From shocking revelations about MDR's true purpose to the heart-wrenching choice between love and freedom, dive deep into the mind-bending finale of Severance's second season. We're breaking down every crucial moment, hidden detail, and the devastating implications for Mark, Helly, and the rest of our favorite innies.
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00:00And as I'm duly swamped, I shall leave you to read it in solitude.
00:14Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're unpacking the wild ride that was the finale of season 2
00:20of Severance. Please make the necessary preparations for key plot information to
00:24be revealed imminently. Sorry, spoilers ahead. Now let's get into it.
00:29Shorter.
00:36I'm sorry.
00:38The background. Whether you've been watching each episode on Thursday night with your clipboard out,
00:44sidebar why is Apple TV Plus telling us it airs on Fridays? Have we not been patient enough?
00:48The work is mysterious and important, and we deal with the uncertainty it brings us
00:55in the way that Keir would have wanted. Or if you're just trying to figure out what the
01:00hell this show is about so you can talk about it with your weird co-worker on Monday,
01:04we've got you covered. We are the weird co-worker. This is inappropriate workplace commentary,
01:09and I'm self-reporting you. You're reporting me to yourself. Okay. A quick recap for context,
01:15Severance follows Mark Scout, a recently widowed man who works at the mysterious
01:19Lumen Corporation as a severed employee. Each category of numbers presents in such an order
01:26as to elicit an emotional response in the refiner. Meaning when he walks into work each morning,
01:32his consciousness flips a switch and he becomes any Mark who has no memory of his outside self
01:38and vice versa. We know that much, right? All right, let's fast forward. Doesn't make sense
01:43until you see it, and it takes a while to see. So Mark works in the Macro Data Refinement
01:47Department, known as MDR, and up until right now, we had absolutely no idea what that meant
01:53or what his job even was. But we'll get there. Mark works in MDR with Irving B., Dylan G.,
02:00and Helly R., the latter of whom, by the end of season one, becomes romantically entangled with
02:05Mark. In case we don't come back. Ooh la la. But uh, not really, because we also learn that
02:22Helly R.'s Audi is Helena Egan, the daughter of the CEO of Lumen. Because of you,
02:27they'll all be C.A.R.E.'s children. Love triangle? Um, square? Again, we'll get there.
02:38Over the course of season one, we learn what is arguably the most shocking and
02:42important piece of information of all. When the night is new, I'll be looking at the moon.
02:55Mark's Audi's allegedly deceased wife Gemma is alive at Lumen, and has been working on the
03:00severed floor with her husband, but they have no memory of one another. You're both unhurt.
03:07We, we are. I'm glad. I was scared. Sorry? I forgive you. In the season one finale,
03:20our four MDR legends manage to override their severance chips, and come to while on the outside
03:26as a way to communicate the woes of any life to the world. At this point, Mark realizes what we
03:36as the audience have already known to be true. And that's a wrap on season one. Cue the three-year
03:42hiatus. Could I just? I'm sorry. I just have so much to do today. On you go. Season two. All right,
03:50that wasn't so bad. Now we can't explain this ending without explaining the beforeing. Oh,
03:56beginning. Sure, that too. Season two kicks off with Mark returning to work, frantically searching
04:01for Gemma, whom he knows as Miss Casey. His three friends have been fired and replaced, but Mark
04:07pleads to the Lumen Board to bring them back, and they oblige. They made quite a splish. They sure
04:14did, Water Tower. And I thank Kier for them. We come to learn that the file he's currently
04:21completing, Cold Harbor, is of the utmost importance to the company, and the world,
04:26apparently. So Lumen wants Mark happy. Once the core four is reunited, they share their stories
04:31from the outside with one another, but with a notable exception. Kelly withholds that she's
04:36an Egan, instead telling a fictional story about a night gardener. A gardener? Yeah. A night gardener?
04:49I think so. Maybe he has a different job during the day.
04:54Surely this does not have dubious implications. On the outside, Mark decides he's willing to go
04:59to any lengths necessary to bring Gemma back. He reunites with alleged former Lumen surgeon
05:05she stalks him, and agrees to let her reintegrate him,
05:08which would fuse his innie and outie self into one.
05:24Reintegration? You mean the thing that killed my very good friend Petey? What the hell, sure.
05:34What? What? During a calamitous ortpo, or outdoor retreat and team building occurrence,
05:44Irving clocks Helly as being Helena, gasp, and threatens to drown her unless Mr. Milchak
05:50brings her back. She's not Helly! She's an Egan! Turn her back, Mr. Milchak! Turn her back!
