure on his nose and tried to figure out the cause. The bleeding quickly stopped. While Miss Huang took his blood pressure, Mark flashed between his life at Lumon and his life outside. When he settled, he found himself in his basement. Asal said it was a good sign that he felt he'd just been at Lumon, as it was a sign that his two selves were merging. She had the idea to flood his chip to make the process faster, but when she tried to do that, Mark decided he'd had enough and refused to allow it. He left to go get some food. While he was at a restaurant, Helena Eagan approached him and talked to him about his work and the Overtime Contingency he'd experienced. This led Mark to believe that Lumon was onto him and he rushed home and told Asal he wanted to continue right away. Asal opened his head and flooded his chip. He immediately felt the effects. When his sister knocked on the door, Asal told him not to answer, but he ignored her, saying his sister could see his car in the driveway and knew he was home. Devon said she had an idea for another way to get a message into Lumon. Mark told her he was trying something else, but refused to tell her what it was. He then had more flashes of memory and collapsed to the floor, convulsing.[16]
Mark remained unconscious while Asal and Devon looked over him, making sure he was okay. Asal told Devon that Mark was on a journey. When Mark finally woke up, Devon asked where he'd gone.[3]
Devon repeatedly tried calling Cobel. When Cobel finally answered, Devon told her about Mark reintegrating. Cobel had her put Mark on the phone and asked him to tell her everything.[17]
They arranged a meeting with Cobel. When she showed up, Devon asked her to take them to the cabin so they could talk to Mark's innie. She said it wasn't safe and it would be better to wait until dark. She had Mark call Milchick and feign illness to explain why he wasn't coming in to work. Once it was dark, they hid Mark in the truck bed, Devon pretended to be pregnant, and Cobel drove them to the birthing retreat, where she used coded language to get them access to the cabin. Once they were there, Mark's innie activated and Devon brought him to talk to Cobel. Devon asked if he remembered the last words he said to her and he say, "She's alive."[18] Cobel asked if he'd finished Cold Harbor and when he said no, she said that was good, because it meant Gemma was still alive and they could get her out of Lumon. She was surprised when he told her he knew of the Exports Hall from Irving's drawings. She then explained to him what he would have to do in order to get Gemma out. It involved cooperation between him and his outie, so they played a message his outie had recorded for him and waited while the two of them had a back and forth conversation. When they couldn't agree, as innie Mark wasn't convinced he would benefit as much as his outie, Cobel asked to speak to innie Mark alone. She told him that the numbers were his wife and every filed he'd completed created a new innie for her. Cold Harbor was the last of those and after he completed it, he'd be done at Lumon as he'd served his purpose. She also told him that he and Helly wouldn't have a happy ending because he meant nothing to Helena. Mark responded by telling Devon and Cobel to warn Mark against activating him again before his next shift at Lumon.
Innie Mark next woke up at Lumon. When he got to MDR, he found a note congratulating him for completing his 25th file. He and Helly went to the work stations and he explained to her what he'd learned about Gemma. She wasn't sure if they could trust Cobel, but he said she seemed different. When Mark got to the end of his file, Helly slipped him the directions and they watched as the lights went out and a performance celebrating his success started. When Mark said he needed to leave, so he could rescue Gemma, Helly created a distraction by stealing Milchick's radio. Mark ran out of MDR and made his way to the testing floor. He found a door, but was unable to open it. His banging on the door was heard by Drummond, who attacked Mark. Lorne saved Mark by putting a captive bolt pistol to Drummond's head, ready to kill him. Mark stopped her and ended up taking Drummond with him to lead him to the testing floor. In the elevator, he told Drummond to lead him to Gemma, but when his outie activated, his body tensed and he fired the gun, killing Drummond. Mark, now covered in Drummond's blood, went to find Gemma. He found the Cold Harbor room and used his blood-soaked tie to get into the room. There, he found Gemma's new innie. He asked her to trust him and led her out of the room, which activated her outie. The two of them ran back to the elevator together, where they hugged and kissed. They were kissed when her Ms. Casey innie and his innie activated, creating an awkward situation for them. Mark then led Gemma to the exit door and told her to do through. Once she did, her outie activated and she called for Mark to come with her. He hesitated and when Helly appeared at the other end of the hallway, he ignored Gemma's begging and went to Helly. The two of them took off down the hallway, running hand in hand.
Personality[]
Outie Mark, even two years on, still struggles with the grief of losing his wife, drinking heavily most nights to dissociate from his depression. Gemma's death has incited self-destructive and spiteful habits in Mark, as he often tries to avoid other people and even unintentionally sabotages his relationships due to his avoidant personality. His grief was so great that Mark believed becoming severed would act as a way to heal, but in truth, Mark was simply cutting his lifespan in half and still living with the same pain every day. Mark is also ignorant and callous in his views of the Severance procedure and its ethics. He never actually acknowledged his Innie as his own person and even disregarded his relationship with Helly R. when attempting to enlist his help against Lumon. In his own words, Mark isn't a bad person, but he's not a nice person.
