A woman in blue lies on a conference room table. A voice coming from a speaker asks, “Who are you?”

The woman awakens and groggily says, “Hello.” The voice on the speaker asks if she’d like to take a brief survey. She asks who he is. He says it’s five questions, which should help her feel better. 

She asks who’s speaking, looks around the empty conference room, and gets off the table. She tries to door. It’s locked. The voice wants her to take the survey. She says she’s not taking it. She bangs on the door and tries to open it to no avail. She says she’ll take the five-question survey.

He asks, “Who are you?” and she realizes she doesn’t know. He says if she doesn’t know the answer to say “unknown.”

The voice on the speaker asks, “In which state or territory were you born?” and she doesn’t know.

The voice says, “Name any state or territory.” She says, “Delaware.”

The voice asks, “What is Mr. Eagan’s favorite breakfast?” She doesn’t know.

The voice asks, “What is or was the color of your mother’s eyes?” She gets upset, as she can’t understand what’s happening to her.

The door opens. It’s a man in a suit. He tells her, with the voice from the speaker, that she got a perfect score.

Mark sits in his car, sobbing. He cleans himself up, checks the time, puts on his lanyard and gets out of his car. Mark heads into the Lumon building. He shows his lanyard at the front desk.

The lady at the front desk makes a call. She tells him to go ahead. He buzzes in, walks through the building, goes down the stairs, and buzzes into the “SVER’D ACCESS” area.

Mark puts his things in a locker and gets his other watch, a different keycard/lanyard, and other shoes. The security guard buzzes him through.

Mark descends in the elevator. As the elevator dings, his face changes. The music becomes jaunty. As he walks down the hallway, he finds the Kleenex in his pocket and tosses it in the trash. Occasionally he sniffles.

Mark gets to his office, sits down, and sniffles again. His coworker Dylan asks if he is sick. Mark says he’s not sure but notes that Petey was sniffling the day before. Mark opens a file on his computer and gets to work.

Dylan complains about Petey being out, as he wants to make sure the Tumwater file gets processed.

Irving arrives. They give him grief for his pat greeting. They talk about Petey. Irving mentions how it was in the old days, with simple incentives, and they were grateful.

Mr. Milchick enters. He asks to speak to Mark. Mark gets up and follows Mr. Milchick down the hallway. Mr. Milchick says Ms. Cobel has a new office, and Mark should mention how nice the new office is, even though it’s very similar to her old one.

Mr. Milchick takes Mark to Ms. Cobel, in Administration. Mark mentions that her office is nice, to which she replies that it’s horrid. She remarks that he looks hungover and asks him to take a seat. She says the board will be joining them remotely.

Ms. Cobel announces that Petey is no longer with the company. Mr. Milchick says he is sorry, noting Mark and Petey’s friendship.

Mark is surprised that there was no notice. He wants to know why Petey is gone and where he is. They can’t tell him due to a non-disclosure agreement. Ms. Cobel asks for Mark’s keycard. Ms. Cobel makes Mark the Department Chief of the Macrodata Department and gives him a new keycard. They shake hands.

Ms. Cobel says Mark will be conducting a training session, with Irving shadowing him. They hand him the manual. Mark thanks the silent speakerphone board and exits.

Irving and Mark discuss their new trainee, who is a woman. The last woman that worked with them was Carol S., whom Dylan replaced. Irving tells Mark not to be sad about Petey. Mark assures him that he isn’t.

Mr. Milchick sets up the video feed. Mark reviews the handbook. Irving reminds him that the trainee has to ask to go three times before she can leave.

With the video set up to view the woman lying on the table, Milchick leaves them to it. Mark starts with “Who are you?” and the woman on the table rouses from her sleep. Irving notes that Mark skipped the preamble. Mark apologizes and goes back to the beginning, asking if she wants to take a short five-question survey.

The woman tries to get out -- into their room. Irving notes that she’s not supposed to do that. Mr. Milchick checks with Ms. Cobel, asking if she’s watching and if he should help. She tells him he should not. Once the survey is completed, Mark goes into the room and talks to the woman, noting that he missed the preamble.

The woman asks if she is livestock -- grown for food with no memories. He assures her that is not the case. She asks her name. He tells her she is Helly R. They sit down. Mark reads from the manual, explaining that this is an orientation, and she has been hired for a position on the severed floor of Lumon Industries.

Mark starts to explain about work-life balance and the severance procedure. She throws the speaker at his head and runs for the door, but he tells her it locks from the outside. He tries to calm her, sits down, and indicates she should do the same. Helly sits.

Mark realizes his forehead is bleeding. He introduces himself as Mark. He tells her he woke up on the table some years ago, got asked by a disembodied voice who he was, and when he realized he couldn’t answer, he said he would kill the voice.

Helly asks if he killed the voice, and Mark assures her that he did not. That voice was Petey, who became his best friend.

Mark starts to talk about a seesaw, and Helly grabs his handbook, trying to pull it out of his hands. He looks to the security camera. Ms. Cobel and Irving watch from different rooms. Mark tells Helly to ask again -- she has to ask three times. Helly asks to leave again, and Mark says he can get her out.

Mark walks Helly down the hallway through the department. He tells her they are working on an expansion, but she is not part of that –- she is a replacement. Mark leads Helly to the exit, where she’ll go into the stairwell. He explains that he’s not allowed to watch her leave and stays around the corner.

Helly looks out the window to the stairwell and exits, only to find herself back in the hallway she just tried to exit. She tries to leave again, and the same thing happens. She tries again.

She’s gone for a minute or so before she re-enters and goes back down the hallway. She asks Mark if she is dead and if this is Hell. He assures her neither is the case.

