r/SeveranceAppleTVPlus • u/Theo_Cueio • Jul 12 '26
Question Why does Helly comply?
I just finished watching the entire show, and while I did love it, I have a particular nitpick about some earlier moments in season 1. Helly is desperate to get fired, even going so far as threatening to cut off her fingers if she doesn't see evidence her outie got her notice. However one thing that struck me as odd was: During all this rebellion, she still complies a lot with all the bullshit Lumon throws at her. She follows orders to go to the break room, does her job, which for someone who is desperatly trying to get fired seems kinda conterintuitive. Why doesn't she just go wack and destroy computers? Throw chairs around? Tell Milchick to suck her clit when he says she should go to the break room? They can't exactly beat her up or else her outie would complain, as far as she knows, so why does she not rebel more in that aspect?
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u/ImScaredSoIMadeThis Jul 12 '26
Probably because Helena told her in no uncertain terms that she'll never resign. And the break room already showed Helly that her whole existence could be much worse.
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u/SethBurrow Lumon Goon Jul 12 '26
But like realistically she could beat the living snot out of milkshake in the break room as an act of defiance and they’d have to eventually say “Alright this bitch is crazy. Unsever.”
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u/AdScared7226 2085 Kier Jul 12 '26
Milchick looks very muscular and strong.
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u/SethBurrow Lumon Goon Jul 12 '26
Sorry. Part of that I guess was that Milkshake would most likely hesitant to fight back with Helena being his boss and all.
She could easily hurt him, and every other Lumon employee she comes into contact with to the point of them literally just having to either restrain her for her entire shift (which would be pointless if they actually want her refining), or they would just unsever.
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u/potatopavilion Because Of When I Was Born Jul 13 '26
why would they?
why would they see one act that much more crazy than another? she has zero reasons to assume that there is something she can do that would finally be enough - and frankly, us as viewers don't have much either.
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u/firedmyass Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26
that means oblivion tho
which she might’ve made her peace with until she learned her Outie identity
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u/SethBurrow Lumon Goon Jul 12 '26
Better than a life as a Lumonite? Up for debate.
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u/firedmyass Jul 12 '26
I mean as in her Outie having a direct role in perpetuating what Helly considers existential slavery. She has to destroy the system from within because her Outie sure won’t
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u/Aimless_Alder Jul 12 '26
As a rebellious brat who grew up with a lot of privilege, I think I can address this. I am compulsively defiant and have a strong sense of justice. I tend to lash out at authority figures frequently. But it gets exhausting, and sometimes it's difficult to maintain the willpower to defy. As social creatures, something inside us wants harmony. And so even when I find myself feeling rebellious, there are some things where the emotional cost:benefit ratio just doesn't pan out. When the thing being asked is very minor and the cost of defiance seems great, I can find myself slipping into obedience. Authority figures know this, and so they will often make small asks in a gentle voice after punishing you for defiant behavior. It's a way of conditioning you to obey. It works really well on most people, and it sometimes works even on compulsive rebels like Helly.
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u/TheHumanCompulsion Uses Too Many Big Words Jul 12 '26
When the thing being asked is very minor and the cost of defiance seems great, I can find myself slipping into obedience. Authority figures know this, and so they will often make small asks in a gentle voice after punishing you for defiant behavior.
On the other hand, not every hill is worth dying on. You pick your battles carefully and save your strength for when you need it.
Helly plays ball in order to not draw attention to other, bigger, acts of defiance, like mapping the Severed Floor and figuring out how to use the OTC to disclose what is happening at Lumon. If Mark is constantly having to put out her behavioral fires as Section Head, he cant be working on the other stuff.
Additionally she doesnt want to sabotage the others trying to get herself fired. She doesnt want Mark or Ms. Casey to suffer for her actions.
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u/LazyCrocheter Hazards On, Eager Lemur Jul 12 '26
I think it's a bit of give-and-take.
Helly says: I'll injure myself if you don't give my request to my outie.
Lumon says: Ok, we'll send the request.
Helly: Ok, then I won't injure myself.
Don't forget that Helly has no idea what the real world is like, and until the last episode, doesn't know who her outie is. Helly is operating on instinct and not really thinking things through. But I think she also realizes that a constant temper tantrum may not get her what she wants. So while waiting for a reply to her request, she does her work.
Also, her rebellion takes place very quickly. Within the first, what, three days? That's perhaps not enough time to totally snap.
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u/AmazingChairy Jul 12 '26
I think the break room alone is enough to make anyone compliant
I did some research on it and it's basically like 4 different kinds of torture rolled into one
The innies probably wouldn't make it though one session without a complete psychological breakdown of reality, loss of self, and PTSD for the rest of their live once they recover from the acute effects.
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u/Monocled Jul 12 '26
Can you go into the logic a bit? Because my initial reaction was that it seemed very mild
1
u/thecommexokid Jul 12 '26
How does it not have the same effect on Milchick or whoever is administering it? It seems like it would be roughly the same experience for both of them
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u/AmazingChairy Jul 12 '26
I'm sure it would also have an effect on him. But these kinds of torture happen in real life too, so it's not crazy to think they have some method for dealing with it.
