Cue "Sirius," because this Innie feels like he's sitting down to complete Cold Harbor right now. I mean, leave it to Severance to inject ether right into my bloodstream with a reference to Michael Jordan's Last Dance-era Bulls. (If you're somehow not properly hyped after watching the finale, I highly recommend that you watch this.)
The Severance season 2 finale, aptly titled "Cold Harbor," is here. I'm not going to spend too much time reminiscing on our journey together so far, but it's been a heckuva road to this point. We visited the tallest waterfall on the planet, enjoyed a somewhat awkward ham dinner, welcomed Keanu Reeves to the show (and almost welcomed Barack Obama), devoured a big ol' heaping of feculence, and so much more. But I do have one small thing to say about the 75-minute-long (!!!) finale. I'll please Kier by keeping my vocabulary plain here: It's really fucking good.
Severance creator Dan Erickson receives the sole writing credit for this episode -- and you already know that I had to talk to him. I'll refer to my interview with Erickson a few times in this recap, but you can read it here. And while we're at it -- you should bookmark our finale postgame with Zach Cherry.
Before we get into my final recap of the season, I just want to thank all of you for reading, as well as your kind emails and comments along the way. Now, take my hand, and let's run into the hallways of the Severance season 2 finale.
Well, now we know what the new credits sequence was trying to tell us about the two Marks. They helped each other throughout the course of the season, pushing and pulling toward the common enemy, Lumon -- only for Innie Mark to break free from his Outie captor at the very end of season 2.
"Cold Harbor" opens with a very freaked-out and sweaty Innie Mark at the Damona Birthing Retreat. Cobel figures out that he hasn't finished Cold Harbor, which means that Gemma (or Ms. Casey, to Innie Mark) is still alive. She tells him about the Testing Floor, which Mark recognizes from Irving's drawings, so he already knows where it is. "If we can prove that [Gemma] is alive," says Devon, "if we can prove that they fucking kidnapped her, it will end them." Well, friends, Mark's following five words should've tipped us off to what he'd do in the final moments of this episode: "Well, what happens to us?"
Exactly. Welcome to baby's first existential crisis, Innie Mark! Intrusive thoughts about death are the consequences of not living a part-time life, man. Turns out, Cobel and Devon devised an ingenious, lo-fi way for the Marks to speak with each other: One records a message on a camcorder, then walks outside -- and vice-versa. What follows is this unbelievably tragicomic sequence of each Mark battling for their own self-interests.
Erickson said something interesting about the psychological dynamics at play here: "Hopefully, you're rooting for Outie Mark to convince him because you want him to find his wife. But at the same time, you understand there's always been this imbalance of power between them -- and Innie Mark's whole existence is literally being used by Outie Mark. I really like that Innie Mark has the wherewithal to realize, Wait a second, if I do this for you, what's gonna happen? I'm guessing you're never coming back to Lumon."
The conversation seemingly begins in earnest -- Outie Mark apologizes for his Innie's "nightmare" -- but it devolves into total chaos as soon as he fucks up Helly's name. "You know what I think?" Innie Mark fumes. "I think the second you get your wife back, you forget I ever existed. I think that I disappear along with every Innie down there."
Well, he's not wrong! Kudos to Adam Scott for pulling this scene off without a damn hitch -- Outie Mark's aptitude for sass and condescension; Innie Mark slowly discovering the wonders of autonomy -- the man is looking at an Emmy repeat.
Well, Innie Mark, actually. But while trying to convince Innie Mark to participate in the great escape of Gemma Scout, she drops a clear explanation of his work at MDR for all of you theorizing along at home. Cobel, weirdly, ends up being the only person who knows how to motivate Innie Mark: Treat him as a person. Which means answers. Here they are, per Cobel: "The numbers are your wife. The MDR numbers. From your console. They're a doorway into the mind of your Outie's wife, Gemma Scout... [The clusters of numbers are] her tempers. The building blocks of her mind... Every file you've completed is a new consciousness for her. A new Innie."
