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In yet another feat of ingenious marketing, Apple has now released an eight-chapter edition of “The You You Are,” the middling self-help book that regardless proves radical for the innies at Severance, inspiring them to lead a revolt against titan of industry Kier Eagan’s Lumon in Season 1.
Under the purview of Apple Books (Apple TV+ is home to the mystery-box thriller), the book is drawn from the critically acclaimed world of Severance, hailing from writer-creator Dan Erickson, executive producer/director Ben Stiller and stars Adam Scott, Britt Lower, John Turturro and Zach Cherry.
“In his quinquennial tome, Dr. Ricken Lazlo Hale, PhD guides You on a brave journey of self-learnedness. Fertile with mind-engorging insights, The You You Are is an invitation to merge with your true ‘You,’ and expel from your essence the dead-eyed conventionalism that has defined your life since infancy,” the Apple description of the release reads.
Released Jan. 31 and featuring 39 pages of material, the tome’s introduction seems to allude to recent plot points in the latest episode made available to stream, titled “Who Is Alive?” In Episode 3, Michael Chernus’ Ricken Hale is offered a preliminary book deal by Lumon PR rep Natalie (Sydney Cole Alexander), who wants to reconfigure “The You You Are” for innies — surely an innocuous request that includes certain “verbiage” changes claimed to be more suitable for the work-bound personas of the corporation. The character notes in the intro that “events beyond my control have led to a brief delay as I liaise with several corporate parties as to precisely where and in what form the book should be released,” leading some fans on Reddit to theorize about the book being the proposed innie-appropriate version.
In the book’s outro, Hale writes, “I apologize for any agony caused by the delay of the complete work.”
Severance, which debuts new Season 2 episodes on Fridays, follows Mark Scout (Scott) on the “severed” work floor of Lumon Industries, whose employees have opted into a surgical procedure that separates their work and personal lives, as he begins to unravel the mystery behind the company’s true aims.