05:58Goddamn it, stop doing! Yes! He does, but immediately kills Irving in retribution.
06:04Rest in peace to a real one, a moment of silence. Just remember, hang in there.
06:10But before he bites the dust, he gives Dylan a clue to a map he hid on the severed floor.
06:15A map that leads to the same mysterious hallway we see Miss Casey disappear into in season one.
06:20Oh, and uh, Helly and Mark um, shared vessels? But it was actually Helena,
06:25which is all kinds of yucky. Don't worry, real Helly and Mark have their own vessel sharing
06:30experience. In what is likely the most talked about episode of the season, Chica y Bardo,
06:36we see both Gemma and Mark's backstory, as well as witness Gemma living on the testing floor of
06:41Lumen. Could I please get a break, just for a little while? But it's been six weeks.
06:51I was just here. The testing floor exists beneath the severed floor, where we see Gemma enter an
06:57array of rooms that are labeled with the names of Mark's previous MDR files. See what's happening?
07:02Don't worry, that's what we're here for. Each time Gemma enters a room,
07:06a different severed self is activated. What room caused your hand to hurt?
07:16Allentown.
07:19She's forced to complete mundane tasks, or endure painful experiences, without her
07:24outie Gemma having any recollection of what took place behind the door.
07:27We learn that Cold Harbor is the final room she has yet to experience.
07:31Cold Harbor. So what happens once I've been in all the rooms?
07:39Yada yada yada, Dylan's wife cheats on him with his innie, Burt and Irving meet as outies but
07:44can't be together, former floor manager Miss Gobell invented severance. All right, we should
07:49probably back up a little. Mine! My designs! Circuit blueprint, base code, overtime contingency,
08:02Glasgow block, all of it! But we have too much to get to. This train does not stop. Nope, not even
08:08that one. In the penultimate episode, Cobell unites with Mark to help him rescue Gemma, as we presume
08:14her vendetta against Luman for stealing her invention has finally come to a head. She explains
08:19to him that once the Cold Harbor file is complete, Gemma will be dead. She's alive.
08:32The finale. Now that we've addressed the broad, or should we say macro, strokes of the story,
08:38let's finally get into the season finale, shall we? The episode picks up right where the previous
08:43had left off. We see Innie Mark in the birthing cabin with his sister Devon and Cobell. The cabin
08:48has the ability to activate Mark's severance chip, as affluent Luman-adjacent women utilize
08:54the procedure to avoid experiencing the pains of childbirth. Yeah, crazy. In an epic scene,
09:00Mark has a conversation with himself through a camcorder, but his outie is unsuccessful at
09:05convincing his Innie that he's trustworthy enough to assist him in rescuing Gemma.
09:09She's the person I'll lose if I do what you say, because you know as well as I do that her outie
09:15won't, like, reintegrate. Assuming that's even real. Innie Mark fears that once he's helped his
09:24outie, he's as good as dead. And he's not totally wrong. Cobell steps in to tell his Innie the
09:30details of his work in MDR. Finally. The numbers are your wife.
09:42The MDR numbers. As many had inferred, the numbers that Mark refines are actually Gemma's tempers,
09:49or emotions, and each file completed equals one new Innie for Gemma. Again, this tracks with what
09:55we've learned thus far, but now Mark must decide if he can believe this information or not
09:59as he returns to work. Reintegration is your only chance. Do you love your brother? Yes.
10:07Well then you tell him that the next thing I see had better be the severed floor or I swear he will
10:12never see his wife again. Back at the office, Hellie has a bizarre encounter with her father
10:18Jane, who essentially tells her he loves her more than he loves Helena. I do not love my daughter.
10:25I used to see care in her but he left her as she grew. Um, okay. We don't fully see the repercussions
10:40of this conversation, so we can only assume season three will further explore this dynamic.
10:45Mark comes back to Lumen, still unsure of how to approach the end of Cold Harbor.
10:49Just a quick moment of appreciation for the exalted victory of Cold Harbor painting,
10:53we want that hung up in our office. Wait, never mind, taking that back immediately.
10:59Mark and Hellie exchange information and in a heartbreaking moment,
11:03Hellie convinces Mark to sacrifice their budding relationship to save Gemma and support his Audi.
11:09At least you'll have a chance at living.
11:17Yeah, but I want to live with you.
11:24He tearfully finishes Cold Harbor and is rewarded with a massive marching band performance.
11:37We're so sorry, we know we're supposed to explain the finale, but we need to just
11:41watch Milchak body roll for a second. Maybe a few more seconds. Okay, we can move on now.
