Hot take or maybe cold take, the entire show actually is just a simulation.

Many people say this would be a boring copout, but I think it's actually the most plausible theory. And I don't really understand how it makes the show any less enjoyable. Tangentially related, you can't even prove reality isn't a simulation.

Okay so here's why I think it's a simulation. Almost all of the characters who have been severed and actually EXPLORED as characters have seemingly had pretty rough lives. I think that Severance actually IS just a grief processing simulation. For example, Mark clearly didn't give his wife love and respect like he THOUGHT he did. It was clear that his wife didn't want to try for a child a third time, and yet he pushed her to anyway. For me that was the dead giveaway that it is a simulation. I think he did love Gemma, but he REALLY loves Helly. Like on another level. I think he had expectations when he was with Gemma because he is drinking whiskey while he is dismantling the baby's crib. Another small detail, is that he gave his wife the ant farm decoration thing, because he genuinely thought that she said ants, but she said plants. Now obviously this is minor, but it shows how there were cracks before the relationship even started.

Now, to go even deeper, it IS possible that Gemma is in fact dead. I don't think you can actually ignore the car crash, and I think this is going to be brought up again. It's possible that she just died, and when Mark is walking away at the end of S2 during their escape, Mark is actually finally resolving the fact that his wife is dead and he has moved on. As I'm typing this, I think that's actually what happened. Mark is learning to let go. The entire show is just a metaphor for trauma and resolving it. Possibly. I think the show really is just about grief and moving on. People say the show will be 6 seasons, but if I'm being real, I can't see it. For example, Ms. Selvig/Harmony Cobel said she cares for Mark. And I believe it. She's clearly just traumatized from the loss of her mother which we see very well.

I think Severance is literally just an artistic lense from which the show is trying to look flashy. If that makes sense. The show has severe focuses on aestheticism and you see it from the paintings, the general color direction such as grey, it shows how the characters just aren't as happy as they think they are. And when they go underground to the Severed Floor, they have all these vibrant colors. Like, Innie Mark tells Outie Mark, they make it work. They are happy in a weird twisted way.

Anyway, I can go on longer, but I think it's going to be a somewhat anticlimactic ending with the show "zooming" out to actual reality where it shows that all of these characters actually are just in a simulation as a form of healing. I'm predicting a happy ending. Now, I could be dead wrong, but I actually don't think I am. I've read a lot of stories and watched a lot of shows and movies in my life, and I think I might be pretty on the Mark (nice pun lol). Even if it's not a simulation it doesn't really matter. Great show.