Full spoilers observe for Severance season 2 episode 10.
After 10 weeks of teases, unending fan theories, and surprising in-universe moments, Severance season 2 has ended.
And, boy oh boy, what a finale it was. The hit Apple TV present has been the discuss of the city since its return in mid-January, and I do not count on discussions to finish any time quickly, particularly after this episode.
As the mud settles, let’s dissect what occurred in Severance‘s season 2 finale, titled ‘Cold Harbor’. Major spoilers instantly observe, so ensure you’ve watched it earlier than studying on.
Is Gemma rescued by Mark within the Severance season 2 finale?
In brief: sure! But, there’s a big lead-up to that. So, strap in, of us, as a result of this clarification goes to be an extended one.
Picking up instantly after Severance season 2 episode 9, Mark’s innie – Mark S – informs Harmony Cobel that he hasn’t accomplished Project Cold Harbor (extra on this later) but.
Good, meaning Gemma, i.e., the spouse of Mark’s outie (aka Mark Scout) remains to be alive and could be rescued! Not so quick, Mark S says. While Harmony, Mark Scout, and Mark’s sister Devon have a plan to save lots of Gemma, Mark S is extraordinarily hesitant to play his half. If Gemma escapes and the world learns of Lumon’s nefarious operations, the evil biotech company can be shut down.
That consists of the severed flooring, so the innies, Mark S included, will not exist anymore. Understandably, Mark S does not wish to give his life and the lives of his fellow innies for a lady his outie loves, however he does not.
To persuade Mark S that that is the appropriate factor to do, Devon offers him a handheld camcorder, tells him to look at the video recording, after which file his response to it.
The message has been left by Mark Scout, who apologizes for utilizing severance as an escape from Gemma’s obvious loss of life earlier than asking Mark S to assist break her out. The interplay is cordial at first, however issues get intense as every persona turns into suspicious of the opposite’s true motives.
Mark Scout makes the grave error of mentioning Helly R and calling her Heleny; an analogous slip-up to at least one Helena made when she acquired Gemma’s identify improper in Severance season 2 episode 6. That, alongside different points, ultimately leads Mark S to inform Mark Scout that he does not belief him and will not assist save Gemma.
Cue Harmony Cobel’s intervention. Dropping some deep Severance lore by means of story exposition, she tells Mark S that the numbers he and the remainder of the Macro Data Refinement (MDR) crew have been engaged on are literally Gemma.
According to Harmony, they’re a doorway into Gemma’s thoughts, with every cluster correlating to one of many Four Tempers that Lumon founder Kier Eagan is alleged to have tamed a long time earlier.
Anyway, Project Cold Harbor is the twenty fifth and last file Mark S should end to assist Lumon full their severance-based work. Oh, and as soon as that is achieved, Lumon will eliminate the innies.
This explicit revelation infuriates Mark S who, earlier than storming out of the birthing cabin that he, Harmony, and Devon have been hiding at, informs the pair that, until Mark Scout returns to Lumon, he will not see Gemma once more.
Next factor we all know, Mark S is standing within the elevator resulting in Lumon’s severed flooring. Exiting the elevator, Mark S is greeted by an enormous, creepy mural of him finishing Cold Harbor as quite a few Lumon staff previous and current, plus the Eagan household, watch on.
But Mark S does not have time to take all of it in as he is shortly reunited with Helly. The duo head to MDR and, after studying a card from their supervisor Seth Milchick – held by a creepy-looking statue of Kier Eagan – Mark S restarts his work on Cold Harbor. He’s extremely reluctant to take action as a result of he is aware of it’s going to imply the loss of life of the innies however, after a tear-jerking heart-to-heart with Helly, he begins to course of the ultimate few quantity clusters.
Meanwhile, Dylan G is revealed to be alive. Remember, he tried to resign from Lumon after Gretchen, his outie’s spouse, rejected his marriage proposal. Episode 9 ended on one thing of a cliffhanger for Dylan G, with the implication that, by resigning, he was successfully committing suicide.