11:56Hellie manages to trap Milchak in the bathroom with the help of Dylan. Dylan returns to MDR,
12:01though having requested to resign in the episode prior after having been rejected by his own wife.
12:06Ouch. His Audi writes him a sweet letter, expressing that he wants to be more like the
12:11man his innie self has become, and gives Dylan the choice to stay or go, bolstering his confidence.
12:17I hope someday she sees in me what she sees in you.
12:22In the midst of the diversion, Mark uses Irving's map to locate the testing floor elevator.
12:27But just behind an opposing door, Lumen Grunt, Mr. Drummond, is about to force Lauren from
12:32Mammalian's Nurturable to sacrifice one of her goats, Emile.
12:52We have been introduced to the goats in season one, and they still remain a bit of a mystery.
12:57But during this scene, we learn that there's a connection between the testing floor and
13:01the purpose of the goats. Drummond implies that a chip will be implanted into Emile,
13:05which we can infer is Gemma's, and that he will somehow retain her consciousness.
13:19However, this is interrupted by Mark's attempt to break into the testing floor elevator,
13:24and in an unexpected fight scene, Drummond beats the daylights out of him.
13:31Lauren emerges, wails on him, and threatens to shoot Drummond. Mark instead convinces her to
13:36let him use Drummond to guide him to Gemma, and Lauren obliges and thanks him for saving Emile.
13:43Aw, we needed that. We would have killed for that sweet little guy, too.
13:47Mark makes his way down, but arrives as his outie and
13:50accidentally shoots Drummond in the process. He finds his way to Gemma in the cold harbor,
13:55and accidentally shoots Drummond in the process. He finds his way to Gemma in the cold harbor room,
14:01who is being tasked with disassembling the crib we see Mark attempt to build in Chicago.
14:06You may be wondering, what is being tested here, and why is this the final room?
14:11Based on everything we've seen, cold harbor is the true test of the entire multi-severance process.
14:16The crib represents her most painful experience of losing her child,
14:20and I'll Be Seeing You is a musical motif that signifies her relationship with Mark.
14:26Not to mention, her outfit is identical to that of what she was wearing the night
14:43she was kidnapped by Lumen. If these vestiges don't trigger Gemma, what will?
14:49Mark recovers Gemma, much to the dismay of Jayme and the creepo Dr. Mauer.
15:13In four scenes of quick succession, we see Mark and Gemma in all different
15:17dynamics of their innie and outie selves. At first, Mark recognizes Gemma,
15:21but she has no idea who he is, and trusts him nonetheless. Then after two seasons of waiting,
15:28we witness Mark and Gemma as their outie selves reuniting once and for all, but like, they gotta run.
15:35Once they make it up the elevator, they're both innies again. Which is sad,
15:39but objectively kind of hilarious, and also we missed Miss Casey desperately.
15:43In the final moments of the episode, innie Mark sends Gemma to the hospital,
15:49where she's given birth to a baby boy.
15:51In the final moments of the episode, innie Mark sends Gemma to the hospital,
15:55where she's given birth to a baby boy.
15:57In the final moments of the episode, innie Mark sends Gemma out to the hallway,
16:01turning her into her outie self. But right before he escapes with her,
16:05Hellie calls out for him, while Gemma pleads.
16:08Mark, come on! Mark, open the door!
16:13Mark!
16:15He must make the impossible choice between the life he's lived,
16:18and the life he may never get to have. But alas, he chooses not to.
16:23Where they go, we suppose only time will tell. Sadly, love may not transcend severance after all.
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17:02This ending further investigated the deep disparities that exist between the innie
17:06and outie selves, as both characters develop parallel to and in contrast with one another.
17:12They give us half a life and think we won't fight for it.
17:16The lack of agency that the innie's experience has consistently manifested itself in the form
17:20of multiple major rebellions, and yet somehow they still go completely unheard.
17:25Mark having to potentially sacrifice himself and all of his memories,
17:29for the man who selfishly brought him into existence in the first place,
17:32was ultimately too much to ask.
17:35Though we can only imagine the hell our team will be put through in the next season,
17:39we can't help but root for the underdog innies to salvage their existences against all odds.
17:44See you at the equator.
17:48See you at the equator.
17:50So what do you think is next for Helly and Mark, and the MDR team at large?
17:54Did Gemma successfully escape, or will she be captured once more?
17:58More importantly, will we ever see Mr. Milchak dance again?
18:02Let us know all of your thoughts in the comments.
18:05Thank you for that feedback, Seth.
18:15Thank you, Kier.
18:17Do you agree with our picks?
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