The Ending Of Severance Season 2 Explained

Contains spoilers for the "Severance" Season 2 finale, "Cold Harbor"

Fans had to wait three grueling years to see "Severance" return for Season 2, and the result was the best mystery currently on television. The Apple TV+ series has a naturally riveting plot, as it follows Mark (Adam Scott) and a collection of other Lumon Industries employees who have undergone a procedure to separate their work selves or "innies" from their regular selves. What happens at Lumon stays at Lumon, with innie Mark even developing feelings for his new co-worker Helly (Britt Lower), who — as luck would have it — is actually the innie of Helena Eagan, part of the family who runs the cult-like Lumon and developed the procedure in the first place.

The ending of "Severance" Season 1 saw innie Mark momentarily awaken in the real world as part of the overtime contingency, with him realizing that his wife Gemma (Dichen Lachman), whom he believed died years ago, is actually alive and working at Lumon under the moniker Ms. Casey. Season 2 opens with a ton of damage control, because innies Helly, Dylan (Zach Cherry), and Irving (John Turturro) also break out in addition to Mark.

This is one cat that can't be put back in the bag. Season 2 involves Mark following up on the massive revelation about Gemma, and everyone else coming to terms with what it means to be an innie. With the Season 2 finale now out, there's plenty to discuss, with "Severance" answering a lot of questions but posing several others. Here's what to know about the ending of "Severance" Season 2 — hopefully, it's not another three-year wait for Season 3 to see what comes after that.

The driving force behind "Severance" Season 2 is Mark being pulled between Gemma and Helly, the latter of whom is replaced by her outie, Helena Eagan, for much of the season's first half. Outie Mark realizes that the only chance to save Gemma is for him to undergo reintegration with the help of former Lumon surgeon Asal Reghabi (Karen Aldridge). This would theoretically undo the effects of severance, merging the minds of both innie and outie Mark. This allows outie Mark to peer into the machinations of Lumon, but his brainwaves aren't quite in sync yet. 

Innie Mark's relationship with Helly deepens, and he has sex with whom he believes is Helly but is actually Helena Eagan during the team-building retreat at Woe's Hollow. Once Helly discovers this, she wants to experience what it's like to be with Mark in that way, and the two have sex properly. Throughout the season, Dylan has his own relationship minefield to navigate, as he's allowed to meet with his outie's wife, who begins taking a liking to him and even kisses him. 

Irving is fired after attempting to drown Helena and gives Dylan a hint about where to find the Exports Hall, but he appears to be out of the picture after leaving town aboard a train. Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette), meanwhile, offers Mark a way to save Gemma, who is effectively being held prisoner in a lower level at Lumon. There, she's divided into 24 different innies and confronted with different stressful situations, like going to the dentist's office or having to write Christmas "Thank You" cards, to gauge her reactions.

The first step to save Gemma is for outie Mark to get innie Mark onboard, which requires a fascinating conversation in which they take turns recording messages for the other to watch. Innie Mark is reluctant to go with the other Mark's plan because it effectively means he'll die and be unable to see Helly again. It requires Cobel, who we earlier learned is the creator of the severance procedure, to tell him that once he finishes the Cold Harbor file, Lumon will likely fire (read: kill) him anyway. When he arrives at the Lumon severance floor the next day with Helly by his side, he brings the Cold Harbor file to 100% completion. 

Gemma is led into the Cold Harbor room where she's tasked with disassembling a baby crib, a reference to her and Mark wanting a child of their own before she was brought to Lumon. However, she has no emotional reaction upon seeing the crib, implying that her Cold Harbor innie is separated from all thoughts and feelings from her past. Mark makes a break for it through the Exports Hall, accidentally killing Mr. Drummond (Darri Ólafsson) in the process. Reverting to outie Mark once he's off the severance floor, he gets Gemma out of the Cold Harbor room and brings her to a stairwell on the severance floor to help her escape. 

However, since he reverts back to innie Mark once he's on that floor, he doesn't go with her. Instead, he turns around to see Helly waiting for him down the hallway. Despite Gemma's pleas, this Mark has no connection to her, so he grabs Helly by the hand as they run through the corridors of Lumon. 

The big question fans might have after watching the Season 2 finale of "Severance" is why Mark would choose Helly over Gemma, but there are ultimately two Marks at play. Through their video camera conversation, it really does seem like outie Mark wants innie Mark to effectively sacrifice himself to save his wife, unaware he's a full person on his own with his own thoughts and desires. 

