What is the 'The Work is mysterious and Important' severance meme? Meaning decoded

The "Work Is Mysterious And Important" meme features Mark, the main character from Severance, portrayed by Adam Scott, who famously raises a finger as he states this line in his office. The show revolves around characters who have divided their consciousness between their professional responsibilities and personal lives, carrying out unusual tasks without understanding their significance. All anyone will tell them is that the work is important. Very mysterious.

The meme serves as a reflection on the various mundane activities we engage in daily without comprehending their purpose. It is the Schrödinger’s Cat of internet humor: both profound and absurd, depending on how deeply you think about it. The phrase implies that the person in the image is engaged in some kind of critical, world-altering task, but the visual context suggests the contrary. They might just be alphabetizing their spice rack or trying to figure out why their printer won’t connect to Wi-Fi.

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Meme Origin

In season 1, episode 4 of Severance, titled The You You Are, Adam Scott delivers this line. As the newly appointed team leader, it's his responsibility to persuade the new employee, Helly R., that a life of perpetual work is not as bad as it seems. When she expresses her concern about the mind-numbing searching for sets of numbers that feel unsettling without understanding the reason, he responds by saying that "the work is mysterious and important."

The joke started gaining traction two episodes into season 2 of Severance as viewers began to uncover more of the show’s secrets. Posts began appearing on various social media platforms and someone has even created a green screen version of the clip on YouTube and TikTok in preparation for the video format.

The beauty of this meme lies in its versatility. It can be applied to virtually any situation, no matter how trivial or bizarre. On January 21, 2025, a user on X, @megannn_lynne, went viral with six million views for her take on the meme, stating:

“Putting a bay leaf in a recipe even though I don’t know what the f*ck it does.”

The meme has caught on since then, with hundreds of users sharing their versions of the meme on social media.

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Applying retinol (via X / @ali_sivi)

Because if I'm going to blindly follow skincare trends, I might as well do it with glowing skin and zero understanding of why.

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Holding for room tone even though idk what it's for (via Instagram / @scriptation)

They told me to hold the room, so here I am, clutching the walls like a spider. We still have no idea why.

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Hyping myself up for another day at the PowerPoint factory (via Instagram / @global_gatsby)

This is a joke that has been there since the dawn of time: "What do consultants do?" We're just as clueless now as we were then.

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Why I'm separating the wet and the dry ingredients (via Instagram / @jow_us)

Separating wet trash from dry trash is quite a hassle. We sincerely hope the garbage men know what they're knowing, making us go through all of these troubles.

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Doing a 5-day cold soak (via Instagram / @AirFriedPaso)

Let's be honest; most of us wouldn't even survive the waiting period.

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Looking up the menu and deciding what to order before I go out to eat (via Instagram / @ynab.official)

Humans are amusing creatures. After spending 45 minutes researching the menu before heading out, we still ask the waiter, 'So what's good here?' Only to end up ordering the same dish we've been ordering for the past 427 years.

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It is the meme's inherent relatability that it has amassed quite the cult following as it offers us a comforting lie. It tells us that our actions, no matter how small or ridiculous, have meaning. It’s the digital equivalent of patting yourself on the back and uniting us all in the shared delusion that whatever we’re doing at any given moment is, in fact, a matter of cosmic significance.

The "Work is mysterious and important" meme also taps into a universal truth: humans are naturally drawn to mystery. We love puzzles, riddles, and the thrill of the unknown. By labeling something as “mysterious and important,” we imbue it with an aura of intrigue. These memes capture that shared belief perfectly.