Severance season two has come to an end and if you are like us, you’ve just watched the gripping finale and still have more questions than answers.
Severance stars Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Zach Cherry and John Turturro as a group of employees at the mysterious Lumon company, which is run by the equally suspicious Eagan family. All four have undergone a procedure called “severance” in which their consciousness is completely divided between their work selves and home selves in a daring experiment to find a work-life balance.
To date, fans have followed the journey of Mark Scout an employee, or an “innie,” at the mysterious Lumon Industries where he leads the Macrodata Refinement Department. Meanwhile, Mark’s “outie” has been trying to learn how to rescue his assumed dead wife, Gemma (Dichen Lachman), after it was discovered that she is still alive and is being subjected to numerous cruel tests at Lumon.
To complicate matters, Innie Mark has fallen in love with his colleague Helly, whose “outie” happens to be Helena Eagan, the daughter of current Lumon CEO Jame Eagan. Her ancestor, Kier Eagan has a cult-like following within the company which he established in 1865.
Warning: The remainder of this article features major spoilers for Severance season two
The finale opens up with Innie Mark reuniting with his former boss Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette) in one of the severed birthing cabins. Cobel asks Mark if he’s finished the ominous “Cold Harbor” file, which he hasn’t. Throughout the season viewers have been led to believe that Gemma will die once Cold Harbor has been completed, which is confirmed here by Cobel.
Mark is told how he can save Gemma but is reluctant as he’s also told that it could mean that his department could be closed down as a result, effectively erasing the lives of all the “Innies” that work there. Both Innie and Outie Mark attempted to resolve their predicament by recording messages on a camcorder for each other but they fail to agree. Outie Mark floats the idea of them co-existing through the “reintegration” process but Innie Mark remains unconvinced.
Adam Scott in ‘Severance’ (Apple TV Plus)
Cobel intervenes and tells Mark that the numbers he sees on his screen every day are a “gateway” into Gemma’s mind. More to the point, the number clusters are the “Four Tempers” that makeup Kier’s philosophy on human emotion: Woe, Frolic, Dread and Malice. Mark says he has completed 24 out of 25 files, with Cold Harbor being the final one. Each file is a different severed personality for Gemma, much to the shock of Mark. Growing increasingly sceptical of other’s motives, Mark tells Cobel that Outie Mark best return to work or “he’ll never see his wife again”.
Outie Mark obliges and the very next scene is Mark arriving on the severed floor, closely followed by Helly. They are both confronted with a large painting called “The Exalted Victory of Cold Harbor” which features every character from the series to date. Lumon has made the lighting on the floor much darker and more brooding than usual, all in anticipation of Mark completing Cold Harbor. Mark and Helly return to their office where they are greeted by a mannequin of Kier who wishes to “witness the historic completion” of the file.
Mark completes the file with tears streaming down his face, realising that he will never lead a fulfilling life with Helly. Once the final numbers are filed an over-the-top light and sound show begins, while the mannequin of Keir congratulates Mark for becoming “one of the most important people in history”. Mr Milchick then arrives to introduce a performance from the Choreography and Merriment Department – essentially a large brass band that launches into a very loud routine much to the bemusement of Mark and Helly.
Realising that this is likely a way of containing Mark in the room, Helly decides to distract Milchik by stealing his walkie-talkie and trapping him in a bathroom – a returning Dylan later helps Helly suppress Milchick. Mark swiftly makes his exit and uses the directions written by Irving to run towards the corridor that leads to the Testing Floor, where Gemma is being held.
Mr Drummond (Darri Ólafsson) emerges from the Testing Floor corridor and opens up a strange room that we haven’t seen before. He is soon joined by Lorne (Gwendoline Christie) and a goat from the Mammalians Nurturable Department. It soon becomes apparent that the goats that we have sporadically seen throughout the show are part of a sacrificial ceremony that Lumon believes in.
What is Cold Harbor?
Meanwhile, Gemma has entered the Cold Harbor room on the Testing Floor where she is observed on monitors by both Jame Eagan and Dr Mauer in seperate rooms. Unlike some fan theories had, Cold Harbor doesn’t result in Gemma drowning or an immediate death. Instead, she is forced to go through the monotonous task of dismantling a crib, likely a nod to the miscarriage we saw her have in episode seven, except Gemma’s new severed personality does not have any knowledge of that. Its worth noting that she was made to wear the same clothes she wore on the night that Mark and others assumed she had died.
It’s worth noting that Jame Eagan is watching from a private room which he accessed from an elevator which “dinged” upon arrival. In Severance, the elevators only “ding” when a person is switching between an Innie and an Outie.
Dichen Lachman as Ms Casey in Severance (Apple TV +)
Back on the severed floor, Mr Drummond asks Lorne whether the goat can guide “the spirit of a cherished woman to Kier’s door”. When she confirms that it is up to the task he hands her a gun and asks her to “give me its life”. Before she pulls the trigger she asks “how many more must I give?” indicating that this isn’t the first time that she has gone through with this ritual. They are further distracted by Mark who is now trying to break down the door to the Testing Floor corridor.
Drummond physically apprehends Mark but Lorne sides with her severed colleague and she and Mark team up to overcome Drummond. Mark then escorts Drummond to the Testing Floor elevator by gunpoint and tells him that when they get to the floor he must take him to the Cold Harbor room. However, when the elevator reaches the floor Mark switches to his Outie and accidentally kills Drummond.
Searching the Testing Floor Mark eventually finds the Cold Harbor room before Gemma has completed the task. Despite her not recognising him, Mark convinces her to leave with him. The couple are fully reunited when Gemma switches to her Outie as they leave the room. Their moving reunion is cut short as Dr Mauer is now pursuing them in an attempt to stop them from returning to the severed floor. They reach the elevator just before Dr Mauer can apprehend them. As the doors are closing, Mauer tells Mark: “You’ll kill them all.”
They successfully return to the floor but are now Mark and another one of Gemma’s Innie personas, Ms Casey. Understanding his task, Mark runs with Ms Casey to the stairwell door and helps her exit, thus finally freeing Gemma from Lumon’s clutches.
Adam Scott and Brit Lower in ‘Severance’ (Apple)
However, Helly arrives and despite the pleas of Gemma, Mark decides to run back to Helly as they both prepare to face the consequences of their actions, leaving Gemma in an uncertain position in the outside world.
When is season three going to arrive?
In typical Severance fashion, the season finale ends on a cliffhanger and fans will likely have more questions than answers. Although season three took three years to arrive Ben Stiller has assured shared that fans won’t need to wait that long for the next season.
“No, the plan is not to [wait three years],” Stiller said on Jason and Travis Kelce’s New Heights podcast. “Hopefully we’ll be announcing what the plan is very soon.”
