It’s been a tough season two for poor Irving on Severance (which streams on Apple TV+). First, he loses Burt, the love of his (innie) life. Then, he wakes up in a frozen tundra where nobody believes him about Helena posing as Helly and nobody will let him eat a seal. Now, he’s officially fired and remembered only as a smiling head of watermelon. Thems the breaks.

But coming out of the most recent season two episode (aptly named, “Trojan Horse”), I have a new theory about what he’s been up to, and how at least some of this is part of his plan.