If Severance hasn’t commandeered enough of your real life already, now it’s going to try and teach you about yourself. Apple Books recently released the eight-chapter ebook The You You Are: A Spiritual Biography of You written by Dr. Ricken Lazlo Hale, PhD, the Severance character played by Michael Chernus who is the brother-in-law of Mark Scout (Adam Scott). And diehard Severance fans (should “severed heads” be the fanbase name?) will quickly notice a connection between this book and the current season.
Throughout the eight chapters, Hale waxes poetic about poisonous words in our bodies and the quality of nonexistence. However, there are a few tidbits that offer some illumination of the Severance world. Hale hilariously explains how he was “the first child sired exclusively for theatrical performances” after revealing he was both conceived and born in a theater as part of a nine-month performance art piece his parents created called “Smells Like Afterbirth, Fucker.” That gives creepy new meaning to the term “theater kid.”
The most interesting aspect of the book is its connection to events of Season 2. The book’s introduction reads: “As you know, the book was meant to release nationwide this week, and I was deeply eager to share its splendors with you. Unfortunately, events beyond my control have led to a brief delay as I liaise with several corporate parties as to precisely where and in what form the book should be released.”
This appears to be directly connected to Season 2's third episode, in which we learn that Lumon PR rep Natalie (Sydney Cole Alexander) has visited Hale to commission him to make a Lumon-approved version of his book. Remember, his book found its way onto the Severed Floor and became a huge hit among the severed employees. With Lumon desperately trying to rein in any and all outside influences on its employees, the book’s introduction points to Lumon’s attempt to control the information contained in the book. This is why he later says he negotiated to have the first eight chapters—those that make up the ebook— released.
Severance had its actors do a mock workday in a glass encasement in the middle of Grand Central Terminal in New York City, and now the show is teaching people how to better themselves, the Lumon way. We really might be close to Apple going all of the way and promoting the show by having people voluntarily get a chip in their brains that plays Severance episodes on repeat when we sleep. Or, they just might send viewers goat-styled slippers.