‘Severance‘ is a psychological thriller and business drama about the employees of Lumon Industries. The creepy headquarters of the corporation is the scene of a terrible conspiracy that is slowly unravelling in front of our eyes.
Viewers learn more about Lumon and its ethics as the employees try to figure out the true nature of their job and the severance procedure.
Dylan, a fan favourite character, receives a waffle party for his success during the quarter in the eighth episode of the first season. However, as fans are well aware, the waffle party is much more than just a fun lunch.
Here’s everything you need to know about the show’s perplexing Waffle Party scene if you’re looking for an explanation!
Must Read: Severance Episode 8 Recap and Ending Explained
What Is the Waffle Party’s Significance? Who Were Wearing Masks?
The MDR team completes its quarterly quota in the eighth episode of ‘Severance,’ aptly titled ‘What’s for Dinner?’ Dylan is named Refiner of the Quarter and is treated to a waffle party, as is customary. In the second episode of the series, Dylan mentions the waffle party for the first time, and he is pretty enthusiastic about it.
He thinks it’s one of the nicest things an employee can get at Lumon for their hard work. The waffle party appears to be a humorous take on the corporate world, where employees are frequently rewarded with mundane incentives for their efforts.
The waffle party, on the other hand, is revealed in the eighth episode, and it turns out to be something utterly unexpected. Despite the fact that Dylan is served waffles, the meal is followed by a very sensual event. Dylan dons the mask of Lumon’s inventor, Kier Egan, and experiences a close-up performance by four people wearing masks.
Three of them look to be female, while the fourth appears to be male. The four actors’ masks are based on the four tempers stated in the third episode of Kier’s books: Woe, Frolic, Dread, and Malice. The scene suggests that Dylan is free to engage in sexual activity with these individuals. However, he skips this section in order to activate the Overtime Contingency.
Dan Erickson, the show’s creator, talked about the Waffle Party scene in an interview with Variety. He added that the scenario depicts the commercialisation of sex and intimacy in a setting where such parts of human existence are not permitted.
He further claimed that the scene’s sexual aspect signifies the taming of the four tempers, and that Lumon justifies it because of its significance to its founder and ideology. “So I just felt that was an odd, unusual, unsettling question that we should investigate.”
On this sliced floor, what would sex look like? And this is the best we could come up with,” Erickson continued.
Ben Stiller, who directed the episode, added his two cents on the Waffle Party scene, stating that it represented Lumon employees’ highest form of compensation. Humans frequently regard sexual fulfilment as the ultimate form of reward.
The Waffle Party being a veiled (literal and figurative) sexual experience makes sense because Lumon employees are simply a portion of their true selves and do not exist outside the severed floor. Furthermore, according to Stiller, the moment feeds into Kier’s cult-like philosophy, making the sexual experience semi-religious.
Finally, the Waffle Party scene contributes to the mystique around Lumon’s ethics and represents its founder’s ideology. It also gives the Innies’ lives, which are confined to the severed floor, more depth. It gives these characters’ humanity and experiences a whole new significance.