In a way, the final scene of "Severance" Season 2 mirrors the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, in which Orpheus descends to the underworld to save his bride Eurydice after she dies. Hades allows him to do so on the condition that he not look back, otherwise she'll be lost to him forever — which is exactly what he does. In the "Severance" Season 2 finale, Mark descends to the underworld to save Gemma, but innie Mark still wants to save Helly as well, so he's goes back to the underworld and lets Gemma go. It's notable that Helly tells Lumon CEO Jame Eagan (Michael Siberry) earlier in the episode, "You and your family created hell and you're going to burn in it." She literally refers to Lumon as "hell," further bolstering the symbolic connections to the myth. 

The final shot ends on Mark and Helly running down a hallway because this version of Mark deserves his own love story too. Season 2, Episode 7 — "Chikhai Bardo" — takes us through Mark and Gemma's entire love story from meeting to going through the loss of a pregnancy together. Gemma's free now, assuming she can actually get out of the building, and Mark's pursuing his own path.

"Severance" isn't just a love story; it's a commentary on how workers are often treated in our late-stage capitalistic world. Lumon views the innies from a purely utilitarian perspective, in that they exist to work and nothing else. That sort of changes at the beginning of "Severance" Season 2, when Lumon shows the four severance floor employees a video about their uprising from the previous season. This video also mentions how there will be more perks, such as pineapple bobbing and being able to go through a hall of mirrors.

Of course, pineapple bobbing is pointless. It's the Lumon equivalent to a company posting record profits and then rewarding the people who made it possible by hosting a pizza party. The Season 2 finale shows that the only way the innies will get any proper recognition is through organization. When Milchick finally escapes the bathroom he's been trapped in for much of the episode, he's greeted by Dylan and the band members from Choreography and Merriment, standing with him in solidarity.

The Macrodata Refinement workers and band members may come from different areas of Lumon, but they share a common goal. It's something creator Dan Erickson told GQ he wants to continue exploring in "Severance": "Lumon is all about dividing and conquering on an individual level and on a greater level," he explained. "I wanted this season to begin to tell the story of what happens when people who have been encouraged not to come together start to come together and discover their collective power."

"The work is mysterious and important." It's a line that's become associated with "Severance" to explain what exactly the innies do on the severed floor, which up until the finale appeared to consist of randomly putting numbers into different folders with names like "Dranesville" and "Tumwater." Things gradually come into focus with Season 2, Episode 7, "Chikhai Bardo," as Gemma is led into various rooms with those same names where a new innie emerges in each one. A fan theory has suggested that Mark is effectively working on ways to continually sever his wife, with the finale confirming that.

In a desperate play to get innie Mark to go with the plan, Cobel tells him that the numbers are "a doorway into the mind of your outie's wife, Gemma Scout." The numbers represent the four "tempers" — woe, frolic, malice, and dread — described by Lumon founder Kier Eagan as the essential components of the mind.

Through his work, Mark creates all 24 (then 25) of Gemma's innies, so she becomes a different person upon entering a dentist's office or writing out cards. The Cold Harbor file is the last one Mark needs to complete for what the Lumon higher-ups insist will be one of the most significant moments in human history. When Gemma enters the Cold Harbor room, she seems utterly devoid of any emotion, even as she deconstructs a baby crib without a second thought.

"Severance" deals heavily with the concept of emotions. Mark severs himself in the first place to forget about his wife for at least eight hours a day while innie Mark works, an idea that helped Adam Scott process his grief over his mother's death in real life. Cold Harbor is clearly the endgame to all this, with one prevailing theory prior to the finale airing suggesting that Cold Harbor would kill Gemma, with her final innie confronting death so that the original person wouldn't have to face fear before meeting their demise. 

Instead, we get a crib and a completely emotionless Gemma. With this, it appears the purpose of Cold Harbor is to remove every emotion and facet of a person's identity. This could very well be Lumon's endgame — creating absolute blank slates within individuals. If they can basically turn humans into automatons who follow orders without a second thought, that could provide an even better workforce than the occasionally rebellious innies they have now. 

That said, it does seem like killing Gemma was on the agenda. Drummond has Lorne (Gwendoline Christie) bring a goat to be killed and buried with the "cherished woman." This reinforces the notion that Lumon is cult-like in many ways, but the "woman" isn't specified. Were they planning on killing Gemma if Cold Harbor was a success, or could someone else (like Helena) be on the chopping block?