Helly asks why she can’t leave. He tells her she did leave – she went into the stairwell but then returned.

Mr. Milchick cleans and bandages Mark’s forehead. Ms. Cobel talks to Helly, telling her there’s only one more part of her orientation – a video. Mark asks Ms. Cobel if she is mad at him. She responds affirmatively and tells him it’s the people that make the department good or bad.

Mr. Milchick plays Helly her video. It’s her, from roughly two hours earlier, reading a statement.

She states that she has elected to take the severance procedure and gives consent to split her work and personal lives, with no memories of her home life while at work and no memory of work during her home life. She understands that severance is comprehensive and irreversible.

Helly goes to her desk. She confirms with the others that she will never leave. Mark assures her that she’ll leave at five or five-ish, as exits are staggered.

Helly asks if she has a family. He says she’ll never know. She says she has no choice to be here. Mark points out that every time she finds herself here, it’s because she chose to return. Helly sits at her computer.

Mark scans himself out at the end of the day. As the elevator dings, his selves switch. He goes to his locker, gets his watch and lanyard, and leaves the Lumon building.

He finds an envelope on his car windshield, which informs him that he slipped on an overhead projector and hurt his temple. Enclosed is a VIP gift card to Pip’s Bar and Grille as compensation.

As Mark leaves the parking lot, he almost runs into Helly (who he doesn’t recognize). She tells him to watch where he’s going.

Mark drives home, gets home, and drinks a beer while watching television. In the morning, he takes out his recycling. He calls his neighbor, Mrs. Selvig, to let her know she has put the wrong bins out.

Mark drinks some whiskey and watches television. His sister, Devon, comes to pick him up. She asks him if he forgot, which he admits he did.

His sister drives, saying she thought he’d want to be around people, given that it’s nearing the anniversary. She asks about his head injury. He says it’s from work, but work apologized and gave him a gift card to Pip’s.

At Devon’s house, Devon’s partner Ricken greets Mark with a hug. Ricken, Devon, Mark, and a few friends sit around a dinner table -- with no dinner, just glasses of water, having a conversation.

One of them, Danise, asks about Mark’s work. He tells them he is a former history professor, primarily focused on World War I. Another friend, Patton, notes that people called it the Great War, not World War I. Mark says that’s because World War II hadn’t happened yet.

Ricken tells everyone that Mark’s late wife, Gemma, was an educator specializing in Russian Literature, and that Mark works for Lumon now. They ask if he designs the medicines. He says he’s in the corporate archives.

Ricken notes that Mark’s work is sensitive enough that he’s had the severance procedure. Everyone gets quiet and awkward.

Devon tells Ricken that it’s Mark’s choice to tell people about that or not. Ricken apologizes. Danise says she wishes she could do it but worries she’d always be thinking about her other self. Danise asks what it feels like. Patton explains it, then checks with Mark if he got it right. Danise asks more questions about the time loss.

Patton remarks that it’s as if a version of Mark is trapped down there, but then stops. Mark urges him to go on. Another awkward silence. Ricken tries to smooth things over, stating that Mark made a decision, though it was a controversial one, but Ricken stands behind Mark’s choice.

Everyone else concurs. Ricken notes that the lack of food has enhanced the conversation.

Later, Devon makes Mark a sandwich and apologizes for the evening’s events. She asks how therapy is going. He replies non-committally, and she realizes he hasn’t been going. He says work has helped.

Devon is proud of him for taking the job and says Gemma would have been too. Devon doesn’t want him to use severance as a replacement for actually processing Gemma’s death.

Devon insists that Mark crashes with them tonight. They set him up in their unborn baby’s future bed (they have set up all the beds for their child’s life in advance, having heard that it avoids the trauma of changing beds).

Mark has trouble sleeping, so he gets up for a glass of water. He notices a man outside in the dark. He turns on a light and goes to get a better look. It’s a dishevelled man in a business suit. A car drives by. When the light is gone, so is the man.

In the morning, Mark tells his sister that a businessman was in the yard the night before. Mark remarks it looks like the businessman recognized him. Devon mentions that there’s a bar down the road, so it was probably a straggler.

At home, Mark cleans out his gutters and looks out over the town.

Mark goes to eat at Pip’s and sits in the VIP area. He gets a call from Mrs. Selvig, asking about the bins again. He says he can’t talk, as he’s out at dinner. The businessman from the night before sits down in his booth. Mark hangs up. The man says, “Hi, kids, what’s for dinner?” – Irving’s morning greeting.

Mark doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Mark asks if the man is following him. The man introduces himself as Petey, from work. He explains that he was severed, but he bypassed the implant with help.

Petey sniffles. He says he lodged a complaint, and Mark did, too. Petey explains that Graner is after him. Mark asks who Graner is. Petey says they both know Graner and don’t like him.

Petey gives Mark a card. He says he wants to ensure that the things he knows remain known, should anything happen to him. He says he’s Mark’s best friend. Petey leaves.

Mark gets in his car and looks at the card. It reads, “Happy Birthday Niece.” In the card, Petey writes that they used to wonder what kind of men they were on the outside. He had considered that he was a monster to put himself in a prison like that.

Petey says they aren’t monsters. He states that he won’t force Mark’s knowledge if he doesn’t want to know what’s going on, but if he does, there’s an address at the bottom of the card, where he should go alone to get the beginning of the answer.

Mark gets home and makes sure to put the proper bins are out. Mrs. Selvig comes out of her house, asking Mark about his dinner and apologizing for the bin mix-up. He tells her goodnight. She says he’s “good people.” Mark goes inside to sleep, and she watches him. Mrs. Selvig is really Ms. Cobel.