The Work Is Mysterious and Important

About

The Work Is Mysterious and Important is a quote from Severance season one, episode four, spoken by Adam Scott's character Mark to Helly as he tries to convince her that the work they do for Lumen is important after she calls it "bullshit." The episode, titled "The You You Are," originally aired on March 4th, 2022. The scene and reaction image became the subject of memes, including image macros, that month, becoming increasingly popularized in early 2025 following the show's season two premiere.

Origin

On March 4th, 2022, season one, episode four of Severance aired on Apple TV+.^[1] In one scene, Mark tells the new hire Helly, "The work is mysterious and important" after she calls it "bullshit," complaining that she doesn't understand why they do the work that they do.

On March 7th, X^[2] user @gretaprofessor posted a screenshot of Adam Scott from the scene, his finger raised, writing, "Watching 'Severance' counts as labor history, right?" garnering roughly four likes in three years. This is the earliest known user to share a screenshot of the scene.

On March 21st, u/dem3000 posted a meme to /r/SeveranceAppleTVPlus^[3] titled, "Can we make 'the work is mysterious and important' a new fad in memes, please? (OC)," garnering over 400 upvotes in the same span of time. Attached to the post is a meme showing Helly's face from the scene with the caption underneath, surrounded by cats kneading with their paws. This is the earliest known meme to reference the scene.

Spread

The meme continued to spread over the following years, mostly using the image of Mark with his finger raised. For example, on January 21st, 2025, X^[4] user @megannn_lynne posted the meme under the caption, "Putting a bay leaf in a recipe even though idk what the fuck it does," garnering over 244,000 likes in two weeks.

On January 28th, Threads^[5] user beyondmeat posted a version of the meme reading, "Me explaining to management why I spend all of my time on Threads," garnering over 3,300 likes in a week.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References