Oh, how the tables have turned within the Severance season 2 finale.
Season 1 ended with Mark’s (Adam Scott) iconic cry heard all over the world: “She’s alive!” The second has been alluded to all through the Apple TV+ present’s second season. Now, we all know Mark’s spouse, Gemma (Dichen Lachman), is certainly alive and hidden within the depths of biotechnology firm Lumon Industries’ basement, however we depart season 2 questioning: Is Mark going to remain alive?
The extremely anticipated second season of Severance kicked off on Jan. 17 and has come to an finish on March 21 after 10 episodes that gave followers a deeper look — after three years of ready — into what Lumon does, the place Gemma is and Mark’s journey to reunite together with his beloved.
Every particular person in MDR’s plots got here to a head within the remaining 76-minute episode of the season which noticed Dylan (Zach Cherry), Helly (Britt Decrease) and Mark come collectively to hunt the solutions to the questions they have been asking because the begin of the present: What’s on the finish of the lengthy darkish hallway? The place is Gemma, or as they know her, Ms. Casey? And, on a deeper stage, what’s their innie’s objective?
Severance makes use of the ultimate episode to ask the latter query on an much more macro stage, questioning the morality and penalties of getting two individuals inhabit one physique — and whether or not a severed counterpart, an “innie,” has a proper to a lifetime of their very own.
Here is the Severance season 2 ending defined.
Warning: This submit accommodates spoilers from season 2, episode 10 of Severance.
How does Severance finish?
Episode 9 noticed Mark’s sister Devon (Jen Tullock) enlisting season 1 foe, Ms. Cobel (Patricia Arquette) to assist Mark together with his reintegration and plan to save lots of Gemma. Although he’s distrustful of her, Mark agrees to satisfy with Cobel on the birthing home, a Lumon spot for innies to offer beginning so their outies do not expertise the ache.
When inside, innie Mark comes out, assembly Cobel face-to-face for the primary time this season. She instructs him to converse with outie Mark, which they proceed to do by means of recorded messages in a digital camera.
Whereas the 2 are initially in awe of their means to speak with each other, the dialog rapidly turns bitter when innie Mark realizes what outie Mark is asking of him: to sacrifice his life and relationship with Helly in order that outie Mark could be reunited with Gemma and convey an finish to severance at Lumon as an entire.
The dialog ends with outie Mark promising that with reintegration, the 2 can turn into one, and innie Mark rebuts that it feels like it will be extra outie Mark’s life than his, threatening that the following time he wakes up, it higher be within the elevator at work.
True to his phrase, the following day, innie Mark is again within the workplace, prepared to finish Chilly Harbor with Helly’s help. As soon as he hits 100%, the lights dim, and instantly, a celebration is let free: Milchick (Tramell Tillman) is available in and performs a (relatively eccentric) dance alongside the Choreography and Merriment staff, which is full with a full marching band.
In the meantime, Dylan is reeling elsewhere from a letter his outie left him, rejecting his resignation and telling him that innie Dylan’s affair together with his spouse impressed him to be extra like his innie.
The assembly involves a head when Mark makes use of the chance to flee and comply with Irving’s (John Turturro) directions to search out the darkish hallway that can lead him to Gemma/Ms. Casey. Helly helps him by locking Milchick in a rest room, and Dylan exhibits up at an important second to help Helly in maintaining him in there.
What’s Chilly Harbor?
We lastly get a solution to the questions followers have been asking for 3 years: what’s Chilly Harbor, the undertaking Mark has been engaged on since we met him?
Cobel peels again the curtain at an important second in the beginning of the episode, serving to innie Mark perceive the results of his finishing it. She explains that every undertaking Mark has ever carried out has correlated to the totally different “tempers,” as Lumon describes character traits and emotions, in Gemma, and every time he completes one, a brand new innie is born.
Nevertheless, Chilly Harbor is the ultimate innie. After it is carried out, Gemma will likely be killed because the experiment is full.
Although it is unclear what the experiment is (how far are you able to break up an individual, maybe?), we do know what occurs when Mark lastly completes it: Gemma is requested to placed on the garments she was sporting the final time she noticed Mark earlier than she was presumably kidnapped and enter the ultimate room, being Chilly Harbor.