As I predicted, although, Dylan G cannot merely stroll away. Milchick meets him on the severed flooring’s elevator together with his outie’s response to his resignation. The pair clearly do not get on, however the heartfelt reply from Dylan’s outie reignites the fireplace inside Dylan G, who heads again to MDR to search out his associates.
But, again to Mark S and Helly R. As Mark completes the ultimate file, Helly fingers him Irving’s notice – i.e., the one which incorporates instructions to the black hallway that results in the testing flooring, the place Gemma is being held captive.
Before their rescue mission can start, although, an amusingly surreal sequence distracts them. Milchick converses with the beforehand talked about Kier statue (it is truly an animatronic) after which leads Lumon’s Choreography and Merriment (C&M) division in a dance quantity that places season 1 episode 7’s Music Dance Sequence to disgrace. Hey, the Apple TV+ present was initially billed as a darkish comedy, so absurd, laugh-out-loud moments like this are certain to occur intermittently!
To assist Mark S slip away, Helly creates her personal distraction by stealing Milchick’s walkie-talkie and heading to the toilet. He follows her however she manages to evade him and briefly lock him in it. Milchick virtually escapes, however Helly, with assist from Dylan G and a merchandising machine, blocks the doorway, trapping him.
With nobody to cease him, all Mark S has to do is observe Irving’s instructions, take the testing flooring elevator, discover Gemma, and assist her escape, proper? Well…
Who dies in Severance season 2 episode 10?
Don’t fear, Mark S, Gemma, and the remainder of MDR survive. In truth, just one individual dies in ‘Cold Harbor’ and that is Mister Drummond.
Taking the testing flooring elevator as much as the severed flooring after Mark S completes Project Cold Harbor, Drummond opens a secret room positioned behind the wall reverse the testing flooring elevator hallway. There, he meets Mammalian Nurturables division chief Lorne and one in every of her goats (I’ll clarify what the goats are used for later).
Drummond and Lorne are interrupted by Mark S’ makes an attempt to interrupt down the door to the testing flooring elevator. His key card does not grant him entry to it, you see.
Drummond investigates and, realizing what Mark S is making an attempt to do, tries to cease him. A scuffle ensues and, after overpowering Mark S, Drummond begins strangling him to loss of life.
He would’ve succeeded, too, if not for Lorne’s intervention. Remember, Mark S and Helly left an enduring impression on Lorne and her crew in Severance season 2 episode 3, so it feels proper that she’d save Mark S’ life.
A struggle breaks out between Drummond and Lorne, which Lorne wins. Before she will be able to kill Drummond, although, Mark S stops her as a result of he can use Drummond as leverage to get to Gemma.
Or so Mark S thinks. After utilizing Drummond’s all-access key card on the hallway door, he holds Drummond at gunpoint as a hostage. As they journey down within the elevator, Mark S begins to clarify what is going on to occur after they attain the testing flooring.
However, when the elevator passes by way of its severance barrier, Mark’s outie re-emerges, inflicting him to drag the set off on the gun, and the bullet *ahem* severs the artery in Drummond’s neck. Long story brief: Mark by accident kills him.
Does Mark select Gemma or Helly within the Severance season 2 finale?
Above all others, that is the second that is going to divide Severance followers. Why? Because Mark chooses Helly over Gemma.
Stepping out of the testing flooring elevator, Mark’s bloodied outie makes his method to the Cold Harbor testing room the place he is confronted by Cecily, the nurse who retains tabs on Gemma. Cecily refuses to open the door and runs away when Mark brandishes his gun.
How’s he going to get in now? With Drummond’s blood, in fact. Like Cecily, Drummond’s blood signature grants him entry to all of the take a look at rooms and it simply so occurs that Mark is roofed in it. So, he makes use of some blood from his tie to achieve entry to the Cold Harbor take a look at room.