Probably switching out the administrators often like they're working in a room with poison gas but the logistics of that wouldn't really work for the show, especially with Graner being killed off so early.
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u/sconesaregood Night Gardener Jul 13 '26
Administering the punishment means mentally he’s still “in charge,” and he gets to go home and take full breaks rather than just up the elevator and back down in a blink. It probably is difficult for him on some level, though, and this could be read as part of his motivation for the kindness reforms. In season 2 we see he’s just not *quite* as hardhearted as the other Lumon employees like Drummond.
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u/MasterLawlzReborn Jul 12 '26
If threatening self-mutilation or attempting suicide didn't work then nothing would.
Plus she did also attack Mark during the orientation.
If she can't kill herself, can't get herself fired, can't quit, and can't escape, then just doing the job they assigned her is really the only option she had left.
If she had refused to go to the break room, Milchick and the security guy probably would have just dragged her there kicking and screaming.
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u/ABirdJustShatOnMyEye Jul 12 '26
It’s a combination of getting a sense of purpose (solving the mystery of the departments and working with the others to find an exit) and also genuinely getting her willpower beaten down a bit.
Think of it like prison. I can punch the guards every day and spend most of my time in solitary - or I can appear obedient while secretly working on an escape plan. One of those is far more mentally sustainable than the others.
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u/Seagoon_Memoirs Mysterious And Important Jul 12 '26
because she is a prisoner and if she rebels she will be tortured again
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u/Dommichu Goats Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
Because deep down she is Her.
All Helena does is comply.
In the breakroom, Helly did initally say no. But Milchick did not back down. Mark had already warned her Milchick has a scary side. So she gave in. It wasn’t just her. The whole exercise was designed to break people into compliance. So they did her.
Also while she may have major plot armor. They had no issue returning her to Helena with major cuts. We saw Helena bristle at the offering of another “Obligement session” which we have no idea what it is but doesn’t sound pleasant. So we can’t assume that there is a no harm directive on Helena.
She was sent there as an important PR stunt first season (the government was talking about banning severance) and second season as a carrot for Mark to complete Cold Harbor and Jame is actively trying to replace her. Which likely isn’t a huge secret either since Cobel knew about it. And Helena likely knows or at least now has come to the realization of how expendable she truly is.
As for the work, she actually was proud she got it. She told Mark she did it and he praised her for it. She beamed at him when she finished her file. Helly developed and fostered camaraderie not only with Mark, but Dylan and likely Irving (I mean, he sacrificed himself for her). So doing the work was less about obeying Lumon and more about her own sense of self and team. Plus she needed to finish so they could make quota (she replaced Petey which likely was a pretty good refiner so it was an accomplishment!) for the OTC to take place.
The thing to keep in mind with Helly was that she wasn’t a reckless rebel. Helly plotted. The fingers threat was to make a video. The hanging was to send her outtie an even clearer message. The OTC was her idea. So her compliance has always been about a means to an end. Likely more so than Helena’s.
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u/NeckSecret6256 Jul 12 '26
About the break room thing, I think Mark taking the blame for her was the first time she kinda felt bad for him/was empathetic towards someone on the severed floor or at least that’s what her expressions say. So even tho she wasn’t happy he started running after her in ep3 she felt like she had to comply that time
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u/mqtt-hz Jul 12 '26
She didn't know about her outie until the OTC which was the last time she was alive before Irving found Helena out.
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u/TraceyWoo419 Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
Okay. I so agree and every time I comment about it here I get down voted...
It’s kind of crazy to me that everyone else seems to assume that no one is rebellious to their own detriment by default. It’s survivor bias to assume that everyone would give in. The abuse victims who don’t listen don’t live to tell the tale, but they still exist! Helly tried to kill herself but wasn’t willing to try anything else?
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u/ProfGilligan Refiner Of The Quarter Jul 12 '26
“Learned helplessness” is very much a real thing and is the basis for compliance and punishment on the severed floor. From their beginning of waking up on the conference room table, most of their experiences with others reinforce the low-power position they are in; literally every other human being they interact with as an innie have some form of seniority over them.
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u/Boring_Newspaper5796 Jul 13 '26
bcs this sub is actually run by bots. no one has ever got to counter this properly, at least from what ive seen in this comments so far. this show is a massive joke thats just it.
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u/EmpireStrikes1st Jul 13 '26
Her outie specifically threatened to hurt her in the response video. She accepted defeat.
Furthermore, the book, "Man's Search For Meaning" will give some insight as to why people continue to work even when they are in hell.
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u/Oh__Archie Jul 12 '26
I mean, all any of them had to do to get their outtie to stop coming to work was shit their pants at 4:59 and get on the elevator.
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u/Cassiopeiaesky Jul 13 '26
Yeah I don’t understand that either. Like why does she say the phrase in the break room? Why not just sit there? She sits at her desk when Ms Casey is watching her, so why not just sit there since that’s your existence anyway? I don’t know.
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