Severed Characters & the Five Elements
I recently learned about the Chinese concepts of the "Five Elements" or the "Five Phases" and I can't help thinking that they match up pretty darn well with the five main severed characters in Severance.
Here I propose that the five elements of metal, wood, fire, water, and earth are represented by Mark S, Dylan G, Helly R, Irving B, and Ms Casey. There is also a bit of overlap with their outies. The characters' interactions are representative of the relationships between these elements. I've included some key quotes that I think encapsulate these personalities.
Metal - Mark S/Mark Scout
Emotional qualities: Rigidity, focus, integrity, righteousness. At the beginning of season 1, Mark S wants nothing to do with Helly's investigations and only wants to focus on his work ("I'm loyal to how it felt around here before you showed up"). Later, with Ms Casey, he wants to do something to stop her from getting fired ("Let me talk to somebody," "There must be something we can do," etc)
Other associations: Loss/grief. Mark S was created out of grief for Gemma.
Relationships with other elements:
Metal erodes earth: Gemma's IVF treatments wore her down until she was feeling "beat to shit." His petulant solution ("So, let's stop.") didn't make her feel any better and their marriage seemed to hit a snag.
Metal de-energizes fire: Mark S is cold to Helly when she comes back in S2E5 and it jars her. She is off-balance for a little while until they make up.
Wood - Dylan G
Emotional qualities: Courageous, social, and motivated, but can be easily frustrated or irritated. Dylan G is highly motivated by Lumon's perks like the waffle party and his beloved finger traps, but can get upset quickly (he bites Mr Milchick during the MDE, he takes Irving's death the hardest, he cries out after Gretchen declines his marriage proposal).
Other associations: Childhood/youth. Dylan G is the only severed employee that we know has children, and they are a key part of his character development from season 1 through season 2.
Relationships with other elements:
Wood feeds fire: Dylan and Helly frequently work together and enjoy a sibling bond with teasing and caring. In both season finales, Dylan performs some heroic act to save or otherwise help Helly.
Wood dulls metal: Dylan can be snippy to Mark S. He sees right through him before Mark S even realizes he is crushing on Helly. ("Look at you all dewy-mouthed. You never smile at me.") He also mocks him from the very beginning during his first morning announcements as chief refiner ("Why are you standing weird? Stand normal.") Dylan helps keep Mark S in check.
Fire - Helly R/Helena
Emotional qualities: Spontaneity, drive, transformative. Helly drives all of the innies' growth in season 1, and both Helly and Helena continue to be changemakers in season 2. Helena doesn't tattle on the innies during episodes 1-4, and Helly has her big speech to the marching band in the season 2 finale. Plus, Jame himself apparently said that he saw the "fire of Kier" in Helly when he met her in S2E9.
Other associations: Recklessness. In season 1, Helly is impulsive to the point of destruction. She writes on her skin with markers, she threatens to chop her fingers off, she hangs herself. This seems to be tamed a little bit during season 2 because she now has a reason to live.
Relationships with other elements:
Fire evaporates water: The return of Helly directly led to the death of Irving B -- Fire caused water to disappear.
Fire produces earth: Without Helly's questioning in season 1 and Helly/Helena's help in season 2, they would never have known about Gemma's existence, and therefore they never would have found her at all.
Fire metals/refines metal: Helly's influence breaks down Mark S' rigidity and forces him to change.
Water - Irving B
Emotional qualities: Wisdom, softness, resourcefulness. In season 1 he is full to the brim of Kierisms and quotes from the handbook. He is the one who brings the group to the Perpetuity Wing and expects everyone to marvel at it. When the group finds the dead seal at the ORTBO, Irving suggests they eat it so they don't starve.
Other associations: Death, old age. Irving B's death and funeral in season 2 is a turning point for Dylan (and Helly), helping propel their actions in the season finale. ("Our friend Irving is gone, and they want our whole department gone.")
Bonus! Ms Casey literally tells Irving B: "Your outie values water."
Relationships with other elements:
Water feeds wood: Irving and Dylan undeniably have a special bond and are quite close ("I'm your favorite perk"). Dylan is distraught when Irving is killed, he is the one who insists on a funeral, and he delivers the eulogy for him.
Water rusts metal: Irving scolds Mark S for flirting with Helena during the ORTBO. ("Using your pupils to make love to her while your outie's wife rots away somewhere.")
Water cools fire: Irving drowns Helena in order to bring back Helly.
Earth - Ms Casey/Gemma
Emotional qualities: Stability, practicality, nurturing, fidelity. Our first snippet of information about Gemma was when Mark empathically told Alexa that Gemma was "very pragmatic." We also see that Gemma clings to every single memory of Mark while imprisoned on the testing floor. (Not that she exactly has many opportunities to meet other people down there, but still - she is incredibly loyal to him and flat-out refuses to believe that he moved on.)
Other associations: Being the center of everything, or being the turning point of the seasons in the year. Gemma's death directly created Mark S, and Ms Casey's absence drove the plot in season 2.
Relationships with other elements:
Earth bears metal: Gemma and Mark's marriage was initially very strong. According to Devon, "She made you wonderful." She made him happy. Likewise, Gemma's death created Mark S -- earth bore metal once again.
Earth rots wood: Ms Casey declined Dylan G's request for a hug, and it seems that Dylan was pining after her for a while ("Goddamn tragedy for the ages. MDR will mourn the will-they-won't-they energy shared by Ms Casey and myself").
Earth directs water: During their wellness session, Ms Casey has to repeatedly instruct Irving not to react. Later, she tells Irving that Burt G is in the conference room, even though nobody asked for that information.
There are a ton of other interactions between these characters that don't seem to have happened yet. Things like "wood depletes the earth" or "earth smothers fire." Does this mean that we can expect these to play out in seasons 3 and 4? Only time will tell!!