In it, her latest innie involves life and is a very clean slate. She is requested to take aside a crib standing within the middle of the room, and whereas she appears to have an emotional response to it, she does as she’s requested with none questions or retorts.
As Eagan and different executives on the firm watch on, it seems Chilly Harbor was a hit: Gemma appears to don’t have any recollection of why the crib can be triggering for her, although as viewers know, Gemma beforehand cried within the kitchen as she heard Mark taking aside a crib following quite a few failed makes an attempt at conceiving a baby.
What occurred to Mark and Gemma?
After a number of trials, Mark, as his outie, lastly makes it to the ground the place Gemma resides. He enters the Chilly Harbor room, marking the primary reunion we see between the pair, although Gemma doesn’t acknowledge him in her innie kind.
Calmly, Mark persuades Gemma to depart with him and as soon as she does, the 2 lastly reunite as husband and spouse, each their outies. However their woes will not be over.
To go away, Mark and Gemma have to return to the severed ground the place Gemma will as soon as once more not know who he’s, as her Ms. Casey persona will return, and Mark can have a call to make: depart with Gemma and fulfill outie Mark’s needs or, stick with Helly — although, they could each die in the event that they do.
After efficiently getting Gemma out the emergency door, the place her outie returns to her, Mark locks her out whereas he stands contained in the corridor, deciding whether or not to remain or go. Helly instantly seems on the finish of the hallway, and although they beforehand mentioned their goodbyes, Mark’s love for her is put to the take a look at.
In the end, Mark decides to remain, and the episode ends with him and Helly holding arms and operating by means of the halls of Lumon’s severed ground collectively. In the meantime, outie Gemma wails exterior the door, begging Mark to return to her.
Since outie Mark’s plan was to divulge to the world the horrors going down at Lumon, the innies already realized their time alive was coming to an finish since they may not exist exterior the workplace. So does this imply that is the top for Mark? Will innie Mark by no means depart Lumon to protect his relationship with Helly? Will outie Mark kill innie Mark anyway and reunite with Gemma? These questions are left unanswered … for now.
What occurred to Helly, Dylan and Irving?
Irving’s story seemingly involves an finish within the season 2 finale after his innie is supposedly deleted in episode 4. After having dinner at Burt’s (Christopher Walken) house, by which the retired Lumon worker seemingly alluded to his outie working for the corporate as effectively, he’s met by his former lover at his personal abode.
Nevertheless, the assembly is extra ominous — Burt has found Irving’s notes surrounding Lumon workers that he was trying into. He asks Irving to hitch him for a drive, however it’s clear he has extra nefarious intentions.
Throughout their journey, Burt reveals that his outie’s job was to do precisely what he was doing at that second: take individuals Lumon has sentenced to demise for a drive, drop them off at a location and never ask additional questions.
However he does not appear to have the ability to try this with Irving, realizing that their innies have been in a relationship. As an alternative, he takes Irving to the prepare station the place he buys him a ticket to the furthest vacation spot potential. Irving tells Burt he is able to reside his true self and have love, however Burt denies him. Burt leaves and Irving seems to be able to get on the prepare — and that is the final we see of him.
In the meantime, Helly and Dylan are working additional time at Lumon, attempting to maintain Milchick from stopping Mark. Although Dylan is depressed about dropping the illusion of a life he gained this season — from conferences together with his spouse to extra information of his kids — he recommits himself to serving to his pals.
Helly, however, is reeling from her assembly together with her outie’s father and accepts that she and Mark cannot proceed to have a relationship as a result of, as she places it, “I’m her,” referring to her outie, Helena Eagan.
Nevertheless, by the top of the episode, she might have renewed hope as she and Mark run hand in hand.
What was happening with the sacrificial goat?
One query — what are they doing with all these goats? — is lastly answered within the season finale.
In a single scene, Mr. Drummond (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), an govt at Lumon, meets with Lorne (Gwendoline Christie) to sacrifice a goat. Trembling, Lorne asks what number of extra child goats will must be killed, to which Drummond replies as many as wanted.
Mark interrupts the second as he tries to interrupt in to search out the elevator he’s alleged to take, which is when Drummond assaults him. Whereas choking him out, Mark is saved by a furious Lorne, who almost kills Drummond herself.
However the second raises one more query: why are they doing that with the goats?