There, he finds a terrified Gemma, who does not acknowledge Mark as a result of her twenty fifth (!) innie persona is lively on this room. Despite Doctor Mauer’s makes an attempt to persuade her to keep away from him, Mark manages to get her to go away with him. Passing by way of the take a look at room’s severance barrier, Gemma’s outie re-emerges. Cue a soul-stirring reunion between the couple that will not depart a dry eye in the home.
Severance does not allow us to have comfortable issues, although, so you recognize a gut-punch occasion is moments away.
Traveling again to the severed flooring, Mark and Gemma cross by way of the testing flooring’s severance barrier, which causes Mark S and Ms Casey to take over. Mark S remains to be conscious of the plan to get Gemma out, although, so he leads her to the severed flooring’s exit stairwell. Its doorway incorporates one other severance barrier that, as soon as crossed, will permit their outies to emerge once more and eventually be rid of Lumon.
And right here comes the kicker. Mark S convinces Ms Casey to go away, which she does after which turns again into Gemma. However, when Gemma tries to get Mark S to observe her, he hesitates. That lets Helly R – after leaving Dylan and the C&M crew to take care of Milchick – discover Mark S and Gemma on the exit stairwell.
Helly’s arrival reminds Mark S that he needs to be along with her – in any case, they love one another. As a confused and devastated Gemma watches, Mark S and Helly flee again by way of Lumon’s labyrinthine halls to places unknown.
What is Project Cold Harbor, precisely?
One of the sci-fi mystery-thriller’s most talked-about mysteries, Project Cold Harbor is lastly solved on this episode.
After Gemma passes by way of the take a look at room’s severance barrier, Doctor Mauer tells her to stroll into the room. There, she’s greeted by a crib that is both the very same one which Mark and Gemma had been going to make use of for his or her child or a near-identical reproduction of it. Either approach, contemplating Gemma misplaced her and Mark’s child years earlier, it is disturbing and sinister that Lumon would make Gemma undergo that once more, albeit through her newest innie persona.
Mauer instructs Gemma’s latest innie to take the crib aside with a screwdriver. She duly obliges and, as she does so, Mauer watches her progress from the key monitoring room we first noticed in season 2 episode 7. Jame Eagen, Lumon’s present CEO, additionally watches from his personal monitoring room.
Later, Mauer asks if Gemma is aware of who she is, to which she replies “I do not know”. That confirms Lumon’s newest take a look at is successful, however Mark’s arrival places paid to the ultimate stage of no matter evil scheme they’d concocted.
What are the goats used for in Severance’s season 2 finale?
Ever since they had been first teased in season 1, followers have longed to study extra about what Lumon Industries is doing with its goats. It’s excessive time we discovered, too. The final time we noticed Lumon’s goats was in season 2 episode 3 however, even then, we discovered subsequent to nothing about what they’re going to be used for.
Well, we lastly have a solution – and, after a brand new Apple teaser confirmed they’d return in Severance‘s season 2 finale, it seems one of many 5 finest Severance goat theories was truly proper.
During episode 10’s last act, we study that Lumon’s Mammalian Nurturables division has hand-reared the goats for sacrificial choices. Indeed, Lorne says as a lot after she meets Drummond within the secret room I discussed earlier.
Drummond asks Lorne if the goat is “stuffed with verve and wiles”, to which Lorne says it has the “most of its total flock”. Interestingly, verve and wiles are two of the word-based playing cards we noticed within the Cobel family in Severance season 2 episode 8, which alerts their significance to the Kier Eagan doctrine.
Anyway, animal sacrifices have performed an integral position in lots of real-world religions, so it is no nice shock that they accomplish that in Lumon’s religion-like cult. What is a shock, although, is what function the goats seem to play as a part of their sacrifice.