The pressure to deliver on "Severance" wasn't lost on executive producer Ben Stiller after the first season was a huge hit. And it's safe to say that Season 2 largely satisfied fans, especially that gut punch of an ending where Mark runs off with Helly, leaving Gemma in the stairwell. It turns out Season 2 could have ended slightly differently and may not have landed quite the same. 

Dan Erickson admitted to The Wrap that in crafting that final scene, having both Gemma and Helly in the shot together was Stiller's idea. "I had come up with a version where Helly was not there, and Mark makes the decision to go back and finds her later," Erickson explained. "Ben ... in his wisdom, was like, 'It's going to be such a moment if they're both there."

In the same interview, Erickson recalled how Stiller came up with the powerful Season 1 ending. He had originally wanted Mark to write out "She's alive," but Stiller pitched having him yell it, creating the impactful moment that left audiences on edge for three years. What can you say? Stiller understands good storytelling. 

As if "Severance" wasn't already disturbing, one theory that emerged shortly after the finale aired makes the ending all the more heart-wrenching. When Mark runs off with Helly at the end, she shoots a glance toward Gemma behind the door's window. It's a rather mean look, leading some fans to believe that she's actually Helena and not Helly at that moment. X (formerly Twitter) user @NatePangaro wrote: "That look. It was cruel. HELLY WAS NEVER CRUEL. THAT'S F***ING HELENA !!!"

The implication is that Helena specifically seeks Mark out at the end to keep him at Lumon. Even if she's willing to let Gemma go, Lumon may have greater plans for Mark, but this theory was quickly shot down by Helly herself, Britt Lower, in an interview with The Los Angeles Times. "That's Helly R. in the final episode," she stated. "But I think, in [Episode 9], Dylan has thrown some doubt in her own understanding of herself." While "Severance" has spawned numerous theories, this one was nipped in the bud pretty immediately. 

As for that "cruel" look Helly gives Gemma, Lower explained to Vulture, "The whole scene is a reckoning for all of them. Helly is reckoning with this other person who loves the same person she loves, but on the outside. It's so complex." It's possible Helly wasn't trying to be cruel; it's not like she says anything to Mark to convince him to stay. He chooses that all on his own, and Season 3 will inevitably deal with the fallout of his choice. 

Ever since goats were introduced in "Severance" Season 1, they've remained one of the show's biggest unanswered questions. Well, the Season 2 finale finally reveals what the goats are for, at least partially. Lorne brings a baby goat to Drummond, who plans on sacrificing and burying it with the "cherished woman." It seems that the goats are being raised for ritualistic sacrifices, to be buried with a person to guide them to the afterlife.

This must mean Lumon is sacrificing a lot of goats if there's an entire department calling Mammalian Nurturing to always have goats accessible. Are they killing other people to bury the goats with? To go back to Greek mythology, goats were frequently sacrificed to the gods. There's also the deity named Pan, who has the legs and horns of a goat and is often affiliated with fertility. The idea of pregnancy comes up repeatedly in "Severance," such as the Season 1 introduction of a severed pregnant woman and Mark and Gemma losing their baby.

Mark and Helena/Helly have sex twice in Season 2. It's very possible she could wind up pregnant, especially if innie Mark and innie Helly continue having physical relations. While goats getting sacrificed would fulfill their physical purpose in the show, their presence could suggest the idea of birth and rebirth will continue being explored in "Severance" Season 3 and beyond.

The ending to "Severance" Season 2 ties up a lot of loose ends while setting up plenty for Season 3 to explore. The day after the finale aired, Apple TV+ officially renewed the show for a third season, so we know we'll get some answers eventually — and there's a lot of ground for Season 3 to cover. 

Gemma presumably doesn't know Mark ever underwent severance, so she's probably very confused as to why her husband runs off with this random red-haired woman. One would hope that outie Mark will reemerge and explain everything, but with Lumon, nothing's ever easy. It's also worth noting that Mark killed Drummond, albeit inadvertently, so there's likely to be some kind of repercussion for that. Lumon can fire employees, as Milchick did with Irving. The company could "kill" those versions of Mark and Helly, but Lumon may still need those two for more nefarious purposes. But with the employees banding together, the innies may have more leverage. 

That only scratches the surface of the questions Season 3 could answer. Are Irving and Miss Huang (Sarah Bock) gone for good? Does Cobel really have Mark's best interests at heart, or is she playing the long con with Lumon? Was Cold Harbor even successful if Gemma agreed to leave with a blood-soaked Mark, insinuating that a piece of her is still in there? Ben Stiller has assured fans it won't take three more years for them to get Season 3 — which is great because we need these answers as soon as possible.