The Exalted Victory of the Severance Season 2 Finale

[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers through the Season 2 finale of Severance, “Cold Harbor.”]

The windmills of your mind, indeed. Not every big mystery was answered by the Severance Season 2 finale — and the fates of many characters remain in various stages of limbo. Yet the episode’s focus on its core love triangle (or quadrangle, if you count Adam Scott’s two personas as two separate people, which feels accurate) did contribute a great deal to the audience’s understanding of what the actual hell is going on here. And then it came to a close with a visually (and emotionally!) stunning final sequence, a burst of perhaps doomed romance and rebellion left frozen as a moment in time.

Going into the finale, now streaming on Apple TV+, the most pressing issue was Mark’s work on the Cold Harbor file, and its relevance to the half-life the imprisoned Gemma (Dichen Lachman) has been living. At least, that’s where Mark’s focus is, leading to a scene that was deeply satisfying to watch, even after just two seasons: Mark Scout finally communicating directly with Mark S., via the device of a handheld video recorder. Director Ben Stiller, along with cinematographer Jessica Lee Gagné and editor Geoffrey Richman, blends Scott’s two performances into an actual conversation with stunning elegance, removing the artificial trappings so the audience can focus on what’s being said.

And it might be one of the most important scenes of the show to date (even considering what’s to come). We get Outie Mark apologizing to Innie Mark for being created to live “a nightmare” for the past two years, and Innie Mark, with just a touch of sweet naivete, responding that “nightmare is the wrong word. We find ways to make it work, to feel whole.” Outie Mark might feel like reintegration is the way forward for them — but Innie Mark can’t trust that promise, or even his other self. Not with the entirety of his existence.

Mark S. does end up helping with the effort to rescue Gemma, though — and now there’s a clearer sense of what Gemma needs rescuing from. What “Cold Harbor” finally reveals is that the numbers being crunched by Mark and the MDR team represent the “tempers” of a human soul: Specifically Gemma’s. “Every file you’ve completed is a new consciousness for her. A new Innie,” Ms. Cobel (Patricia Arquette) says. Or, put it another way — every file is a new room on the floor where we’ve watched Gemma be tortured all season long.

The last file/room is the Cold Harbor room, and what actually lies within feels like a strong indication as to what the purpose of all this is: Wearing the clothes that she wore on the day she died, Gemma is assigned the job of deconstructing a crib — a task that should dredge up her deepest pain over not being able to conceive a child. Yet she is emotionless throughout. “The barrier is holding! She feels nothing!” Dr. Mauer (Robby Benson) exclaims.

The strong implication of all this, one which aligns nicely with the chilly vibes of the company’s aesthetics and philosophies, is that Lumon is devoted to essentially removing all intense human emotion — using its human guinea pigs to perfect not just the severance technique, but all sorts of mental reprogramming.

Here’s the tricky bit: Why does Cobel say that Gemma will die once Mark completes Cold Harbor? Will she no longer be of use to Lumon, and thus easily disposed of (given that she’s already legally dead, in the eyes of the world)? Or would that the final room essentially drain her of everything that once made Gemma Gemma? File that under Season 3 problems, at this stage.

Elsewhere in the halls of Lumon, there’s a sliver of additional insight into why exactly Lorne (Gwendoline Christie) spends her time herding goats, and bless her for taking the chance to finally stand up for that precious little kid. (Applause to whoever was in charge of casting the baby goat, you picked a jaw-droppingly cute one, making that sequence very upsetting to watch.)

Plus, there’s the full-tilt rebellion against Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman), as Helly and later Dylan trap the middle manager while Mark goes on his rescue mission. Even the Choreography and Merriment team gets involved (and what a sight, to watch a whole dang marching band proceed through the antiseptic white halls).

That said, Helly and Dylan don’t accidentally kill a high-level Lumon employee the way Mark does, so he’s probably in for more dire consequences should he be caught. There’s a heist-like energy to Mark’s descent into the darkest hallways of the building, between the “map,” the precarious plan, and the death of Mr. Drummond (Darri Ólafsson). And it is a heist, in a way — he’s stealing back his favorite person.

Mark Scout’s favorite person, at least. As for Mark S., the episode ends with him choosing whatever time he can have with Helly over the oblivion that would come with escaping alongside Gemma. Cue the Mel Tormé and a frantic sprint through the flashing red corridors — an attempt to flee whatever’s coming, but also a romantic gesture for the ages, stunningly executed. As they run, both Mark S. and Helly take a beat to enjoy the fact that no matter what happens, they’re together. At least for now.

And we’re left with the two of them holding hands, frozen in time, until the story picks back up again. It theoretically won’t take Severance another three years to return for (an as-yet unconfirmed) Season 3, at least according to Ben Stiller. If/when it does, there’s no shortage of material to explore — there’s so much about Lumon, and the Eagan family, and what it all means that’s still left unclear at this point. Even the one big question “Cold Harbor” addressed still left a lot unexplained.

But on an emotional level, Severance provided a lot of catharsis without betraying the hard realities of this premise. A premise that has gotten even more fascinating as a way of understanding not just what it means to work, but what it means to be alive.

The first two seasons of Severance are streaming now on Apple TV+.