Season 2 of Severance reveals just how big Lumon Industries is

Spoilers for Season 2 of “Severance” follow.

Lumon Industries’ secrets continue to unfold “Break Up” Season 2and the first episode contains some interesting clues about the true size of the mysterious company. The season premiere takes place entirely within the office. This means we still have to wait to get some answers about what’s happening outside of Lomon, but new questions are already starting to emerge.

The company has undergone some changes in the five or so months since the end of Season 1, with a lot of lip service to the quality of life for the insiders. When Mark (Adam Scott) returns to the office, his former team at Macrodata Refinement (MDR) has been replaced by three new faces, all brought in from other Lumon branches. This gives a sense of the company’s reach, as well as the disparity between branches. Staff compare notes on the Eternal Pavilions of their old branches, highlighting how better-funded certain areas of Lomon are. It appears that one of the employees, Dario R. Stefano Caranante, was stationed in Italy before, due to his first language.

Later in the episode, after the original MDR crew returns, Mr. Milchik (Tramell Tillman) brings them to the newly renovated break room. He shows them an animated video detailing the events of Season 1 and the subsequent reformations. One part of the video states that Lumon operates in 206 countries, making it much larger than viewers previously thought.

If Lumon operates in 206 countries, that raises other questions. Currently, only 195 countries are recognized by the United Nations. However, this number grows slightly on other lists, based on which territories are recognized as sovereign states. For example, the Olympics recognize exactly 206 different competitions from around the world, which includes countries not recognized by the UN such as Kosovo and Taiwan.

In other words, either Lemon realizes this larger vision of independent states and works in every possible state on Earth, or The world of “Severance” in the near future It witnessed some political unrest and the redrawing of borders. Either way, there’s a lot to be curious about. In the same educational video, it is again confirmed that Lumon was founded in 1870. This leaves a century and a half for global expansion, but we still don’t know what Lumon actually does. The show is said to be a biotechnology company, which is partly evident from the action of the chapter itself and the allusions to the unnaturally long lives shown in the Egan family.

The exact wording regarding the 206 countries is “from which Lumon operates.” This does not necessarily mean that there are branches in every country, but it certainly seems that way. The building in which the show is held is referred to as Branch 501. However, this does not necessarily make sense. What kind of business requires physical locations in hundreds of countries just for people to sit at a desk in front of a computer? The office we see in the show is barely staffed, so it also doesn’t appear to be a manpower issue.

The only thing that makes more sense after learning how important Lumon is internationally is why the protests against the separation measures have been largely unsuccessful. In the first season, we see that there is a widespread movement trying to legally ban secession. While a domestic company would certainly have the ability to disrupt legislative action through extensive lobbying, Lomon’s status as a global power in biotechnology would give it limitless influence not only over the US government, but over Governments around the world.

Until we know more about what Lumon actually does, it’s hard to guess the exact value it could contribute to the world’s rich and powerful. But given that the company is literally creating a slave workforce in every country on Earth, there’s a lot of room to imagine why the people in charge of things would want to let Lumon continue its work.

The bigger question is how visible the cult-like religious traditions surrounding its founder, Keir Egan, are to the outside world. While international corporations can accumulate enormous power and influence under global capitalism, the entire culture around Lumon is quite alien, in a way that you’d think would make more people wary. We’ll have to wait a bit more before all the pieces (hopefully) start to fit together. This is the way Shows like “Break Up” a job.

One other piece of evidence worth noting about the size of Lumon is that Mark W says it was transferred to the Kier branch after its branch closed. This may simply be a matter of poor productivity – as Mark S. That his MDR team never sets quotas — but that may also be a sign that the company isn’t doing well after a recent bout of bad press. .

While legislation prohibiting the dismissal procedure clearly did not materialize, Mr. Melchik explains that the escape of the MDR crew in Season 1 made a lot of news. That may have been enough to prompt some closures and consolidations, especially when you consider that the different companies Lumon operates in will all have different regulations.

If Lumon is hurting, there may be more pressure on characters like Milchik to secure things. Hopefully more secrets about what Lumon is really up to will be revealed soon.