This may not feel exactly like news to Severance loyalists, who already guessed that Mark was sorting Gemma's tempers this entire time. But this line has massive implications for the nature of MDR and Lumon in general. If Mark was building Gemma Innies, then what have Dylan, Irving, and Helly been doing this whole time? It seems like Severance is telling us that MDR's true purpose is to build an Innie consciousness for every person who decides to undergo the severance procedure. But just those few lines from Cobel prompt a dozen more questions. Does each refiner only work on perfecting one Innie during their tenure, or is Gemma just special? Does every Outie have a stint on the Testing Floor, and Lumon somehow erases their memories of their time down there?
My brain is throbbing -- and so is Innie Mark's, clearly. He rage-quits the interaction with Cobel, yelling, "Tell [my Innie] the next thing I see better be the severed floor, or he will never see his wife again!"
Let me echo Helly and say: God, Jame Eagan is weird! While Helly is learning the directions to the Testing Floor, the crusty (and apparently horny?!) Eagan patriarch shows up to say hello. "What a funny speech you gave at the party," he says. "I was cross with you after. I threw a tin of candies."
We learn a couple things in this small interaction. There's a hint that Helena -- as myself and many fans have suspected -- is no longer a devoted servant of Lumon. ("I do not love my daughter. I used to see Kier in her, but he left her as she grew.") And if you'll remember, Cobel's comment that "she's one of Jame's" in episode 9 implied that this man was swinging his dick all around Kier, PE. Here's confirmation: "I sired others in the shadows. But he wasn't in them either. Until I saw him again. In you."
Helly stops just short of stabbing this creep in the neck with a fountain pen. But damn, readers, we've learned that lines like this in Severance demand a closer look. Is this foreshadowing that Helly could someday break bad?
Mark S. gets his wish. After storming out of the birthing cabin, he walks right back into the severed floor. He is greeted by an absolute feast of an Optics & Design painting, which depicts Innie and Outie Mark's entire journey to this point: "The Exalted Victory of Cold Harbor." I spent a good five minutes just scanning every inch of this painting. The level of detail is fascinating -- just look at the Renaissance depiction of suffering on Mark's face, reminding us that he'll likely die upon completion of the file. You'll find the weirdo MDR clones from Woe's Hollow, the Four Tempers, Petey (RIP), and a goat! How nice for the baby goat to show up for Mark's big day.
Helly emerges from the elevator... wearing MDR green! She embraces Mark, then they sit down at their desks to have a little work chat that'll only rip your heart out. They catch each other up and, in what feels like a deliberate decision from the Severance team, which I'll get into later, hatch a plan off-camera. Here's what we do hear, besides that beautiful "Delaware" throwback to when Mark first met Helly in season 1, episode 1: "If you get her out that will take down Lumon and do this combining thing," Helly says. "At least you'll have a chance at living." Mark responds, "Yeah, but I wanna live with you," to which Helly says, "But I'm her, Mark. I'm her." Well, Mark's him, am I right? So he chooses to complete Cold Harbor.
Okay, now I'm going to straight-up embed the Bulls' intro for Game 6 of the 1997 NBA Finals, just in case you ignored me earlier. There's a lot going on, I know.
There's a version of this scene -- where Mark completes Cold Harbor -- that shows Milchick dancing alone in celebration. Or something. But this is Severance. Which means that the giant, wax Kier figurine praises Mark, enjoys a standup bit with Mr. Milchick, and a marching band from a brand-new department -- hello, Choreography & Merriment! -- storms the floor. Again, because this is Severance, the cinematography is so damn good that the crew affixed cameras to the drums. (I bet it was Jessica Lee Gagné.) This is the now-iconic Music Dance Experience scene on steroids.
We should just enjoy this party for what it is -- a feast for Severance die-hards -- but I do have one note about the Kier figurine. Listen to him speak again. Hear something? How about the familiar crackle of the Lumon Board in Natalie's ear? Someone is voicing the statue. Now is probably a good time to tell you that a real actor is behind Kier Eagan: Marc Gellar. Same likeness and everything. I feel like it's definitely not a coincidence. Especially when Kier refers to Milchick as his "earthbound steward," which implies that, uh, Kier is not earthbound?! Yeah, the old man could be yucking it up in the afterlife -- but I don't think so.
