Fans of Severance have been put through the emotional ringer this season! From complex innie-outie-unsevered throuples to life-altering brain trauma, this season delivered on every promise made by its predecessor: you get the main questions answered, only for a new batch to spring up in its place.
The final test of its vigor was the ending, which had big shoes to fill after the stunning production of the season 1 finale. At least, director Ben Stiller and showrunner Dan Erickson promise, we won't have to wait another three years for the next season, which was confirmed by Apple CEO Tim Cook on the morning of March 21 on Twitter, followed by a 20-second teaser which was also posted to AppleTV's YouTube channel.
Fans have been anticipating the finale since the season 2 premiere, and everyone was on tenterhooks to learn what happens in the episode to garner the MA 15+ rating from the Australian Classification Board, as Severance typically deals more in psychological and sci-fi horror, and less so in gore. We were not disappointed.
At 76 minutes, it is the longest episode in the series, so get comfortable before you watch... But not too comfortable, because if you're as invested in the characters' lives as we are, you'll be pacing and shouting at your TV like it's the dang Superbowl. Enjoy our finale recap, SPOILERS BELOW!
The season finale opens on Innie Mark's coming-to in one of the birthing cabins from season 1, where Devon discovered a woman who had been severed only to give birth. After calling Cobel for help and consequently losing Reghabi, Devon and Harmony conspire under cover of night to sneak Mark to the birthing cabins in order to talk to his innie and outie at the same time.
They leave Mark with a camcorder and an open patio door so he can conduct their first conversation in private. Outie Mark acts pretty condescending to his innie, saying he's glad he found "someone he likes" on the severed floor, but he needs to help get Gemma off the experimental floor so that she and Outie Mark can be together. He also pitches his innie on the idea of reintegration, that he won't abandon him just because he wants to take down Lumon. When Innie Mark expresses a fear of death, and the death of his friends, that Helly is the person he's in love with, Outie Mark finally takes a pause and begins to understand that the turmoil his innie is experiencing is equally complicated.
Cobel comes back and tries to explain to Innie Mark that every file he's completed has been a new consciousness for Gemma, that tomorrow will be Mark and Helly's last day anyway, that Lumon is using him and the best thing he can do is give up his life for a good cause.
The scene ends abruptly, with Mark's innie storming down to the front door, telling Cobel that it's not Lumon that's using him, it's Cobel and Devon. His last words to them are, "Tell my outie that the next thing I see had better be the severed floor, or he will never see his wife again."
And boy, does he see it! The elevator opens on a new mural in the lobby, one which depicts every single person Mark has ever known, with Mark seated at a refining console in the center, eyes closed and hand raised in worship. Helly emerges from the elevator, they share a brief hug, and then all the lights go out. They enter the MDR room and are met with a statue of Kier Eagan, who is there to bear witness to Mark's completion of Cold Harbor, with Helly looking on from her own seat.
As Mark refines, he and Helly whisper about possibilities for freeing Ms Casey, as well as reintegration. Helly wants Mark to have a chance at living and says he should at least try to get Gemma out. Mark wants to stay alive alongside Helly, to which she only responds, "But I'm her," meaning Helena Eagan, the head of the company and a major thorn in both Mark and Helly's sides.
We cut to the elevator where Milchick is waiting for Dylan, who is distressed that his outie appears to have denied his resignation request. He brings Dylan to the break room where he learns that his outie is jealous of him, the way Gretchen described him as "a self-assured badass." His outie actually seems to have a lot of respect for him and has become more grateful that he exists. Ultimately, he leaves the decision to resign to his innie but urges him to reconsider staying.
When we cut back to Mark and Helly, he is just finishing up the file. As the progress bar climbs its last couple of rungs, "Sirius" by The Alan Parsons Project plays, and smoke begins to cover the floor. A spotlight shines on Kier as he begins to move and speak, giving Mark a big kudos on his 25th completed file. Milchick then enters and we get some top-notch award show vamping between Seth and Kier, who delivers a few swift verbal kicks to keep the floor manager humble.
Then Milchick leads a marching band into the MDR office, who begin to play an excellent arrangement of the Kier lullaby. Band members flood into the office from the halls, surrounding Helly and Mark in a cacophony of celebration. We also get to see Tramell Tillman cut a rug again, this time with a more elaborate choreography routine complete with a cane and body rolls. While he's distracted, Helly steals his walkie-talkie to create a diversion so Mark can try to find Gemma, leading him in a chase through the marching band before trapping him in the bathroom. Dylan eventually reappears and shoves a vending machine in front of the door, sealing him inside, at least temporarily.
We then cut to a new scene of Jame Eagan, alone in a room with a console similar to the ones from the experimental floor. A voice over the intercom tells him that "the efficacy test will begin shortly." The nurse on the experimental floor guides Gemma down winding hallways, at last arriving at "Cold Harbor," she is wearing the coat she wore the night she "died" in a car accident; the accompanying outfit seems to evoke her final memory from her previous life.
She enters an empty room, decorated with a single crib in the center, the same crib Mark got on sale when they were still expecting a child. The loss of her first miscarriage is likely the deepest trauma residing in her recent memory. The goal is crystal clear: no one should have to experience any inconvenience, or any emotional instability, there must be a way to achieve emotional perfection.
We see a brief flash of Drummond coming up from the experimental floor, then crossing to the door immediately opposite, and watch as he tries to force Gwendoline Christie's character, the goat caretaker from Mammalians Nurturable, to sacrifice a baby goat with demonstrated verve, and most wily of her flock. The scripted cadence in their conversation implies that this is a routine contribution made by the department.
Severance season 2 ending explained
As Drummond passes the gun to the goatherd to make the sacrifice, Mark is heard slamming into the door leading to the export hall. They tussle for a while, with Drummond tossing Mark around like a ragdoll and punching him several times. The altercation ends when the goatherd comes to the rescue and points the gun at Drummond's head.
Mark takes Drummond as a hostage into the elevator but accidentally depresses the gun's trigger as he switches back to his outie on the experimental floor, killing Drummond and earning the episode's "mature" rating. (Even Stiller was surprised about the amount of blood.) He leaves Drummond blocking the elevator, making it unable to close or move anyone between floors. He finds Gemma in Cold Harbor and even though she doesn't recognize him, she trusts him enough to follow him to the hallway.
Outie Mark and Outie Gemma get precious few moments together, sharing a single kiss before their innies wake up again in the elevator having just kissed, not recognizing each other beyond "Mark S" and "Ms. Casey."
Mark leads Gemma to the stairwell and looks like he is about to follow her, to free both of them. Helly calls to Mark and he has to choose: a woman he barely knows or the woman he has come to love? At the end of the day, to Innie Mark, Gemma is just "some guy's wife." Mark leaves Gemma screaming for him on the stairwell, clasping hands with Helly and delving deeper into Lumon.
Once again Severance revels in its complication, Erickson and Stiller both rejoice that audiences aren't sure who to root for. We want Innie and Outie Mark to be happy, but it doesn't seem like there is any way to make that a reality. After countless allusions to the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, Erickson finds one final way to twist the knife before abandoning us for production on season 3: Gemma wasn't the dead wife, Mark was. She's looking back, and he's still trapped in the underworld.
Let's just hope she doesn't end up like Orpheus, cut to pieces and scattered to the winds... While we may not know, Ben Stiller certainly does, and he loves to dangle non-answers over the audience's heads like so many carrots.