Every Override Protocol In Severance Explained

Severance has hinted at the existence of many override protocols at Lumon, but their true meaning and purpose remain vastly unknown. Since season 1, Severance has thrived as a puzzle box mystery drama because of its ability to give away only bits and pieces of information to viewers while leaving them with enough room to theorize and speculate. Although the Apple TV+ sci-fi show avoids falling for the same pitfalls as other similar shows by not stretching its underlying mysteries for too long, it ensures that viewers are always left with more questions than answers.

Owing to this, even though Severance's overarching narrative has progressed significantly, it is hard not to be curious about many of its story elements. Everything from the MDR's work's purpose at Lumon to Gemma's fate remains unknown in the series. Even the strange override protocols, like Overtime Contingency from Severance season 1 and Glasgow Block from season 2, raise many questions about what Lumon is trying to achieve through the titular severance procedure.

10 Beehive

Likely Activates A Hivemind For The Workers

Although this override protocol has not yet been explored in Severance, it has been revealed to be one of the overrides. As its name suggests, the "Beehive" override likely triggers a hivemind among the workers, allowing Lumon to establish control over the collective consciousness of a group of severed workers. Despite being severed, most MDR workers retain their own sense of identity and even have unique personalities. Lumon likely saves this protocol for extreme scenarios where the workers grow a little too defiant.

Or, Lumon might trigger this one to ensure the severed employees work in unison towards a common goal without questioning authority. When this override takes over, the workers likely act like bees or other hive-minded insects, like ants and termites, to contribute to the entire group's success instead of having one leading figure. Since Lumon has not seemingly used it yet, they want the severed employees to have independent thoughts and identities to be able to work on their cryptic projects.

9 Branch Transfer

Seamlessly Moves A Severed Worker From One Branch To Another

"Branch Transfer" seems fairly self-explanatory, suggesting that it is used for moving a severed worker from one branch to another while ensuring they do not carry confidential information during the transition. While only time will tell how this one is implemented, Lumon already seems to have used this one on Irving. Lumon's official post about Irving on LinkedIn confirms he has been working with the company for nine years. However, the show has revealed that Irv has only been a severed MDR worker for the last three years.

This confirms that before he moved to MDR, Irv was either an unsevered worker or a severed employee in a different branch. Regardless of what he was, he was likely in a different branch before his tenure in the MDR department. Since his outie knows about the "Exports Hall," Irv might have previously been the "Exports Hall" transfer guy or an O&D worker before the Branch Transfer override protocol was used on him to refresh his memory and move him to MDR.

8 Clean Slate

Involves A Complete Memory Wipe Down

Given how "clean slate" seemingly refers to a complete memory refresh, this override protocol was likely used on Mark's wife, Gemma, and other part-time employees at Severance. This would explain why Ms. Casey almost seems robotic and comes off as a blank slate with no recollections of her humanity or personality as an outie. Workers like her have seemingly been put in a permanent state of severance where they do not exist as outies. Their outies have either been wiped clean from their consciousness or put in a sense of coma.

If the former is true, Ms. Casey may never be able to become Gemma again, leaving Mark with an existential dilemma about his wife's fate. Physically, his wife would still be alive. However, the woman who embodies her may not consciously be anything like her. This would raise many intriguing questions about identity and Mark's sense of grief towards his wife.

7 Elephant

"Elephants Never Forget"

Since much of Severance's sci-fi lore revolves around mind control and memory, this one likely has something to do with the well-known phrase "Elephants never forget." The phrase stems from elephants' ability to have remarkable memory abilities, allowing them to have complex social interactions and even navigate vast regions of land with ease. Owing to this, it is hard not to believe that this override protocol allows the severed workers to retain or restore all their memories and achieve somewhat of a reintegration.

The Board denies the possibility of reintegration when Cobel tries to convince them it exists. However, the Board was probably just being secretive about its existence to ensure no one misuses it to help the Lumon workers reintegrate. This protocol might even be used to reverse the effect of the "Clean Slate" override, suggesting that Mark might eventually be able to "save" Gemma.

6 Freeze Frame

Halts All Motor Functions

As its name suggests, this override likely ceases all motor functions in a severed worker, preventing them from moving while still having cognitive function. Lumon has likely saved this for extreme scenarios where the severed employees turn immensely defiant and threaten to disrupt the company's strict control or expose it to the real world. Although this has not been used in the series so far, Lumon might use it to neutralize Mark and his MDR team if they keep testing the company's boundaries and policies.

5 Glasgow

Milchick Removes The Glasgow Block On Helly In Season 2's Episode 4

In Severance season 2's episode 4, Irving realizes that Helly's outie, Helena, has been pretending to be her. Therefore, he threatens Milchick to switch her back to her innie. Milchick eventually gives in and contacts an unknown figure. He asks them to remove the Glasgow Block on Helena, which allows her to switch back to her innie, Helly. This confirms that the Glasgow override ensures that outies do not switch to their innies at work. When Glasgow block is enabled, an individual's innie does not wake up while their outie remains activated all the time.

4 Goldfish

Goldfishes Are Associated With Shorter Memory Spans

Although it has been scientifically proven that goldfishes do have long-term memories, the water animals are associated with short-term memory spans because of the previous myths surrounding their cognition. Severance is obviously fictional, but its core idea is based on some real scientific concepts surrounding memory. For instance, human memory can be divided into two broad categories: implicit and explicit. While explicit memories refer to the conscious recollection of facts and experiences, the implicit ones are unconscious memories that refer to deeply ingrained skills and habits.

Explicit memories can further be divided into two categories: episodic and semantic. While episodic memories refer to specific human experiences revolving around one's personal life, semantic memories involve factual information. The severed workers seem to have both semantic and implicit memories, allowing them to function like normal humans. However, their episodic memories have been disabled, preventing them from recalling their lives outside work.

Through the Goldfish Override, Lumon is likely able to disable a worker's ability to retain all explicit memories, both semantic and episodic. While the employees would still be able to retain implicit human functions and habits under this protocol, they would lose their ability to have any long-term memories. This override might have been implemented on Gemma, explaining why she seems robotic in Severance season 1.

3 Lullaby

Puts The Workers To Sleep

While the outies are advised to get a good night's sleep before they show up for work, the innies are punished for sleeping during work. Although the show has not yet explored the impact of sleep on a severed employee's memories, Irving's story suggests that an outie can break into his innie's subconscious through his dreams. Lullaby seems to put an innie to sleep, but Lumon has seemingly not used this protocol because it risks creating memory leaks between the innies and outies. It would be interesting to see why this protocol was created in the first place.

2 Open House

Allows Foreign "Minds" To Access "New" Bodies

"Open House" has to be one of the most mysterious override protocols because it is hard to guess what it means based on its name. Since Severance raises the possibility of transferring a person's consciousness to another one's body using the Lumon chip, Open House likely refers to a protocol that allows multiple "minds" to host one body. The Board itself might be an "open house" for various consciousnesses temporarily co-existing within a shared physical space.

1 Overtime Contingency

Activates Innies In The Outside World

"Overtime Contingency" is one of the most deeply explored overrides in Severance. While Dylan stays behind to activate this override in Severance season 1's ending arc, other MDR workers, like Irving, Helly, and Mark, use it to activate themselves in their outies' worlds. Overtime Contingency was supposed to be used for extreme scenarios to ensure no information was leaked between innies and outies. However, in Severance season 1's finale, the innies use it to learn more about their outies' identities and expose how Lumon treats its severed workers.