Even after the season 2 finale, I feel as if Severance's endgame has yet to make itself clear. Fans have long suspected that Lumon's true aim is to bring Kier back to life. And sure, the goats have nothing to do with cloning and MDR builds Innies. But I truly think that some version of Kier is behind the figurine. Don't count out the resurrection of Kier Eagan in season 3.
Esquire loves you, Innie Dylan. After sending in his resignation in episode 9, he shows right back up on the severed floor -- his Outie denied his request. Milchick informs Dylan of this (along with another Milchickian turn of phrase: deeply fucking indecorous) and delivers a note from Outie Dylan. "I hope someday [Gretchen] sees in me what she sees in you," he writes. "In the meantime, if I'm being really honest, I guess I like knowing you're there. So if you wanna leave, you can. But I think you should stay."
I love how Severance presents a counterpoint to Outie and Innie Mark's now-doomed relationship: Innies and Outies can make peace with each other. As Cherry told my colleague, Josh Rosenberg: "They're able to really see things about each other that they want to integrate into themselves, and they have this shared goal of taking care of their family but also being the best version of themselves for Gretchen. So, his Outie thinks, If there's a part of me that still has these good qualities, maybe it's a good thing that he still exists."
The resolution between the Dylans is not only beautiful to watch at its face value, but it's also an incredible metaphor about what it means to truly love and accept every single inch of yourself.
Welcome to MDR, site of pure chaos. While the marching band is going berserk, Mark makes a mad dash for the Testing Floor, Helly locks Milchick in the bathroom, and... Dylan comes to help her! There are too many incredible flourishes to list here: Helly going full Saquon Barkley through the marching band, Milchick taking a trombone to the face, Mark mirroring his season 2 premiere entrance by dashing through the hallways, and Helly stacking multiple trombones in the bathroom-door opening to lock Milchick out?!
Helly channels Denzel Washington in Remember the Titans, stands on the MDR desks, and asks Choreography & Merriment to join her in the Innie Rebellion: I know you've lost friends too. You might be next," she says. "They give us half a life and think we won't fight for it!"
Later on, we're treated to the shot of all shots: Dylan saying "Fuck you, Milchick," backed a goddamn marching band. In the time it takes for this skirmish to calm down, Mark makes his way to the Testing Floor door, which just so happens to be next to...
... A place that I can only describe as the freaky religious sacrifice room. You wanted answers about the goats. Severance delivered answers about the goats. In the midst of the chaos, we see Lorne -- the leader of Mammalians Nurturable -- for the first time since episode 3. And she's here to make a sacrifice. I feel like we all knew of Lumon's religious-cult leanings, but this scene is here to tell us there's much more freaky Manson shit going on behind closed doors at Lumon.
In a ritual, she offers an exceptionally cute baby goat (who even has a name, Emile!) for Mr. Drummond to shoot in the head -- her resigned expression tells us that this has been done many times before. He quizzes Lorne on the goat's aptitude in the Core Principles, explaining, "This beast will be entombed with a cherished woman, whose spirit it must guide to Kier's door. Is it up to the task?" Lorne says yes -- the goat is the best of its flock -- but just as she begins to challenge Drummond about the unnecessary slaughter, they hear a hilariously clumsy Mark banging around outside.
So.. who's up for a prison fight? Because Ben Stiller (who directs this episode) flexes his Escape at Dannemora experience in a three-way brawl between Lorne, Mark, and Mr. Drummond. I mean, this is not only corporate-rage wish fulfillment, but the way Mark and Lorne eventually beat the living shit out of the gargantuan Drummond is something to behold. From there, Mark -- who should be nowhere near Amazon's wishlist for the next James Bond -- sloppily holds a gun to Drummond's head, thinking that if he drags him down to the Testing Floor, everyone down there will happily pass over Gemma and he can strut outside to the tune of "Sirius."
