"The We We Are" is the ninth episode and first season finale of the American science fiction psychological thriller television series Severance.
In the episode, Dylan activates the overtime contingency, allowing Mark, Irving and Helly to wake up in the outside world as their innies.
The episode received universal acclaim, with critics praising the writing, performances, directing, score, tension, reveals and cliffhanger.
Helly (Britt Lower) finds herself at a gala, meeting Natalie (Sydney Cole Alexander) and Gabby Arteta (Nora Dale).
Back inside the severed floor's security room, Dylan (Zach Cherry) contorts himself to hold down the two switches enabling the overtime contingency.
Mark meets Devon (Jen Tullock) for the first time and attempts to hold a private conversation with her to divulge his situation, but they experience several interruptions.
Hidden in a secret compartment, he discovers that his outie has been gathering information on a long list of severed Lumon employees, including Burt (Christopher Walken), whose location is marked on a map.
At the gala, Helly finds that her outie underwent the severance procedure as a PR stunt to help build public support for legalizing it.
She finds a large photo display full of seemingly happy moments between her and the MDR team - captured on camera by Milchick - and learns that she is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the gala.
Milchick rushes to the security room but finds Dylan has tied the door shut from the inside with his belt, and begins to cut through it.
While Erickson felt viewers would be upset, he deemed it "by far the most effective point where we could have ended this part of the story, storytelling-wise and for the characters.
Club gave the episode an "A" and wrote, "“The We We Are” is a rush of pure adrenaline interspersed with moments of angst and dark humor.
"[9] Myles McNutt of Episodic Medium wrote, "Skeptical as I am of the 7-hour pilot, though, I left the first season of Severance feeling like this is the best possible execution of it, and the limitations placed on “The We We Are” nonetheless create something that lifts the stories that came before it.
"[10] Breeze Riley of Telltale TV gave the episode a perfect 5 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "Despite these loose ends, there is still satisfaction in seeing the innies' breakthrough.
"[12] Caemeron Crain of TV Obsessive wrote, "Severance Season 2 is reportedly in production, so hopefully we won't have to wait too terribly long for this story to continue.
Lower played the stunning reveal with remarkable precision, with Helly slowly putting together the pieces while not betraying the truth to her corporate peers.
When Helly uncorked the truth about Lumon's severance procedure in a torrent of rage, Lower finally let a season's worth of frustration and despair come spilling out to the surface.