For most of his two years at Lumon, Innie Mark was a content, hardworking Lumon employee who abided by the company's ethos and beliefs dilligently. A change began when Petey vanished from Lumon without warning, inspiring Mark to begin questioning Lumon's shady activities, though he wasn't fully swayed until Helly R. came into existence on the severed floor. Slowly, Helly challenged the by-the-book life Mark had been living until he began to openly question the mysterious nature of their work for Lumon, culminating in him joining MDR to hijack the Overtime Contingency and spread word to the outside. However, Mark's spirit was crushed in the aftermath of the ORTBO and Helena's impersonation of Helly, causing him to become anti-social and indifferent to Irving's death and his blossoming romance with Helly. The two were able to reconnect and soon fell in love, though it was prevented from becoming something more as Mark was thrown into his Outie's plan to infiltrate Lumon and rescue Gemma from captivity, facing the difficult revelation that he and all the other Innies would die after she was freed and the company exposed. After seeing his Outie's indifference to his own life and Cobel's confession that Lumon would dispose of the Innies regardless, Mark refused to help them and wanted to live with Helly, a future they both quietly accepted was impossible. Realizing that he was finished either way, Mark decided to help and, after almost being killed in the process, saved Gemma and led her to her freedom. Faced with non-existence and never seeing Helly again, Mark chose not to leave Lumon with Gemma, instead fleeing into the depths of Lumon with Helly in a final act of freedom.
Physical Description[]
Mark is a middle aged man with white skin and brown eyes. He has dark brown hair that is straight, which he keeps short in the front and longer in the back. He often looks tired or hung over, due to his late night wine habit. He dresses formally for work, often in a suit, but is always in casual clothing outside of work, usually jeans and long sleeved shirts.
Relationships[]
Gemma Scout[]
Mark and Gemma had a deeply special and romantic marriage for four years. For all intents and purposes, they were perfect for each other. The couple enjoyed a quiet and loving life together as Gemma, in Devon's words, made Mark wonderful and less of a bitter person. Their marriage was strained after Gemma's tragic miscarriage and thrice-failed IVF treatments, causing Mark to start slowly ignoring her and avoid social events together. When Gemma was believed to have died in a car accident, Mark's immense grief made him destroy himself, eventually choosing to undergo the severance procedure in a desperate attempt to escape his agony. Two years on from her death, Mark still grieved Gemma deeply, drinking heavily almost every night and even barring himself from a potential new relationship due to not healing properly. When Mark ultimately discovered that she was alive on the severed floor, he was willing to do anything to reunite with her, agreeing to the reintegration procedure immediately.
Helly R.[]
Dylan G.[]
Irving B.[]
Quotes[]
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Notes and Trivia[]
- Mark lives in Baird Creek in Lumon-subsidized housing in the city of Kier.
- His employee number is 4502, although his employee code on his ID badge reads 08-927.[4]
- Mark has worked at Lumon for approximately two years, since just after his wife allegedly died.
- Mark S. received a glass cube portrait of himself as a reward early in his refining career for his work on the Allentown file.
- The watch worn by Outie Mark is a Vostok Komandirskie 341307, and the watch worn by Innie Mark is a Bijouone B001. Both watches were supplied by Severance prop master Catherine Miller.
- The word "komandirskie" in Russian translates to commander. Given that his wife taught Russian literature at Ganz College, it is likely she gifted him the watch.
- The character is named after Mark Erickson, the father of Severance creator Dan Erickson.
- His license was issued on April 24, 2020.
- Mark drives a light-colored 1997 Volvo S90.
- His kindergarten teacher was named Mrs. Lustgarten.[2]
- He can parallel park in less than twenty seconds.[15]
- He can roller-skate with grace.[15]
- He pays all his gas and electric bills within three business days.[15]
- He listens to music while shaving, but not while showering.[15]
- He prefers two scoops of ice cream in a serving, but they must be the same flavor.[15]
- He once captured a butterfly.[15]
- He can set up a tent in under three minutes.[10]
- He knows a beautiful rock from a plain one.[10]
Gallery[]
Promotional[]
Screenshots[]
Appearances[]
| Season 1 | |||||
| #01 | "Good News About Hell" | #04 | "The You You Are" | #07 | "Defiant Jazz" |
| #02 | "Half Loop" | #05 | "The Grim Barbarity of Optics and Design" | #08 | "What's for Dinner?" |
| #03 | "In Perpetuity" | #06 | "Hide and Seek" | #09 | "The We We Are" |
| Season 2 | |||||
| #01 | "Hello, Ms. Cobel" | #05 | "Trojan's Horse" | #09 | "The After Hours" |
| #02 | "Goodbye, Mrs. Selvig" | #06 | "Attila" | #10 | "Cold Harbor" |
| #03 | "Who Is Alive?" | #07 | "Chikhai Bardo" | ||
| #04 | "Woe's Hollow" | #08 | "Sweet Vitriol" (voice) | ||
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Good News About Hell, 1x01
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Who Is Alive?, 2x03
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chikhai Bardo, 2x07
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Half Loop, 1x02
- ↑ In Perpetuity, 1x03
- ↑ The You You Are, 1x04
- ↑ The Grim Barbarity of Optics and Design, 1x05
- ↑ Hide and Seek, 1x06
- ↑ Defiant Jazz, 1x07
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 What's for Dinner?, 1x08
- ↑ The We We Are, 1x09
- ↑ Goodbye, Mrs. Selvig, 2x02
- ↑ Hello, Ms. Cobel, 2x01
- ↑ Woe's Hollow, 2x04
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 Trojan's Horse, 2x05
- ↑ Attila, 2x06
- ↑ Sweet Vitriol, 2x08
- ↑ The After Hours, 2x09
- ↑ Cold Harbor, 2x10