“Your innie is a prisoner who’s madly in love running off into a flashing-red-light version of a sunset on the severed floor of Lumon,” I imagine Ms. Casey says to Mark S. during a wellness session. “Your outie is going to be pissed when he wakes up.”
The season two finale of “Severance” was released on Apple TV+ March 20, and in the nature of the show, I wish I could forget a few aspects of the episode when I go to work.
Of course, I’m talking about the main event: The last five minutes in which Mark Scout’s “innie” saves his “outie’s” wife, Gemma, who was trapped below the severed floor of the mysterious Lumon Industries.
Only after he gets Gemma through the exit, Innie Mark pauses. He doesn’t know Gemma. He doesn’t love her the way his outie, who married her, does.
And then came Helly R. — the polar opposite innie of the evil Helena Eagan, daughter of Lumon CEO Jame Eagan — who Innie Mark fell in love with and may never see again if he lets Outie Mark reunite with Gemma.
I watched Innie Mark make a gut wrenching choice as he slowly backed away from the door, toward Helly, and Gemma banged on the glass and saw a man who looks like her husband run off with another woman.
Saying I’m devastated would be an understatement.
Don’t get me wrong — I think this was an incredible and perfect ending that demonstrated the war not just with Lumon, but between the conflicting desires of the innies and outies.
I’m just rooting for Gemma and Mark in this love triangle, and I want to see Outie Mark reunite with his wife for more than just a few brutal seconds that end with an awkward kiss between their innies in the elevator.
My personal dissatisfaction with the ending aside, the 75-minute season finale was perfect in so many ways.
Over the course of the season, 1,000 new plot points opened up, from Mark beginning the “reintegration” process to the reveal that ex-severed floor manager Harmony Cobel created the “severance” procedure.
I had so many questions and was nervous about whether the finale would answer any of them. But I think it honed in on the most pressing issues in the story, providing answers I couldn’t wait any longer for and moments that make season three seem like decades away.
For one, Innie Mark completed the elusive “Cold Harbor,” his 25th file of “mysterious and important” number sorting in the Macrodata Refinement department.
Cobel confirmed that the numbers represent a gateway into Gemma’s mind, and each file completion creates a new innie. She said completing Cold Harbor meant Mark and Gemma would serve their Lumon purpose and die — raising the episode’s stakes as Mark executed a plan to rescue Gemma.
The first 20 minutes of the finale was the planning stage, where Mark’s innie and outie conversed through video recordings. It was a sort of “meta” sequence, knowing that the same body was stepping in and out of the “birthing cabin” to create a dialogue between two very different people.
It was about time we had a conversation between someone’s innie and outie, as last season introduced a security measure that prevented written communications from passing through the elevator with employees.
Innie Mark completed Cold Harbor in an eerily lit MDR office, joined by Helly and a creepy animatronic of Lumon Founder Kier Eagan. The dazzling Mr. Milchick entered to congratulate Mark and engaged in the penultimate confrontation that rounded out his journey this season.
Milchick, who was promoted to manager of the severed floor at the beginning of the season, dealt with belittlement and racism from his white higher-ups — from being gifted an insulting collection of “inclusively re-canonicalized paintings” that depict the original Lumon founder as Black, to being told to stop using “big words” and tone down his eloquent vocabulary.
In the finale, the Kier animatronic scolded Milchick for his verbosity, and Milchick snaps back saying the statue is four inches taller than the man was in real life. It’s not as good as him saying “devour feculence” to Mr. Drummond, but I’m happy Milchick is resisting the depreciation from his superiors.
Milchick stole the show as always, especially when he led an epic marching band from the Choreography and Merriment department. Sure, he was trapped in the bathroom soon after Mark snuck out, but you can’t look away from actor Tramell Tillman when he’s onscreen.
When it comes to characters’ endings, I think a lot is up in the air for season three. Dylan’s outie denies a resignation request from his innie — with a touching letter in which Outie Dylan first confronted his innie for falling in love with his wife, Gretchen, and then admitted he likes knowing his innie is around and wants Gretchen to see that version of him.
Irving was fired from Lumon episodes prior, but his outie began speaking with Burt, with whom his innie fell in love. Burt sent him off to escape Lumon in the episode before the finale, but considering Outie Irving’s apparent development of feelings for Burt, I think and hope this won’t be the last time we see him.
While I understand and appreciate the ending with our main love triangle, I just hate to see Helly and Innie Mark win, even if it’s only for a second — considering their consciousnesses only exist within the sterile white halls of the severed floor.
At the same time, there are many theories to unpack. Part of me wonders if Innie Mark ran off with Helena, not Helly. Helena has used a “Glasgow Block” to disguise herself among the innies before, and I support the theory that this was her final scheme to keep Mark and Gemma apart.
Plus, Mark is still undergoing reintegration — we don’t know what that looks like in full effect, but maybe it will cause a battle of the Marks to leave the severed floor.
I suppose we’ll have to sit tight and wait for season three. But until then, I’m going to keep speculating what awaits next time we travel down the Lumon elevator, and I’ll appreciate all of my theories equally.
