Explaining the Glasgow Plan on ‘Severance’: Analysis of the Significant Twist in Season 2, Episode 4

A new Severance system function has entered the chat.

During Season 1 of Apple TV+’s popular workplace thriller, viewers were introduced to the concept of the Overtime Contingency, which is a severance protocol utilized to awaken individuals in the external world.

Fast forward to Season 2, Episode 4, titled “Woe’s Hollow,” where the audience is now acquainted with the Glasgow Block, a feature that has covertly been applied to one of the core MDR four members since the start of the second season.

Spoilers for Severance Season 2, Episode 4 ahead.

Episode 4, written by Anna Ouyang Moench and directed by Ben Stiller, follows Mark (Adam Scott), Helly (Britt Lower), Dylan (Zach Cherry), and Irving (John Turturro) as they participate in an ORTBO (Outdoor Retreat Team Building Occurrence) led by Milchick (Tramell Tillman) and Miss Huang (Sarah Bock).

After the group bonded a bit, they camped overnight at Woe’s Hollow, the place where Kier is said to have tamed the four tempers. But after Irving realized that Helly’s outie, Helena Eagan, took her place on the Severed Floor in wake of Season 1’s Overtime Contingency debacle, he nearly drowned and killed the CEO in waiting. In an effort to save Helena’s life, Milchick contacted someone at Lumon and had them remove the “Glasgow Block,” seconds later, Helly R. was back in her body and deeply confused by her surroundings, while Irving was permanently dismissed from the company.

So what is the Glasgow Block on Severance? Here’s what to know about the big twist in Severance Season 2, Episode 4, “Woe’s Hollow.”

After Irving met up with Helly by the waterfall, he confronted her about the “cruel” comment she made about him and Burt the night prior. “Helly was never cruel,” Irving explained. “So if you’re not her, then who are you? Who would have the power to send their outie to the severed floor?”

Helly apologized, but it was too late. Irving grabbed her, led her to the edge of the waterfall, and dunked her head in, screaming, “Turn her back, Mr. Milchick! She’s an outie! She’s been an outie the whole time! She’s a fucking mole! I’m gonna kill her, Mr. Milchick. She’s not Helly, she’s an Eagan!” As Mark, Dylan, and Milchick struggled to process Irving’s actions and words, Helly — or should we say Helena — screamed, “God damn it, Seth! Do it!”

In response to her demand for assistance, Milchick grabbed his walkie talkie and said, “It’s Milchick. Remove the Glasgow Block. NOW!” Just then, we heard the familiar ding that indicates a severance chip has been activated, and the real Helly R. returned.

So what exactly is the Glasgow Block?! Or perhaps, what happens when the Glasgow function is blocked? Clearly, one’s outie can descend to the severed floor (or in this case, attend an innie field trip) without their severance chip being activated. How? We’re not exactly sure. But Eagle-eyed fans first learned about Glasgow back in Season 1. So it sounds like Milchick and company were blocking the Glasgow function, rather than enabling something called the Glasgow Block. (Sidenote: Though the security room has been redone to accommodate Dylan and his wife’s visitations, this episode proves Lumon still has security protocols when it comes to the innies — as if we ever had any doubts.)

If you, like me, paused on Season 1’s security room scenes, you may have noticed that the Overtime Contingency wasn’t the only system function listed in the controls.

While my initial prediction — that the “Glasgow” feature could send severed people into comas — wasn’t entirely on the nail, perhaps some of my other guesses here are correct:

• Beehive – Group mind control? Hive mind? Summons all severed workers to Lumon? Am I getting warmer?!
• Branch Transfer – Please let this be as simple as moving severed employees to different departments. 
• Clean Slate – I fear this may be used to completely wipe (or reset) severed employee memories.
• Elephant – They say an elephant never forgets, so maybe this function restore full memories to Innies or Outies.
• Freeze Frame – I assume this feature stops a severed person in their tracks.
• Goldfish – Ted Lasso would probably say this feature either gives severed employees short bursts of memories or makes them frequently forget.
• Lullaby – This feature likely puts an Innie or Outie to sleep on command.
• Open House – If overtime awakens the Innies outside Lumon, does open house bring the Outies inside? Pure chaos.

If you’re having trouble wrapping your head around the big Glasgow reveal, we get it. But Severance waaaas dropping some fairly big hints that something was up with Helly — from her hesitant elevator exit and her mind-boggling “night gardener” lie to the lack of a second ding in Episode 2’s elevator scene and more. The hint that absolutely solidified Helena’s presence on the Severed Floor for me in the Season 2 premiere, however, was the computer button…

ICYMI, on top of these shots of Milchick and Helly flipping their computer power switches being absolutely gorgeous, they also felt so damn intentional.

Milchick’s finger was drawn to Cobel’s computer button like a magnet. Meanwhile, Helly needed several tries to find the button on the back of the computer she was super familiar with? It was giving Helena. Hard.

Even having realized twist ahead of time, however, Severance‘s exciting execution made Episode 4’s big reveal super satisfying. Plus, now we’re super curious about the Glasgow feature and Lumon’s other unused functions.

New episodes of Severance Season 2 premiere Fridays on Apple TV+.