Three years ago, fans became enthralled with the Apple TV+ series Severance. The mind-bending thriller takes viewers on a journey with Mark (Adam Scott) as an outie, grieving the death of his wife and as an innie handling a boring, monotonous desk job. By the end, Mark started to get suspicious and, through a loophole called Overtime Contingency, gave his innie a short period of time in the outside world. What he discovered shook him to his core. And the way the season ended devastated fans with a burning cliffhanger.
The long three-year wait between seasons, thanks in part to the writer’s and actor’s strikes, made that non-resolute ending even more frustrating. While Severance has yet to be renewed for a third season, it likely will be. Based on the Season 2 finale “Cold Harbor,” viewers are already begging for a continuation of the story that left them punching the air in anger.
How Does ‘Severance’ Season 1 End?
Before looking at how Season 2 ends, it’s important to recall how the first season ended. After activating Overtime Contingency with the help of Helly (Britt Lower), Irving (John Turturro), and Dylan (Zack Cherry), Mark’s innie was able to infiltrate his outie’s life, effectively posing as himself. It was only for a short 39-minute period, but it changed the course of his journey. Irving learned that Burt (Christopher Walken), the man he was in love with at work, had a full life outside, complete with a husband. He also recognized that his outie was growing suspicious and was secretly investigating Lumon.
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Helly was shocked and gutted to learn that her true identity is Helena Eagan, the daughter of the current Lumon head. She tried to use her platform to warn everyone about the severance program. They were treated poorly, hated being there, and everything it promised was a farce.
But the biggest shock came when, while attending a soirée at his sister Devon’s (Jen Tullock) house, Mark came across a photo of him and a woman sitting on her nightstand. His wife Gemma (Dichen Lachman), it seems, was actually Ms. Casey, the counselor for the severed floor whom he had met with numerous times. As he screams, “She’s alive!” the scene cuts out, and he switches back to his outie. It happened so fast that some fans may have hit the 10-second back button or reset their displays, thinking something went wrong. But no, that’s exactly how it ended, full-on The Sopranos fade-to-black style.
The Journey to Finding Gemma Gave Fans Hope
The entire second season was centered around Mark’s journey to finding Gemma. While his innie knew she was alive, his outie wasn’t initially able to reconcile this truth. But once he pieced things together and Gemma’s status was confirmed by both Asal Reghabi (Karen Aldridge) and Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette), he was ready to take any measure necessary to save his wife. From attempting the reintegration process to trying to burn messages to his retinas for his innie to see, Mark was desperate to save Gemma from whatever hellish experience she was likely going through and to reunite with his wife he thought had been dead all the time.
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As revealed in Episode 7, “Chikhai Bardo,” Gemma had been confined to a floor of the Lumon building the entire time, being used like some type of lab rat. She enters a different room each day where she turns into a different innie. She is forced to do various tasks, from getting dental work done to enduring a plane crash and writing endless “thank you” cards for Christmas, each time functioning as a different innie.
The yearning that both show to be together again is felt deeply through the screen in every moment, especially in that episode that teases their life before the tragic events. Surely, they need to come together in the end, and the show must be gearing up to give fans that satisfying moment of closure and happiness.
Mark vs Mark Turns Out to Be the Biggest Battle Yet in ‘Severance’
The Severance Season 2 takes fans through the gauntlet of getting that cozy feeling, then worry, then delight, then outright shock, awe, and dismay. It seems like Mark is in the best position possible to finish the project, take down Lumon, and get his wife back. That’s because he has Harmony, who, as revealed in Episode 8, “Sweet Vitriol,” is the one who created the severance program, on his side, ready and willing to help.
Together with Devon, they give his innie an opportunity to talk to his outie and vice versa using a video camera and walking in and out of the birthing cabin door. But it backfires when it becomes clear that Mark’s innie has not only developed his own sense of self, but he has also fallen in love. He doesn’t understand why he should end what he has, not to mention the lives of his friends, so Mark (outie) can get his wife back and lead a pleasant life while he fades to non-existence.
In this moment, fans realize that Mark will face his biggest challenge yet: getting through to himself. It’s an upwards battle because he is effectively asking innie Mark to cease to exist and causing all his friends to do the same by default once Lumon has been exposed. It seems like maybe that was just a rough patch when even Helly tries to convince innie Mark to do the right thing. She is, after all, Helena when it really comes down to it. They couldn’t ever really be together. She even goes so far as to help him escape by secretly passing him the directions to the long, black hallway, creating a diversion, and keeping Milchick (Tramell Tillman) at bay.
When Mark and Gemma reunite, it’s the sweetest moment of the show. It’s a moment fans have been waiting for since the end of Season 1, so much so that it wouldn’t be surprising to hear audible claps from living rooms all over. When she turns into her outie and recognizes him, the relief and delight can be felt through the screen: it will give viewers chills. There’s a slight moment of hesitation when they re-enter the severed floor to exit, and Gemma becomes Ms. Casey, confused as to why she and Mark are kissing and embracing in the elevator. But she trusts him and goes along with his plan anyway. Phew!
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It’s what happens after that leaves fans with jaws on the floor, screaming in the same agonizing way Gemma does. Innie Mark opens the exit door for Gemma to leave, but he stays inside. Having switched to Gemma once outside the building, she screams at the top of her lungs for Mark to join her. But he’s unsure. He’s being torn in another direction.
Helly showing up at the other end of the hallway was the last thing anyone wanted to see. While she wanted to help him, she may have convinced herself to fight for what she wanted after delivering a passionate speech to the marching band to convince them to help her ward off Milchick. “They gave us half a life,” she screams to them, “and expect we won’t fight for it.” Mark agrees because he chooses Helly over Gemma in the most heartbreaking scene yet.
Watching Gemma scream bloody murder at the other side of the door she can’t open, knowing if Mark were to just take a few steps forward and walk through it, he would be back in her arms, is incredibly distressing. Seeing him take Helly’s hand, kiss her, and runoff in the other direction instead is something Gemma may never be able to get over. However, this could drive Gemma to try and get her husband back, which raises questions about what will happen to him from here. He has messed up Cold Harbor, killed a man, and let their prized lab rat escape. But the second he goes outside, he becomes his outie.
There is an interesting moment early in the episode that could be telling in this respect. James Eagan (Michael Siberry) visits Helly on the severed floor and declares that he doesn’t love his daughter. Thus, he may be content to let her live as Helly forever and never see Helena again. Keeping Mark and Helly inside Lumon may be just the type of revenge he’ll revel in. With Mark knowing the alternative, he might happily oblige. This is the only existence he knows anyway.
Regardless of what happens next, the ending of this mind-bending TV show leaves fans completely torn apart, devastated in a way they might not normally have been had it been another person who betrayed Gemma. But it is still Mark. He looks, walks, talks, and is Mark. But he’s also not. Mark (innie) has become his own person. He has no emotional ties to Gemma. He feels something for someone else and can’t let it go. His existence matters. The hero of the show has now become the villain, and fans are having difficulty reconciling that the man they have been rooting for this whole time is now working against himself. Stream Severance on Apple TV+.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
