Severance season 2’s mind-bending finale and what to expect in season 3

Season 2 of Dan Erickson’s Severance wrapped up in March with a thrilling finale showcasing Adam Scott’s acting chops, as he transitioned back and forth between Innie and Outie Mark while attempting to save his once thought to be deceased wife Gemma.

A Conversation with Oneself

The finale began with a simple yet stressful sequence that featured Innie and Outie Mark talk to each other using recordings on a video camera, as the latter attempted to convince the former to help save Gemma. However, Innie Mark realises that if saving Gemma leads to taking down Lumon and the Severance program as a whole, it would mean the end of his own life, and the people he holds dear.

What ensues is an incredible performance from Adam Scott, as he embodies two distinct personalities in a conversation with each other. Outie Mark initially presents as calm and comforting, attempting to reassure his Innie counterpart that he wont simply cease to exist, promising to continue reintegration. However, Innie mark isn’t convinced. Scott beautifully embodies his growing distrust, becoming increasingly questioning and filled with doubt with each passing transition between the two. Innie Mark points to the fact that he’s had a much shorter life than his Outie, and thus would just become a miniscule part of him that would be overshadowed and consumed by the rest.

The two come to a standstill, leaving the floor open for Patricia Arquette’s Harmony Cobel who convinces Innie Mark to go along with the plan, by revealing what he’s been working on at Lumon. Innie Mark has been creating multiple Innie personalities for Gemma, seemingly for the purpose of testing whether the emotions of the outie bleed into their corresponding Innies. If Lumon can eliminate all emotional responses, which they are testing by making Gemma do acts that would trigger a trauma response such as disassembling a crib, referencing her miscarriage, they can create the perfect subservient worker who would present no threat of rebellion.

Also read: Milchick and Irving steal the show in Severance season 2

The Great Escape

The agreed upon plan involved Innie Mark completing the cold harbour file, finding and making his way down to the testing floor, where he would then switch places with Outie Mark, who would then find Gemma and return to the severed floor, where he would then once against switch places with Innie Mark, who would finally escape with Gemma. However, and expectedly so, the plan didn’t go as planned.

Once Innie Mark returned to the severed floor, he was reunited with Britt Lower’s Helly R. Despite feeling apprehensions about completing cold harbour, knowing it would mean the end for both of them, Helly encourages Mark, remind him that she is an Eagen and thus they couldn’t be together in the real world. So, he chooses to complete the file, leading to a short congratulatory, and comedic, speech by Tramell Tillman’s Mr. Milchick and a robot Kier, before the former explodes into a dance number with Lumon’s Choreography and Merriment department.

This provides the necessary distraction for Mark to make his way to the testing floor, and for Helly to trap Mr. Milchick in the bathroom. Mark makes use of the directions left behind by John Turturro’s Irving, but ends up running into Olafur Darri Olafsson’s Mr. Drummond. A scuffle ensues that ends with Mark holding Drummond hostage, after he is saved by Gwendoline Christie’s Lorne. Mark descends down to the testing floor, explaining to a held at gunpoint Drummond that he would need to guide him to Gemma. But, as Innie Mark switches over to his outie counterpart, he accidentally and hilariously pulls the trigger, killing Drummond, and leaving his Outie blood-soaked and confused on the testing floor.

Scott’s ability to change between two distinct characters, his Innie and Outie, is incredibly impressive. And equally impressive is Dichen Lachman who does the same. The two have a series of interactions as they embody different characters and thus different relationships.

After outie Mark finds his wife Gemma dissembling a crib, a test for her final created Innie, Mark is able to convince Gemma’s Innie to follow him, much to the despair of Robby Benson’s Dr. Mauer and Michael Siberry’s Jame Eagan, who are both watching on. Marks ability to convince Gemma showed that Lumon’s experiment hadn’t worked, as despite his gruesome appearance and being a complete unknown to Gemma’s Innie, she followed him regardless, possibly pointing to Lumon’s inability to sever feelings of love.

Once Gemma agrees to follow him and leave the room with the crib, she becomes Outie Gemma, and Mark is finally reunited with his wife. Once they return to the severed a floor, a third interaction takes place between Innie Mark and Ms. Casey, one of Gemma’s other Innie personalities. Lastly, a fourth interaction takes place at the end of the episode.

Once Mark gets Gemma out of the severed floor, she returns to her outie self, interacting with Innie Mark through a window. However, Innie Mark chooses to stay when he sees Helly R., as he has no feelings for Gemma. Gemma screams for Mark to join her, not knowing that he too is severed, and that she’s pleading to someone she doesn’t know at all.

The series of emotions and contrasting feelings showcased by Scott and Lachman as they go back and forth between their different characters is both a testament to their acting versatility and the genius of the show’s concept through the scenarios it makes possible.

Also read: ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ confirmed, filming to begin this summer

What to expect in season 3

The ending leaves fans unsure about what to expect in season 3. Its possible the show could switch the dynamic completely, now having Gemma attempt to save Mark. It would leave the possibility open to force Gemma to embody some of her other personalities, allowing Lachman to wow viewers with some more incredible acting. Fans will also be waiting to see what happens between Mark and Helly, and if the two could ever be together when their life hinges on the success of the very thing they’re trying to destroy, Lumon.

It will also be interesting to see how other character’s story’s progress next season. One standout character, Irving, made his departure in episode nine of the season at the behest of his love interest, Christopher Walken’s Burt Goodman. But, it’s possible the character may return in season 3, as a lot of questions regarding his investigation into Lumon are still unanswered. Another standout is Mr. Milchick, who is stuck in the middle of attempting to control the severed employees and reify his place as floor manager, while also fighting back against Lumon’s overbearance.

Fans won’t have to wait as long as they did for season 2, as it was plagued by writers strikes and rewrites. Apple TV has already renewed the show for a third season.

Also read: Bastille want new tour to be ‘joyous celebration’ of last 15 years