The theme is consent: Lumon tested severance on prisoners first

I think that when Burt tells the story about joining Lumon 20 years ago to be “saved”, it was a half-truth. Burt stated that he had a past as a “scoundrel.” I think this is a hint that 20 years ago he was facing serious prison time for a crime, and Lumon offered “work release” as a form of alternative sentencing. Burt agreed to it so that his outtie could be home with Fields while his innie served his sentence in Lumon.

So really it’s the reverse of the story they tell Irving: Burt’s innie was in “hell” while his outtie stayed together in “heaven” with Fields.

Fields’ concerns are like those of anyone who has had a long term incarcerated partner: they may understand that their partner has to live their life on the inside and that may mean finding love with someone else, but it still hurts.

And perhaps there is a grain of truth in the story: Lumon likely bought Church support in order to recruit workers and garner general public support (if my pastor says severance is a way to earn redemption, then it can’t be bad! Lumon is rehabbing criminals and drug addicts and illegal immigrants and mentally ill people, so let’s contract our prisons and rehabs and hospitals and schools and community service programs through them!). Lumon tests their medical technology on and recruits workers from vulnerable populations that cannot truly consent.

Perhaps we are meant to understand that Cobel is an additional hint to this dynamic: an orphan placed under the custody of Lumon, raised and indoctrinated in their boarding schools, much like how the catholic and Mormon churches stole indigenous children from their families and indoctrinated them through boarding schools and white adoptive families under the guise of “child welfare.”

It parallels the issues of consent that arise from Helena using Helly’s body: Helena raped Mark because she misrepresented who she was, and for Helly, it’s like finding out you were raped while unconscious. contrasted this with Helly’s explicit consent to Mark in this episode.

Edit: more validation! In the post that shows us the FUZU props, one of the articles discusses the protesters concerns with Lumon, and they specifically mention prison contracts! Also there’s a band called Ceiling Anus.