Drummond tells Lorne that the goat she’s introduced – it is known as Emile, by the best way – can be “entombed with a cherished lady whose spirit have to be guided to Kier’s door”. The suggestion right here is that, as soon as the goat is sacrificed (learn: shot within the head), it’s going to someway be imbued with Gemma’s spirit when she’s additionally got rid of following Project Cold Harbor’s completion.
Thankfully, Emile is spared by Mark S’ inadvertent intervention, and Lorne groups up with Mark S to overpower Drummond. Will we ever see one in every of Lumon’s goats get the chop? Hopefully not, however by no means say by no means.
Does Severance season 2’s last episode have a mid-credits or put up credit scene?
End credit stingers have grow to be par for the course for a lot of franchises, together with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), in addition to sure exhibits on the world’s finest streaming providers, however not right here.
Apple TV Originals keep away from teasing what’s to return subsequent season, and that is actually true of the Severance season 2 finale. There’s no mid- or post-credits sequence to stay round for.
You ought to sit by way of the tip credit to understand how many individuals labored on such a compelling collection like this. But, for those who’re solely hanging round for an finish credit stinger, you will be sorely disenchanted.
Has Apple introduced Severance season 3 but?
Not but, but it surely’s a case of when, not if, Apple will renew among the finest Apple TV+ exhibits for a 3rd season.
For one, Severance has grow to be extra profitable with every passing week. The three-year hole between seasons 1 and a couple of was excruciating, however that allowed extra folks to take a look at its debut season and grow to be obsessive about its quite a few mysteries.
With extra viewers leaping on the bandwagon after the discharge of its sophomore installment, Severance is now extra fashionable than Ted Lasso. The variety of breakout Apple TV+ exhibits pales compared to among the tech large’s streaming rivals, together with Netflix and Prime Video. So, if Apple actually needs to show it is a serial leisure trade contender, greenlighting new seasons for hit exhibits like Severance needs to be a foregone conclusion.
For what it is price, the collection’ subsequent entry is within the works. In February, director/government producer Ben Stiller confirmed season 3’s scripts are at the moment being written.
Unfortunately, there’s not as a lot excellent news on the filming begin date entrance. Dichen Lachman, who performs Gemma/Ms. Casey, completely advised me that she does not know when principal pictures will start on Severance season 3.
More particulars may very well be revealed at a post-season 2 finale occasion in LA this Saturday (March 22), although. Speaking on the New Heights podcast, Stiller stated: “Hopefully we’ll be saying what the plan could be very quickly”. I’m retaining my fingers crossed that it is sooner slightly than later!
How does ‘Cold Harbor’ arrange Severance season 3’s story?
We do not know, however there are many unanswered questions that’ll want, properly, answering.
For starters: the place have Mark S and Helly gone? They cannot depart Lumon as their outies will take over, however Lumon can be utilizing all of its sources to trace down the pair after occasions that transpired in ‘Cold Harbor’.
Then there’s the broader fallout and implications of what occurred on this episode. Lumon ought to come down exhausting on Dylan G and C&M following their insurrection. Milchick may have one thing to say and/or do with them, too, however he’ll even be within the firing line as this all occurred beneath his watch. That’s earlier than we get onto how Lumon proceeds with the severance program and its malicious plans for the expertise and people who signed up for the process.
That’s simply the tip of the iceberg. Will Gemma hunt down Devon and Ricken, and attempt to enlist their assist to rescue Mark? What’s Harmony Cobel’s endgame? What do the season 2 finale occasions imply for Jame in a management capability? Is Reghabi going to point out up once more and try to assist Gemma reintegrate? When will we see Irving and Burt once more? And what’s the Grand Agendum that Kier Eagan’s animatronic mentions after Mark finishes Project Cold Harbor?
Those questions and lots of different mysteries should be solved earlier than Severance‘s finish credit roll for the ultimate time. For what it is price, creator Dan Erickson “has a way” of what the present’s last scene can be and what number of seasons could be “superb” to succeed in it. Whether Severance has a number of seasons of story left to inform, then, is maybe the most important thriller of all.