Nope! As the elevator goes down, Mark turns back into his Outie -- who accidentally shoots and kills Drummond. This is pretty good: Erickson told me that he initially threw that scenario out as a joke. "We were sitting around a table," he said, "I made that joke and Adam Scott pointed [at me] and he was like, 'We're doing that. Absolutely.'"
We're really in it now. And by it, I mean the point in my Severance recap when I'm just shy of 3,000 words, taking time to quote things like "step off, fucko," and my editor wants to kill me.
Well, the finale shows us exactly what's in Gemma's twenty-fifth room, Cold Harbor. First, the Lumon term, per the watching Dr. Mauer to the also-watching Jame Eagan: "The efficacy test." Lumon was testing the strength of Gemma's severance barrier the entire time -- we knew that. But Cold Harbor was clearly designed as a brutal, heartless reenactment of Gemma's deepest trauma. Remember in episode 7, when Mark orders a crib, only for him and Gemma to have to take it apart when she struggles to conceive? In Cold Harbor, Gemma dons the same outfit as the night Lumon kidnapped her -- and she has to take apart a crib. If no negative feelings pierce the barrier, then it's a step toward Kier's "eternal war against pain," as Drummond says earlier in the episode.
So, what does Cold Harbor tell us about Lumon's grand plan? I'll count it as another step closer to the emergent fan theory after episode 7: Lumon is perfecting the severance chip for mass-market use. Sure, the finale coats the theory in an extreme amount of religious implications and the rising probability that Lumon's dead founder isn't so dead, but Severance is still a scathing takedown of modern capitalism. And if Severance wants to up the stakes in season 3, then the severance chip wreaking havoc beyond Kier, PE, is the way to do it.
I said this to Erickson himself: The closing stretch of this episode is simply the most heartbreaking way that Severance could have reunited Mark and Gemma -- because they're ripped apart moments later.
Outie Mark manages to break into the Cold Harbor room. What ensues from here? I'm taking it as proof that whatever this perfected version of the severance procedure is, it's far from full-proof. Because, when Mark says, "Your name is Gemma Scout. We've been married for four years. We had a life together. And if you come with me right now, we can get it back," she follows him despite Mauer's protests. In what is just a brilliantly performed moment by Scott and Dichen Lachman, Mark and Gemma reunite. Their two years apart from each other -- and the two seasons of television we've watched to reach this point -- registers in every second of their embrace.
But it's short-lived. The reunited couple races up the elevator, where (mid-makeout!) they turn into Innie Mark and Ms. Casey. Mark manages to push poor Ms. Casey out the door, but when he goes to follow her -- in what would potentially mark a fatal sacrifice -- he sees Helly. Gemma screams and bangs against the door, screaming, "Mark! Open the door! Mark!" Mark hesitates. Thinks about it. Or maybe he doesn't even think about it. He just goes. To Helly. Gemma experiences heartbreak all over again. The last thing we see in Severance season 2 is a shot of Mark and Helly, holding hands and running through the halls of Lumon, toward the unknown.
I don't think any of us expected Severance to deliver a cliff-hanger on the level of its season 1 finale, which is what made the show a sensation in the first place. But here we are. Severance just told us who this story belongs to: Mark S. This is the story of what it means to become whole again. And what life looks like when you confront the worst parts of yourself and choose to follow what -- and who -- you love, even if it means spending another day in hell.
We'll have plenty of time in the coming weeks (hopefully not three years!) to unpack the season 2 finale and look ahead to season 3. The finale left way more plot threads on the table than you may initially think. We still don't know Cobel's true motivations, Ricken's work with Lumon, why Natalie had no part in the finale, and what the hell happens to Gemma from here. Was the plan for Devon to pick Gemma up, take her home, and mount her reappearance as proof of Lumon's crimes? I also suspect that Mark and Helly might have plotted their runaway all along -- "see you at the equator" feels like something more. And it almost goes without saying that season 3 will be a completely different show than season 1 and 2 -- after what just went down, return to work is no longer an option.
For now, though, I bid you farewell. And thank you again for reading. It's been damn fun watching Severance with you.